Virgin Records signed them, and their album 'Camembert Electrique' hit the charts. This international community band incubated in Deya, Mallorca, and toured France and Europe before it was taken on to the British scene starting at Glastonbury Festival in June 1971. In the ambience of the freaky revolution in Paris in May 1968, he met Australian singer, guitarist and poet, ex Soft Machine member Daevid Allen, with whom he was to create Gong along with Gilli Smyth. Listening to a Soft Machine concert turned him on to a fusion approach of music. His rock education started in 1967, when he performed with his group The Rollsticks in 'Les Idoles' (arguably the first full 'rock opera'), a 'comédie musicale' influenced by the Living Theatre. Back in France, he studied classical flute with Rène Leroy (the first musician to give a public performance of Dubussy's 'L'apres Midi D'une Faune').

During this time he also attended the Sorbonne, studying Sanskrit amongst other languages.Ī trip to India and Afghanistan in the early sixties introduced him to ragas, modal music and the bamboo flute. 12 years later, Bloomdido Bad de Grass became his nickname within Gong, incorporating the literal translation of Malherbe into franglais.īetween ages 13 and 20, he studied alto, then tenor saxophone with a classical teacher as well as jamming with jazzmen at 'Le Chat Qui Peche' club in Paris. Widely acclaimed as one of the great masters of wind instruments, Parisian Didier Malherbe started on saxophone when he was 13, after hearing Charlie Parker's 'Bloomdido', from the Bird and Dizz album. Pip Pyle, Didier Malherbe, Sophia Domancich, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean : 52e Rue Est 1987 : Ichthyornyis Didier Malherbe, Jerry Fields, Leo Gillespie : Song Under A Tree 1973 March-May : Paragongĭidier Malherbe, Mike Howlett, Didier Tibault, Pierre Moerlen, Steve Hillage, Tim Blake : Live '73 1977-81 : Bloomĭidier Malherbe, Mico Nissim, Jano Padovani, Yan Emeric, Winston Berkley, Peter Kimberley September 1979 : Didier Malherbe, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Aggymang, Winston Berkley, Claude Olmos Split when contract with Pathe-Marconi expired : Sonopresse 2 C 008-72127 1985-87 : Faton Bloomĭidier Malherbe, François Cahen, Eric Bedoucha, Rehy Sarrazin, Roger Raspail : Cyronic MAD3029 1984-85 : Equipe Out

Didier malherbe bloom