JEAN PIERRE DURAND

JP Durand is guitarist and co-founder of Incendio. He is by far the funniest and most intelligent member of the band. He is, however, also prone to playing with his food, and is mortally afraid of freshly-cut grass.

JP’s parents came from Lima, Peru, which, for those of you keeping score at home, is not in Europe. As a boy, he took piano lessons from the age of seven, learning pieces by ear and generally ignoring any disciplined approach to music. In the 6th grade, JP joined the Paulist Choristers in Westwood CA and received invaluable advanced ear training as well as experience singing the Catholic latin mass! This was followed in 7th grade by hearing Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” for the first time, and it was pretty much all over. He spent the end of grade school and all of high school doing home-work and playing the guitar, getting good grades and staying out of trouble. This culminated in his parents forcing him to leave the house to stay out late and interact with other humans. After which, his grades slid and he got in trouble.

At UC Berkeley, JP earned a bachelor’s degree in economics while performing in a 10-piece R&B group and playing the blues at the Til Two Lounge (near Flint’s BBQ in Berkeley). However, it was not until 1995 when he began to collaborate with his future wife and partner, Liza Carbe, when he really started to apply every little ideal and opinion formed by listening obsessively to all styles of music.

In 1997, they were hired by Paramount Music to compose cues for Entertainment Tonight, which were then used extensively on many other Paramount shows. This is when JP discovered he could play guitar in his pajamas and be paid for it, an employment revelation from which he has yet to recover. He has also worked with Liza on several different library CD’s for Sonoton, Megatrax, Five Alarm Music and Frameworx. They have also written, produced, and performed on music for “Extreme Makeover”, “American Idol”, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, “Ellen”, the Flameworthy Country Music Awards, several independent films, and a host of other network shows as well as A&E (“History of Mexico” miniseries) and Animal Planet (“Who Gets the Dog” and “Ultimate Zoo”, amongst others).

JP has co-produced and co-composed the seven Incendio international CD releases as well as a live DVD. In addition, he has produced, co-produced, and/or engineered over 30 CD’s by other artists including acclaimed international jazz vocalist Carmen Lundy and saxophonist Steve Marsh (from Lyle Lovett’s Large Band), amongst others. More recently, JP has returned to his roots, playing and recording with his blues group, the Red Mystics. JP has official endorsements with Alvarez-Yairi Guitars, Audio-Technica Microphones, Mackie Designs, and EAW speakers.

www.carbedurand.com
www.myspace.com/redmystics