J.J. MilteauJean-Jacques "J.J." Milteau was born neither in Chicago nor in the Mississippi Delta, but rather in Paris. He became enamored of the blues in the 60s, listening to recordings by Sonny Terry, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson- a somewhat uncommon affinity in Paris at the time.
J.J. began playing country blues and bluegrass with friends at age fifteen. later, he traveled throughout Europe, playing and learning through contact with various musicians he met along the way. After that, he spent some time in the United States playing in clubs and festivals with a group he had formed.
On returning to France, he realized his firt reording sessions, gathering various famous artists that he had performed with on stage and on television shows, among them the actor and singer Yves Montand. Since then J.J. has made various recordings in which he mixes the different styles that influenced him, achieving a distinctive sound at the moment of their creation.
J.J. speaks with humor and enthusiasm of the common everyday instrument that is for him the most intimate and popular- the harmonica, his truest travel companion, the one he never leaves behind from Paris to Shanghai, from London to Memphis, from Pretoria to Havana, from his heart to his audience.
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