Son of a coal miner and amateur trumpet player. He worked in the coal mines at 14 years old for four years. He began playing the cornet as a boy and later switched to the trumpet. He studied at the Paris Music Conservatory in Paris, France where military band members received free tuition. He joined the Eighth Regiment Band stationed at Mont-Valerien outside Paris. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory in 1953.

[in 1983] It takes a strong personality to make an impact with the trumpet. You're like a matador in a bull ring. I see flutists and oboists go on the stage gingerly. You can't do that with the trumpet, you're finished. You have to go as a winner.