Didier Verna profile picture

Didier Verna

French Jazz guitarist, singer and composer

About Me

Born in 1970, Didier Verna gets involved in music at the age of 5. He studies music theory for two years at the conservatory and learns successively percussions, classical piano, classical guitar.

At 13, he discovers Jazz and studies harmony and improvisation for 3 years with French guitarist Denis Gouzil. At 18, he starts playing in Bordeaux in various bands, like a guitar octet with Denis Gouzil and Yves Carbonne (Compagnie Lubat, Carbonne / di Piazza / Manring).

At the age of 21, he moves to Paris and continues his Jazz formation as a self-taught, multiplying musical experiences both in bands (from trio to septet, or even in a guitar sextet with a rythm section) and in styles (jazz rock, modern jazz, brazilian...). Meanwhile, he develops a vocal jazz technique very much inspired from the work of Bobby Mc Ferrin and begins giving voice solo sessions.

In 2001, he meets pianist Thierry Lalo and creates with him a piano / vocal duet, an adaptation and extension of his solo vocal work to a total improvisation duel.

In 2002, he enters the Voice Messengers where he sings as a tenor, and meets great personalities of contemporary Jazz, such as Antoine Hervé and Glenn Ferris.

In 2006, he gets back to his main instrument and creates the @-quartet, with Gilles Naturel, Guillaume Naud and David Georgelet; a band that he equips with a repertoire of original compositions and with which he releases his first recording.


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/20/2006
Band Website: didierverna.com
Band Members: The "@-quartet" features:

    Gilles Naturel (bass) Guillaume Naud (piano) David Georgelet (drums)
Also playing with (including, but not limited to):
    Glenn Ferris Antoine Hervé Yves Carbonne Andréa Michelutti François Laudet

Influences: Buy the album:


Digital Stores::

    Buy.com GreatIndieMusic GroupieTunes Music is Here NeXhit ZuKool

Sounds Like: J'entends un jeu bien articulé, dans la tradition, maîtrisé. Alex Duthil / Jazzman Bel exemple d'autoproduction. [...] épaulé notamment par la contrebasse de Gilles Naturel, Didier Verna joue certes un jazz classique, où se sentent des influences certaines de Pat Metheny dont il a la rondeur de son et la limpidité des phrases. [...] Citizen Jazz "[...] In short, Verna is a force of nature. He has the technique and the talent to take it to another level. [...]"
Full Review Martin Gladu / All About Jazz "[...] @-Quartet is a great example of what contemporary jazz should be. [...] These nine compositions are fresh, melodically challenging and engaging."
Full Review John Luciano / Contemporary Jazz [...] Didier Verna is a jazz guitarist dealing in melodic & harmonic invention. His Metheny-esque improvisational delivery is compromising, intellectual, non rigorous with a superb technique, connected with an extraordinary command of his music. [...]
Full Review George W. Carroll / eJazz News [...] Only a part time musician (Verna's other gig is as a computer researcher) this CD definitely has a full time sound. You'd think that these guys have been on the road for years -- their sound is that tight and complimentary. Definitely a great addition to any jazz collection.
Full Review Darry Gregory / Indie Music Chapeau ! Très très bon disque. J'aime beaucoup. Glenn Ferris "De la belle guitare Jazz." Antoine Hervé "Nice sounds, great playing !" Greg Lyons "Je pense que c'est du jazz de grande qualité." Yves Carbonne This is a very good CD. The songs are original and good, and the musicianship outstanding. It is not overplayed, it is not underplayed, everything fits together well. [...] The sound is modern but not too abstract, very listenable and flowing, it is more straight-ahead than fusion. The solos are terrific, Verna is an outstanding jazz guitarist. His tone/sound is more like Metheny than Scofield, but his lines are his own. I'm looking forward to his next CD. From a CDBaby customer On l'a écouté dans la voiture, et ça fait une musique de fond vraiment très bien. ma belle-mère
Record Label: DVL Records
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Didier Verna @-quartet: CD review

French guitarist Didier Verna's newest album "@-quartet" is featured in current issue of the Indie Music Magazine, with a "Spotlight Review" by Darryl Gregory:"[...] Only a part time musician (Verna's...
Posted by Didier Verna on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 02:34:00 PST

Didier Verna @-quartet: Diffusion

The album @-quartet will be the recurrent theme for the Jazz Baragge Show live from Digital Broadcast Channel, this wednesday (November 8th) at 21:30.This is an important recognition for the album sin...
Posted by Didier Verna on Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:49:00 PST

Didier Verna @-quartet: Interview

For the release of the album "@-quartet", Didier Verna speaks with krinein.com about his acception of the term "jazz", what it is like living a semi-professional Jazz life, being an independant artist...
Posted by Didier Verna on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:00:00 PST