Born in Paris in 1938, Tusques moved with his family to Brittany soon afterward. However, his father, Francois, was a key figure in the French Resistance. Francois and his family moved quite a lot during and after World War II. They spent two years in Afghanistan, two more in Dakar, and then returned to France. Because of the high risk of being ‘out’ as a Resistance member, Tusques didn’t attend French schools during his childhood, fearing that his father’s secrets would be revealed to his peers. His secretiveness and the fact that his family was mobile made it difficult for Tusques to start musical training. He began studying piano at the age of eighteen. “I only had one week of lessons. After that, I was completely on my own. You could call me an ‘autodidact’.” Tusques soon discovered jazz, and his global outlook allowed him to hear sounds that were not available elsewhere during World War II. He also found affinities with Cecil Taylor (“but, I’m not a technical pianist ,” Tusques says. There was a large scene of American expatriate musicians in Paris at the beginning of the 1960s. These included Bud, Dexter Gordon and Kenny Clarke as well as traditionalists such Assibet. A few young French players were also available to join the fun, like Pierre Michelot and Barney Wilen, the saxophonist. As in England and other parts of Europe, French jazz in this period was almost exclusively dependent on the American post-bop style. There were a few players who could play alongside American peers and manage the changes. There was a small group of French improvisers who felt American-derived bebop wasn’t the end. Jef Gilson, composer, arranger, and sometimes pianist, was one of the leaders of Paris’ new jazz scene. He mentored young musicians like Bernard Vitet and Jean-Louis Chautemps as well as Charles Saudrais and Beb Guerin, who were soon to be the leading lights. Tusques was, however, the only Parisian pianist willing to take those steps into the complex compositional sound-world that is ‘free jazz’. Those who saw an upward-and-outward-movement with this music looked up to Tusques for a fulcrum. In 1965, Vitet and Chautemps had asked Tusques for a few loose pieces to be composed by a group of classical clarinetists. This led to the recording, Free Jazz, which was recorded for Marcel Moloudji’s small label Moloudji. Gunter Hampel, a German vibraphonist and composer, recorded Free Jazz (Saba 1965), with Manfred Schoof (CBS 1966). This is the first documentation of an entirely European improvised music. It draws more heavily from regional influences that allaboutjazz.
