Chassol tells us about his relationship with music

Christophe Chassol, known as Chassol, is a French composer, arranger and pianist.

After studying at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he became a conductor, then a teacher, and contributed to albums by big-name artists such as Frank Ocean and Solange. This, of course, never prevented him from dedicating himself to his own music in parallel. In 2020, he tried his hand at something new when he began his very own music column named “La Chronique de Christophe Chassol” on French radio station, France Inter. For a year, Chassol created short episodes of around seven minutes, in which he used his platform to shed light on artists, albums or soundtracks that, in his opinion, deserve more recognition.

But Chassol’s creative expansion didn’t stop there. In 2023 he worked on several new projects, most notably he hosted a music program called Ground Control, which was broadcast on the Arte Concert TV channel. That same year, he collaborated with French film studio company Gaumont, in curating an event that revisited the brand’s cinematic heritage. The event featured an exhibition, a concert and a series of screenings at “La Gaité Lyrique”, a cultural center in the heart of Paris. This collaboration between Chassol and Gaumont has deep roots, since the two first came together twenty years prior to create the musical theme associated with Gaumont’s iconic daisy logo.

Chassol is a musician, certainly, but he is so much more. He is an artist in every sense of the term, as his illustrious career reflects.

Find out more about this multi-talented man by listening to his Bridge Connect interview below.

In this article, you’ll find a more in-depth explanation of the factors that have enabled Chassol to become the person he is today.

The encounters that made him fall in love with music

The first person who inspired him and made him fall in love with the world of music was his father, a musician himself. Much later, he met Bertrand Burgalat*, founder of the label Tricatel, who helped him go even further and find his footing in the music industry. Burgalat believed in Chassol, but more than anything, he understood his vision. Together, they released albums that propelled Chassol to success.

*Bertrand Burgalat is a french producer, musician, composer, and singer. He’s also the founder of the label Tricatel. He has been collaborating with Chassol on different projects for more than a decade now, as seen in the excerpt below.

Artistic encounters that forever changed his creative approach

There is not just one but several sources of inspiration that have fueled Chassol’s creativity. His first immersion into the music industry happened when he saw the film The Towering Inferno, accompanied by John Williams’s soundtrack, an experience that profoundly marked his beginnings in the musical world.

A Space Odyssey also played an important role in the development of his fascination for the interplay between music and image.

But it wasn’t until he came across Johan van der Keuken’s work*, a documentary filmmaker known for his experimental style, that his mind opened to all the unique and creative ways of synchronizing music with visuals.

*Johan van der Keuken was a Dutch filmmaker and photographer driven by his passion for visual mediums. He developed his own cinematic style, bordering between documentary and experimental. His unique vision of visual art and cinema was characterized by what he called “a physiological cinema that records its surroundings and conveys it in the flow of images through the prism of thought.” (French source: on-tek.com)

Finally, the composer Hermeto* was also a great source of inspiration for Chassol.

*Hermeto Pascoal was a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist whose music revolutionized bossa nova and Brazilian jazz when it first came out. He drew his inspiration from the four elements offered by the Earth and was described as someone who “condenses energy and precipitates dispersion while giving voice to landscapes.” (French source: cinémutins.com)

Collaborations that have marked his career

The two collaborations that had a notable impact on Chassol’s career are the projects he worked on with Frank Ocean and Solange Kwoles. In regards to Frank Ocean, Chassol worked on his first visual album,Endless.

Chassol’s imprint can be seen above in the rich imagery associated with the album. Indeed, Chassol drew from his own passion for the combination of music and visuals, to bring his own personal touch to Endless.

Chassol’s presence can also be felt on Solange Knowles’ 2019 album “When I Get Home”, which he helped produce alongside John Key and Pharrell Williams. Here is an excerpt below:

His most significant musical discoveries

For Chassol, sacred Indian music is particularly interesting because of its depth and tension. In particular, he draws inspiration from a singer called Shubhada Paradkar who embodies this musical style perfectly.

In a completely opposite style, A$AP Rocky’s first album was also a great source of inspiration for Chassol, in large part due to how rich it is in terms of innovative processes.

A filmmaker with whom he would love to collaborate

If Jordan Peel* called Chassol up and offered to have him compose the music for his next film, he certainly wouldn’t say no!

Jordan Peele is an American actor, comedian, director, screenwriter and producer. He directed the film “Get Out” released in 2017 as well as “Nope” released in 2022. He is best known for his comedy duo with Keegan-Michael Key, a duo called Key & Peele.

Conclusion

Chassol is a man made up of many different cultures, from his native Martinique to Brazil and the Netherlands. Beyond his nationality, he shows himself to be open-minded, namely in his musical tastes that include a wide spectrum of styles from A$AP Rocky to Shubhada Paradkar. In this article, as in his associated Bridge Connect interview, only one part of Chassol’s life is highlighted, yet his career is remarkable and well worth a closer look. His vision of cinema and music is innovative, and in most of his projects the two go hand in hand. That’s why we encourage you to find out more about Chassol for yourself.