The short version
- Jarre's April 1986 album. Six tracks, about 35 minutes, and a number 9 in the UK.
- The last track was written for the astronaut Ron McNair to play on saxophone aboard Challenger. On 28 January 1986 the shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after lift-off.
- On the record the French jazz player Pierre Gossez took the part. At the Houston concert on 5 April it was Kirk Whalum.
- The album is dedicated to McNair and the six others who died with him.
On the morning of 28 January 1986, 73 seconds after lift-off from Florida, the shuttle Challenger broke apart. All seven people on board were killed. One of them, the physicist Ron McNair, was an astronaut who played jazz saxophone. He had been due to play a piece by Jean-Michel Jarre in orbit.
Where it sits in music history
The five records to start with are in Jean-Michel Jarre: where to start. The guide puts this one fifth and last, because it is where music made in a kitchen walks out into a city.
One record back is Zoolook (1984), a strange album built from voices all over the world, cut up on a Fairlight. Rendez-Vous turns back to melody. It takes the slow chords and clear themes of Oxygène and Équinoxe and builds them bigger, to carry further.
It was recorded at a studio in Croissy, west of Paris. According to Jean-Louis Remilleux's 1988 book, cited on Wikipedia, it took about two months and leans hard on the Elka Synthex. The Radio France choir sings on "Second Rendez-Vous". The credits also list a laser harp, the instrument you play by breaking beams of light with your hands, and on stage Jarre often plays "Second Rendez-Vous" on it.
The McNair connection is spelled out in the sleeve notes. "Last Rendez-Vous" was written specially for Ron, for him to play on saxophone in the shuttle. The notes say he loved the piece and rehearsed it with enthusiasm until the very end. Wikipedia's entry on McNair adds that he was to record it in space and then perform it through a link-up with Jarre's Houston concert.
- Released
- April 1986, Disques Dreyfus DLP 2005 (French LP). Polydor POLH 27 in the UK
- Recorded
- studio in Croissy, outside Paris
- Composed and produced by
- Jean-Michel Jarre
- Saxophone
- Pierre Gossez ("Last Rendez-Vous")
- Choir
- Radio France choir ("Second Rendez-Vous")
- Cover
- Michel Granger
- Length
- six tracks, 34:54 on the original French LP
- Chart
- UK 9, 38 weeks
Track list
| A1 | First Rendez-Vous | 2:53 |
| A2 | Second Rendez-Vous | 10:53 |
| A3 | Third Rendez-Vous | 3:28 |
| B1 | Fourth Rendez-Vous | 3:59 |
| B2 | Fifth Rendez-Vous | 7:56 |
| B3 | Last Rendez-Vous ("Ron's Piece") | 5:45 |
Timings follow the original French LP as listed on Discogs. CD editions differ by a few seconds, and some split the two long tracks into parts. The last track's subtitle needs no translating.
Through the six tracks
The guide says to play "Second Rendez-Vous" first and then skip to the end. Here we go through in order.
"First Rendez-Vous" is a door, under 3 minutes long. Slow chords, no hint of what is coming. Time to take a breath.
"Second Rendez-Vous" is the centre of side one. For almost 11 minutes synthesizer fanfares and the choir swell in turn. A 2018 interview piece cited on Wikipedia says it was inspired by Wendy Carlos's music for A Clockwork Orange. When the choir comes in, the room gets wider. Play it loud.
"Fourth Rendez-Vous" opens side two. It has the plainest beat on the record and was the single. According to the same piece, it began as a demo Jarre had thrown away, and his long-time collaborator Michel Geiss talked him into saving it. Your feet will get there before you do.
Then "Last Rendez-Vous". Slow synthesizers, and then the saxophone. Apart from the choir, it is the only place on the record where you hear a human breath. When it comes in, think of the paragraph in the guide. That breath was meant to be taken in orbit.
How to listen
- Play side one straight through. Turn it up a notch when the choir enters "Second Rendez-Vous".
- Turn the record over and loosen up to "Fourth Rendez-Vous".
- Hear the last track with the lights off. When the saxophone stops, do not put another record on straight away.
What happened next
Days after the album came out, on 5 April 1986, Jarre used downtown Houston as his stage. The show marked the city's 150th anniversary and NASA's 25th, and it was the first concert he had ever played in the United States. According to his official site, huge sheets of canvas were hung over the skyscrapers to catch the lasers and projections. The music also went out on radio, so people could hear it on car stereos and boomboxes.
How many people were there depends on who you ask. The Houston Chronicle estimated 1.3 million. Jarre's own site says around 1.3 million in its text and 1.5 million in its summary box. Wikipedia gives an estimated 1.5 million.
That night the saxophone on "Last Rendez-Vous" was played by Kirk Whalum, in McNair's place, during the part of the show given over to space. On 5 October the same year Jarre played Lyon for Pope John Paul II's visit, and Whalum played the piece again.
The album reached number 9 in the UK and stayed on the chart for 38 weeks. In France it won instrumental album of the year at the Victoires de la Musique. Twelve years later "Fourth Rendez-Vous" came back: ITV used a remake with Apollo 440, "Rendez-Vous 98", for its 1998 World Cup coverage.
The one track to send a friend
Send "Last Rendez-Vous". It runs 5:45. Add one line: the saxophone was meant to be recorded aboard the space shuttle, by an astronaut who was also a physicist and a saxophonist, Ron McNair. The sleeve notes say he rehearsed it until the very end.
Where to get it
The 1986 French original, Disques Dreyfus DLP 2005, is the record as it first appeared. Polydor released it in the UK. Play it through to the end of side two. When the saxophone fades, look up once, to where that breath was supposed to go.