Didier Malherbe[a] (born January 22, 1943, in Paris), is a French jazz, rock and world music musician, known as a member of the bands Gong and Hadouk, as well as a poet.

After two years of formal training on saxophone, he began to participate in jam sessions at various Paris jazz clubs alongside the likes of Alby Cullaz, Eddy Louiss, and Jacques Thollot.

During this period Didier practiced his flute and spent time with Kevin Ayers and Daevid Allen, two former members of Soft Machine, whose performance at the Fenêtre Rose festival in late 1967 he later called "a triggering event.

"[4] In 1969, back in Paris, he joined a raga-blues-folk trio named Morning Calm and played free jazz with American pianist Burton Greene, appearing on his album recorded for the BYG label.

Malherbe received the stage name Bloomdido Bad De Grasse from Daevid Allen, a combination of the title of the Charlie Parker standard and a rough English translation of his surname.

The albums Camembert Electrique (1971) and Continental Circus (1972, soundtrack for Jérôme Laperrousaz's movie of the same name) made Gong, along with Magma and others, a key player on the French underground scene of the early 1970s, pioneering the MJC (youth clubs) circuit.

"[5] Following the departures in 1975 of Allen then Steve Hillage, Gong moved to a more jazz-fusion style, influenced by Weather Report, with Malherbe adding a world-music flavour, as exemplified by "Bambooji" on the Shamal (1976) album, an early pointer to his later work as a solo artist.

He is a true virtuoso - but to the point that he never shows it" - Daevid Allen (1977)[5]In 1977, Didier Malherbe formed the band Bloom playing "...jazz-rock, but performed in a personal way, with odd time signatures, some funky ideas and crazy lyrics,".

The unique sound of the Zeff, a harmonic bent PVC pipe, also graced Vangelis' soundtrack for Ridley Scott's movie 1492: Christopher Columbus, and was featured on public TV channel France 3.

In 1996, birth of "Hadouk" with Loy Ehrlich, so named in reference to their respective instruments of choice, guembri Hajhouj (bass of the Gnawas of Morocco) and duduk (Doudouk,double-reed Armenian oboe).

In 2010 he formed a duo with guitarist Éric Löhrer, releasing the double-CD Nuit d'Ombrelle the following year, which mixed jazz standards on duduk and improvisations, arranged as a continuous suite.

Since 2012, he has been playing with classical pianist Jean-François Zygel, appearing on his TV programme La Boite a Musique France 2 and performing live as a trio with percussionist Joel Grare under the title A World Tour In 80 Minutes.

In May 2013, Malherbe and Loy Ehrlich had a residency at the club Le Triton, this time in quartet with Éric Löhrer on guitar and Jean-Luc Di Fraya on percussion and vocals.

With his favorite instruments the saxophone, the Bawuflute and the Chinese Hulusi, the alto clarinet, the ocarina, the Laotian khên, the Ukrainian sopilka, the Moldavian pipe, the "drum tops17" the Armenian duduk, he created a show slam poetry alternating with music performed at the RAMI Festival, the National Stage in Orléans, at the Triton [fr], at the Nanterre Conservatory, at the Baud Media Library, at the Poetry Market in Paris, at the Esprit Frappeur (Lausanne, at the Domaine de Chamarande Lardy (with La Tribu au Sud du Nord, a band made up of big names in French jazz).