Étienne Mbappé – Bass

Étienne Mbappé, originally from Bonendale, a village in Douala, Cameroon, is a Cameroonian musician. He began to study guitar on his own, and when he arrived in France in 1978, he enrolled at the Chevilly-Larue Conservatory to study classical guitar and, then, classical double bass in 1981–1983. In 1985, he joined the great orchestra of Rido Bayonne with which he played until 1987, as a bass player. He met Mario Canonge, then a pianist in Ultramarine, and joined him in 1986. He played with him, as well as Mokhtar Samba and Nguyên Lê^[3].

In 1987, he became bassist of the National Jazz Orchestra (ONJ) under the direction of Antoine Hervé, with whom he toured extensively in Europe, Africa and the United States. He also toured extensively with Nicole Croisille. In 1990-92, he joined Salif Keïta’s band as bassist and musical director. They performed many concerts around the world. From 1990 to 1995, he toured in France and abroad with Jacques Higelin (60 concerts), Liane Foly (90 concerts) and Catherine Lara.

In 1996, at the same time as he created the quartet Chic Hot with Mario Canonge, he met Michel Jonasz, whom he accompanied on bass on record and on stage (concerts at the Casino de Paris in 1997, in Canada and France). From 2000, Étienne Mbappé played with Joe Zawinul and was a full member of the Zawinul Syndicate. He has also performed many concerts with Louis Winsberg. In 2001, he recorded on Ray Charles’ latest album.

In 2010, he joined John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension, with whom he recorded a debut album, To the One the same year, and Now Here This in 2012. He then devoted himself to his solo career, while continuing to tour with artists such as Bill Evans, John McLaughlin, and bands such as Steps Ahead.

Étienne Mbappé plays the bass with gloves, an extremely rare feature in the world of stringed instruments. The use of these gloves would create a peculiar, thicker and softer sound that is now recognized as his musical signature.

Transcribing this tune has reminded me of something that I have found to be comforting over the years. When you hear something very complex, it is only ever something very simple played faster. All you need to do to be able to play these things is to know what they are. It really is as simple as that. Once you understand what it is you are supposed to play, nothing is actually any harder than anythi9ng else. This tune sounds incredibly complicated but, if you spend some time with the chart, you will be surprised how accessible some of these things are once you get your head around them.

The is the complete Étienne Mbappé bass part for his tune ‘Djanea’ from the 1989 Ultramarine album, ‘Dé’. Another request received through the website.