Born in the Caribbean, Independent Music Award winner JC Maillard’s work reflects the curiosity of a young man whose isolation got him staring across the ocean, collecting echoes from the four corners of the world.
His career started in France in 1987 touring with Grammy Award winner Angelique Kidjo, and quickly led him to tour and record with local pop superstars Michel Fugain, Michel Jonasz, Maurane, to name a few.
In 1996 encouraged by guitar masters Leo Brouwer and Sergio Assad, he presented his compositions for classical guitar at the Guitar International Festival in Martinique, leading to the release of his acclaimed first album “Ka Suite”.
Very much involved in the World Music and Jazz Scene in Paris, he is the mastermind behind the music of 5 albums of accordionist Daniel Mille, the afro-pop guitar player behind Etienne Mbappe’s “Misiya”, the flamenco multi-instrumentalist in Louis Winsberg’s “Jaleo” while composing for TV and film.
Always celebrating his Caribbean roots and the motherland of its culture, Africa, he is responsible for the birth of a new acoustic sound in Zouk music through his recordings with Patrick Saint-Eloi, for the groundbreaking composition and production of the album “Mi” by Tanya Saint Val that created new ways to reconnect traditional drums to modern music in the french Caribbean, or for successful re-inventions of classics of Senegalese Mbalax superstar Omar Pene with the album “Myamba”.
Releasing in 2007 his Caribbean-Rock project “Grand Baton” he relocated to New York City and toured the world with renowned bassist Richard Bona, Zimbabwean mbira master Chiwoniso Maraire and later drummer extraordinaire Omar Hakim.
In 2013 Grand Baton started an amazing collaboration with Grammy Award winner, Rolling Stone’s longtime vocalist Lisa Fischer and they’ve been touring extensively for the past 7 years.
In 2015 he and Lisa composed for the Alonzo King Lines Ballet of San Francisco the music of “The Propelled Heart”, performed all over the word and started also touring an orchestral version of their show called “Just A Kiss Away” with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony… to name a few.
His collaboration since 2011 with Argentinian vocalist extraordinaire Sofia Rei and their participation in avant garde composer John Zorn’s recording of his latest Masada book of compositions, “Book Of Beri’ah”, led to the release of the duo album “Keter”, winner of the 2020 Independent Music Award in 2 categories.
