Didier Lockwood had a diverse career, ranging from progressive rock to fusion to swing and advanced hard bop. He was a member of French avant-prog outfit Magma in the 1970s, and in the '80s he was considered the next in a line of great French violinists after Stephane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty. Lockwood began studying violin when he was six. Ten years later, he stopped his formal training and joined a rock group. He played in Paris with Aldo Romano and Daniel Humair, among others, and met Grappelli and toured with him. He had a fusion group called Surya and recorded with Tony Williams around the same period of time (1979). Lockwood played in the United States on various occasions and recorded an acoustic album in 1986 with fellow violinists John Blake and Michal Urbaniak. He continued to perform and record, with a large discography as leader or collaborator extending well into the first two decades of the new millennium. Didier Lockwood died in Paris in February 2018 at the age of 62. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi