Jean-Marc Rollez studied piano and then double bass , winning first prize for this instrument at the Roubaix Conservatory. Admitted to the Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris, he also won first prize there after two years.

As an orchestral musician, he was successively a member of the Monte -Carlo and ORTF orchestras , then, as principal double bass, of the Lamoureux Orchestra , the Pasdeloup Orchestra (between 1957 and 1991), the Théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique and the Paris Opera .

At the same time, Rollez gave solo concerts with various orchestras in Paris , France and abroad. For the conductor and musicographer Alain Pâris , "the beauty of the sounds he drew from the double bass, his dexterity and his musicality soon brought him international fame.

As a teacher, Jean-Marc Rollez taught at the Institut des hautes études musicales in Montreux before becoming a professor at the Paris Conservatoire between 1978 and 1996, training a whole generation of French double bass players.