I am sorry to report that there is no improvement in Patrick's condition. In fact, I am told that he has what is called “Locked-in Syndrome”. This is a condition that few if any ever emerge from. Considering this, I would like to pass along a bit more information, including a short biography/CV.

Patrick has been a fixture on the Paris guitar scene for a long time. He's a superb guitarist (left handed, too) and can play in many styles. He played with the famed accordeonist Jo Privat, with many renowned gypsy guitarists, and made records here in the US with Bucky Pizarelli and saxophonist Richie Cole. His own records, whether they were solo efforts, with his regular band “Alma Sinti”or with various others like Koen de Kauter, were always full of clever arrangements, first class playing and superb production. He founded Djaz Records, a small company that put out many CDs of gypsy jazz and French mainstream jazz. This includes records by Ninine Garcia, Am Ketenes, Dany Bittel, Koen De Kauter, Raphael Fays, Dorado and Tchavolo Schmitt, and many more. He put a lot of effort into the production and packaging on the CDs Djaz issued – even the ones that he had to know would never make a dime. In years past he published a small but very interesting magazine called “Jazz Swing Journal”. These old magazines give a great look at what the Paris jazz world was like back in the 80s. Patrick is a great and generous character, always the guy who'd buy the first round. Because he's been around such a long time he always had great stories to tell – like the one he told me about how he and Didier Roussin got jobs playing in Jo Privat's band: old Jo was so impressed at their drinking prowess during the “interview”, he hired them on the spot without ever hearing them play... The point here is that though many people may be saddened by this turn of events, I don't think that the North American GJ community at large is fully aware of Patrick's place in the world of this music we all love. Believe me, his contributions were many and significant.

In recent conversations with friends in France, I've learned that Patrick's family has had considerable financial difficulty since he's been in the hospital. A few weeks ago I suggested to them that it might be possible to raise a few dollars for Patrick's family here in North America. I asked my old friend Francis-Alfred Moerman (he has known Patrick and his wife Lodie for many years) to check with the family to see if this was OK with them – I certainly did not wish to embarrass anyone. Francis called a few days ago and has gotten a green light from the family - they were surprised and quite grateful. So I'm going to give it a shot.

What I'm doing is this: I've set up a paypal account – it's the easiest way to transfer money around among individuals. And I'm asking members of this community to donate a small bit of money to help out Patrick's family. No one needs to give a lot, there are a lot of us here. After a period of time, all the money and names of donors (but not amounts given) will be transferred by the least expensive manner to the Saussois family. An accounting procedure is in place – any questions, please PM me at djangobooks.com or email me at helppatrick[at]gmail[dot]com. Paypal will take some of this money, around 3.3%, but that's a token amount. Except for such fees, every penny donated will go to the family. Any kind of currency is OK, of course. I don't think I can reasonably accept donations any other way except paypal. This isn't going to drag on and I'm not going to make a career of asking. We'll make this original request and then update once a week or so. Sometime in late June the project will end and all the money will go to Patrick's family.

Please spread the word on this, and many thanks to everyone in advance.