"The day I stop enjoying it, I'll stop": we met trumpeter Daoud, the revelation of the first evening of the Nice Jazz Fest

Often, when you do things seriously without taking yourself too seriously, it's even better. Before his very first time at the Nice Jazz Fest, Thursday as the opening act at the Théâtre de Verdure, Daoud didn't seem too worried.

After making his adjustments in the late afternoon, the trumpeter fell into the arms of singer China Moses, who asked him if he was up for playing a song during her set. Bingo. Despite his ironic "I Don't Work Here " pin ( "I don't work here" for those who skipped English class) pinned to his vest, the trumpeter accepted the job without hesitation.

"The day I don't enjoy it anymore, I'll stop."

Late into the night, the duo even did it again during a jam session. "The day I don't enjoy it anymore, I'll stop. I've done it before. There's a certain amount of nonchalance in my communication, that's for sure. But music is serious, it's my life," he insists.

Right now, things are going well for Daoud. Jazz News magazine put him on the cover of its latest issue, the dates are coming thick and fast, and his new album, OK , will arrive on August 29.

"People are starting to give in," laughs the artist from Vandoeuvre, in Lorraine, behind his full beard . " I focused all my energy on a single project [his first album, Good Boy , editor's note] for four years. When you meet artists who have already reached a certain level of recognition, you realize that our impression of seeing them arrive overnight is false. Before that, there were eight to ten years of eating shit," says the prompter.

The soul of a clown

And for him, where did the trigger come from? "My luck is that the public responded. When it's like that, even those who don't want to like you are forced to call you," he says ironically.

On stage, it's a bit of the same lemonade. Daoud takes a mischievous pleasure in shaking up his audience, wandering around with a haggard or possessed air, venturing in all the directions that seem exciting to him, between jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. He also doesn't hold back from making jokes, like a stand-up comedian on the edge of a precipice. "I like to see how far I can take the audience into discomfort, without them hating me," says Daoud.

"The trumpet, even today, remains an excuse to do stupid things. I was obsessed with clowns when I was a kid. I must have seen one playing one day and I wanted to imitate him. And I'm super talkative. It's horrible, but I prefer it to a hyper-produced, hyper-staged show."