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. Gong became a real band for an appearance at the Amougies festival in October 1969. The same label released Magick Brother (1969), the first Gong album, on which Malherbe appeared alongside musicians of various backgrounds, whether pop or jazz.

In 1969, back in Paris, he joined a raga-blues-folk trio, Morning Calm, and played free jazz with American pianist Burton Greene, appearing on his album recorded for the BYG label. There he worked on improving his flute playing, 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.' In the summer of 1968, Malherbe left for Majorca, in the Balearic Islands, where he found shelter in the property of writer Robert Graves. This was such a hit that it was made into a feature film in 1968. In 1966, he appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Chappaqua, credited to Ravi Shankar, and dabbled with rock music for the first time, electrifying his sax when he appeared, as part of a band called Les Rollsticks, in Marc'O's successful comedy-rock Les Idoles. In 1964-65, he travelled around Morocco, staying in a community in Tangier, playing with other hippie musicians such as guitarist Davey Graham and absorbing elements of Arabic music. Back in Paris, he took classical flute lessons, while studying ancient languages at the Sorbonne university.

In 1962, after hearing the first Ravi Shankar album, he travelled to India, where he discovered bamboo flute and learned to play bansuri, Indian bamboo flute.

Then free jazz arrived, which got rid of all the rules. 'I had grown puzzled about bebop because of so many rules. 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, Jacques Thollot. 7.4 With Hadouk Quartet (Didier Malherbe / Loy Ehrlich / Eric Löhrer / Jean-Luc Di Fraya)ĭidier Malherbe began playing saxophone at age 13 after hearing Charlie Parker's ' Bloomdido', a title he later would adopt as his nickname.7.3 With Hadouk Trio (Didier Malherbe / Loy Ehrlich / Steve Shehan).

Didier malherbe bloom