Born in Strasbourg, France 1981, Jon Grandcamp was raised in the world of arts, somewhere between his dad's records and his mom's paintings. The product of this would be a passionate tendency towards the world of percussion.
At the age of 9, he took his first drum class. Seven grueling years with percussion master Denis Dionne (Quebec, Canada) brought him much insight into drums and classical percussion. These studies were complemented with percussion and jazz classes at the Strasbourg CNR conservatory.
At 16, Jon left school to commit himself full-time to music, which gave way to a chain of invaluable experiences sharing the stage with various artists in Strasbourg area.Subsequent to this or simply stemming from an implicit fascination, he began to explore traditional world music styles, namely Afro Cuban, West African, flamenco & Arabic, among others. Consciously or not, these styles make for huge influences in his current projects.
Following an ambitious three month stint in LA in 2001, he left Strasbourg to try his luck in Paris. It seemed the appropriate moment in his budding career to launch a new series of learning curves. Since then he has played alongside Charles Pasi, Eric Serra, Bireli Lagrène, Sandra n Kaké,Omar pene,Aziz Sahmaoui, Etienne M'Bappé, Defunkt, Hadrien Feraud, Zap mama, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Fatoumata Diawara, Outlines, Blick Bassy, Woz Kaly, Julian Perretta, Jannick Top, Magma, Carla Bruni, Sly johnson, Guillaume Perret, Juan Rozof, Amayo (Antibalas), Afrorockerz,Lynley Marthe, Guillaume Farley, Panoramic Blue, Greg Ott, Frank Bedez, Ostinato, Sian, Eric Lelann, Amar Sundy, Madjo, Rido Bayonne, Ben l'oncle soul, Specta, Lisa Doby, Gazelle and many others.
When asked about his own style and musical conception, Jon says, "Determining where you place yourself stylistically isn't the most obvious thing when you get into just about everything, but I guess my roots are most deeply anchored in blues and rock.Me and my brother Jim (guitarist), with whom I have traveled much of the world have largely kept our feet in soul, funk and jazz.
One thing's for sure: A piece of my heart is still in Africa, the cradle of humanity and it's musical currents. Music has never known any frontiers nor borders. It represents the world's cultures. To me it's the ultimate universal language."
Enjoy.
