Jean-Michel Jarre Pens Electronic Music History Book

New York, NY (July 29, 2026)—Electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has recorded groundbreaking music, sold an estimated 80 million records, mounted legendary concert productions and, for a time in the 1990s, even held the world record for the largest-ever outdoor event audience. Now he’s moving to a new medium with the upcoming release of his first book, Machines: A History of Electronic Music. The 368-page tome will arrive November 24, 2026 from publisher Thames & Hudson.

Throughout the book, Jarre will trace the history of electronic music, delving back to 1913 with Luigi Russolo’s Futurist manifesto The Art of Noises, and then moving forward to highlight the ideas, technologies and concepts that shaped electronic music’s evolution.

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To help illustrate the book, Jarre will use 130 curated, specially photographed examples—from iconic modular synthesizers to rare prototypes and bespoke one-offs—from his extensive personal collection of electronic and electro-acoustic instruments. Along the way, Jarre will examine technological breakthroughs from tape manipulation and analogue synthesis to the digital revolution, 3D recording, immersive multimedia, and AI-assisted performance.

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While Jarre’s own work has often been at the cutting edge of electronic music’s development, many artists have been involved in the form’s progress, so the book will feature contributions from other notable, genre-defining artists such as Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran), Vince Clarke (Erasure/Yazoo/Depeche Mode), Gillian Gilbert (New Order), Johnny Marr (The Smiths/The The/Electronic), Gary Numan, Nicolas Godin (Air) and others.