jean-blaise rochat
Jean-Blaise Rochat was born on Sept. 14, 1946 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
While he was studying medicine, he started playing banjo and guitar with local singers/musicians. In the early ’70s, he met Bill Clifton, who was living in Britain at that time. They went on tour in Europe quite a few times together, sometimes as a duet team, sometimes in the context of a four or five piece Bluegrass band. He also backed Bill Clifton and Red Rector in their ’76 and ’78 European tours.
He didn’t play much music over the next 25 years because of his medical activity as a urologist, but decided to give more space to music in the new millennium.
He was part of Bill Clifton’s “Pick of the Crop” for his 2001 European tour, along with Raymond McLain, Tom Gray and Dutch fiddler Joost van Es. He appeared on the “Carter Fold” stage in Hilton, VA, with Bill Clifton and Joe and Janette Carter. Jean-Blaise also performed with such people as Jimmy Gaudreau and the late Art Stamper, backing Bill in his annual appearances in Harpers Ferry,WV.
Along with Raymond McLain and Joost van Es (among others), he recorded a double CD called “JB’s Band Album” which was released in 2007. This album also features Bill Clifton on a few tracks.
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