Dibango first studied classical piano and then later took up the saxophone around 1954. A meeting with American sailors initiated his interest in jazz, and he explored the jazz scene in Calais. He started a band before he really even knew how to play properly, picking things up as he went along and achieving remarkably positive results.
Two years later he moved from France to Belgium, playing sax and vibraphone with various jazz bands in Brussels. Later he travelled to Zaire,...