Alain Goraguer has passed away today at 91 years old.
Born in Paris, Goraguer studied piano and violin, which he quickly abandoned in order to pursue a career in jazz music after a fortunate meeting with renowned jazz musician Jack Diéval.
The pianist, arranger and composer worked as Boby Lapointe's arranger for some of his greatest hits, from the 50s up to the early 70s. Their most-known songs include Aragon and Castile (1960), Le Déserteur (1954) and La Maman des Poissons (1969).
He also became famous for his jazz movie soundtracks, such as Pierre Kast's Amour de poche (1957) and L'Affaire Dominici (1973) by Claude Bernard-Aubert. And, of course, René Laloux's early short films Les Temps morts (1964), Les Escargots (1965) and the masterpiece La Planète sauvage (1973).
His work has also been often sampled by contemporary rap hip-hop artists like Quasimoto and J Dilla.
