Jack de Marseille, real name Jacques Garotta, was born on December 19th, 1965. He lives in Marseilles (France).
Known as a pioneer of electronic music, he contributes a lot to the emergence of the French techno scene, at of the end of the 80s. He did for techno in the South of France what Laurent Garnier did from Paris. The success of his sets led him to be elected best French DJ in 1998 by “Coda”, the first magazine exclusively devoted to electronic music and culture since 1996. The following year, “Trax Magazine” classified him number one.
CLUBS AND FESTIVALS
In May and July 1992, Jack co-organizes the Atomix parties in Marseilles. It’s the first time a rave party is authorized. The buzz around these parties, where also Laurent Garnier played, is so big that he was contacted to play at the “Transmusicales de Rennes” festival since December 1992. From that moment on, Jack De Marseille is asked to play at the most popular festivals of the world: Boréalis in Montpellier (France), Astropolis in Brest (France), Sonar in Barcelona (Spain), Dance Valley à Amsterdam, I Love Techno in Ghent (Belgium), Energy in Switzerland, Mayday in Mexico and Germany, Nature One and Time Warp in Germany, Sziget in Budapest, Creamfields festival in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Global Gathering in England, La Fiesta des Suds and Marsatac in Marseilles (France)…
He also multiplies his residencies and is invited to the most prestigious clubs: The Rex and the Palace in Paris, Tresor and Berghain in Berlin, Space, Pivilège, Amnésia and Pacha from Ibiza, Rohstofflager and Weetamix in Switzerland, Fuse in Brussels, Café d’ Anvers, Ministry of Sound and Heaven from London , The Arches in Glasgow , The Area in Montreal , Love E Club in San Paulo, Volar in Hong Kong, Roxy in Prague, OTV in Zagreb, club IT, Now and Wow and Club More in Holland, Matis in Bologna, Rachdingue, Sala del Cel, Florida 135, Loft and Ku in Spain…
RADIO
Jack de Marseille had a residency on Radio FG for many years, but also on Couleur 3 (Switzerland) and Radio Grenouille (Marseille, France). Next to that, he also produces many mixes for numerous radios: Radio One (England), Radio Bruxelles (Belgium), France Inter (France), as well as for Chinese and Russian radio-stations.
TECHNO PARADE
In 1998 Jack participates in the Techno Parade, organized in Paris according to its Berliner brother, the Love Parade, which gathered 1,5 million spectators. In 1999 the same federation organizes an event with Jack in the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France). He has also been a resident for the famous Rex Club in Paris for 13 years now. All these events help establish electronic music as an art form and get it recognition from authorities, media and artist organizations. Jack plays an active role in this also.
MODE / FILM
Jack de Marseille likes to put his numerous skills to use in a variety of domains. Thus he collaborates with different fashion designers such as Élisabeth Rapetti who worked with Agnès B, or Paco Rabane, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Jean-Paul Gaultier. He also composes one of the titles of the original soundtrack of the scenic adaptation of the film Trainspotting, in 1997.
RECORD SHOP
In 1995 Jack opens “Wax records” his record store in Marseilles. There he offers the largest possible range of styles, from trip hop to drum’n bass, from electro to easy listening. He imports the best house and techno records from Chicago and Detroit and Berlin dub .
FROM DJ TO PRODUCER
As a result of his numerous experiences, he decides to compose his own music and makes “Submerge” his first single in 1997. It is released on Ozone, the label from Oxia and Kiko, the first ones ever to sign The Hacker.
This new orientation in his career, is the inspiration for the creation of his own label Wicked Music in 2001. Jack wants to make other artists benefit from his success by producing them. He signs amongst others EDP, David Carretta, Trisomie 21, 2 Rare People, …. In 2002 he releases his first album “Free my music” on Wicked Music / Wagram of which more than 16.500 copies were sold.
The next years are extremely busy for Jack: he plays in all corners of the world whilst still finding the time to produce numerous remixes for artists as prestigious as Audio Bullys, P.Diddy, Slow Train, The Advent, Anthony Rother, Trisomie 21, ..
Next to that numerous mix compilations reflect the diversity of his musical orientations.
INNER VISIONS, CONCEPT ALBUM.
With the collaboration of Sébastien Rexovice - sound engineer and long time friend of Jack - Inner Visions is written like an inspired, melodic inner trip in which the artist tries to re-invent his musical diversity and the dynamic of his dj sets. Without forgetting his roots in Chicago house and Detroit techno or the dubby rhythms of Berlin, he also ventures into using vocals on one of the tracks. The album offers several levels of experiencing it: very laid-back when played quiet, it displays dancefloor-oriented tones when you pump up the volume. As such Jack de Marseille confirms his talents as a gifted producer as well as his desire to surprise people, to touch their souls and make their bodies dance.
To create the universe in which he would like to immerge us, Jack has chosen to establish links with other artists so that his music can transcend the pure acoustic level and can touch the spirits of his audience. In the album booklet, Aline Soler, writes a couple of verses in which the power of words enlighten the work of the musician. The language is concise, brief in words and repeats the rhythms, … The visual of the cover is a painting by Russian artiste, Vika Prokopaviciute, and it opens the doors to a mental universe, at times figurative and abstract, colorful and worrying, at other times styled and psychedelic.
It is definitely there that Jack’s message lies: propose new directions in his musical productions, satisfy his public without forsaking their expectations to take them to other dimensions and make them dream….And always in the rhythm…
