The biographical section tells the story of Bruno's career through the many encounters that have shaped his destiny: from a hairdresser in Châtelet with a passion for jazz to the producer Patrick Bauwens who enabled him to publish his first three solo projects, via Toots Thielemans who took the drummer around the world, we are offered a gallery of lively portraits.

Other aspects are covered in this comprehensive work, including the dedicatee's encounters with celebrities, his studio and teaching activities, his heroes, his bedside albums, his “heirs” and those he has trained, the place of the drums in jazz with technical opinions, reviews of his albums, etc. Finally, this itinerary includes an interview with saxophonist Sylvain Debaisieux, who sheds light on the drummer's personality and, in particular, his apprehension about the difficulties faced by today's artists in getting their music heard.

The book ends, as it should, with a bibliography and an abundant discography (no less than 76 pages) that covers a list, still qualified as non-exhaustive, of some 180 jazz recordings by the drummer, plus sessions for variety and other “non-jazz” productions.

From Toots Thielemans to Jan Akkerman, Placebo to Michel Herr, Barbara Dennerlein to Éric Legnini, Jacques Pelzer to Lee Konitz and the legendary Jaco Pastorius, these pages are a reminder of the extent to which Bruno Castellucci has been and continues to be present on the European jazz scene, lending his talent to an impressive number of musicians in groups of all sizes and in the most diverse styles.

The author

Saxophonist and clarinettist Michel Mainil is one of the most active musicians on the jazz scene, both in Belgium and abroad (France, Holland, Great Britain, Morocco, Cameroon, Poland, Italy, Quebec, Mali...).