Christmas Jazz in Paris, the City of Lights

sooooo... the end of the year, and you're in Paris for Christmas (very romantic!) or the new year (very very romantic) and looking for some Live Jazz in Paris, or some Jazz clubs and cafes in Paris. OK...

Why don't I start off with a slightly sideways recommendation. Why don't you perform some jazz in Paris? Bring your instrument and attend one of the many jazz jams in the city. Or just bring your voice, and three copies of the music of any standard you want to groove on - there is a Vocal Jam at the Le Baiser Salé at 10pm on Dec 23rd.





Or you can use the search function at this website to find the type of music you want (just warning you, its all in French, but I think the search and styles options are pretty obvious). Or if its Django Jam you're looking for then on Dec 26th at 8pm the Cafe i (156 rue du faubourg St Martin, 75010 Paris) has a Boef (a jam in French) where you can work out your gypsy chops. All the Jams are very laid back affairs and they're just delighted to get players in.

But, if getting up on stage isn't your thing, then here are some listening ideas for the rest of the year (all 8 days of it!)

At the Duc Des Lombards Rene Urtreger will be playing on the 29th and 30th. He was the pianist of choice of visiting jazz greats during the 1950's. He played for Lionel Hampton, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Lester Young and Miles Davis. It should be a chance to catch a bit of history on stage. Here's a lovely Youtube clip of him in great form playing a fab standard



and on the 30th and 31st I'll take a chance and recommend Olivier Temine at Sunset/Sunside at 10pm. I've reviewed his concerts before and honestly sometimes I find his mohawked persona a bit much, but there's no faulting his players or professionalism, so I think it'll be a show well worth seeing. The line up will be Jérôme Barde – bardophone ; Emmanuel Duprey – fender rhodes ; Akim Bournane – basse ; Arnold Muezza – percussions ; Julien Charlet – batterie ; Olivier Temine – sax tenor

and then, after the 10pm show on the 31st, if you've planned ahead, then perhaps there's a tiny bottle of champagne tucked in someone's purse or bag, and you are a five minute walk from the bridge over the Seine with one of the best views in the entire world. So I would make haste to any of the bridges and join the gangs of folk bringing in the New Year, and pop a cork into the muddy waters of the river (no doubt to join several centuries of other corks floating around down there....)


enjoy!

Christmas in Paris, Live Jazz over the Holidays

So you're arriving in the city of lights and looking for live jazz clubs in Paris and a chance to see the see some great music in Paris. But you're arriving over the holidays and you're concerned that the bars and clubs will be closing down for the season? Well don't worry, there's lots going and some great players. Unlike August, when Parisians desert the city and leave it to the Tourists and the poverty stricken (those can sometimes be the same, with the prices in the city!) at Xmas the city spends a lot of time out enjoying itself.

And its one of the rare times of year when you'll see a Parisian having an extra couple of drinks and getting a bit tipsy - the metros can become very entertaining!!

anyway - there's lots going on.. so I'll put a couple of picks here for the upcoming week or so, then if you want to check out listings yourself go over to our Venues page.

First, up to the 20th of December there's the ongoing Triton jazz festival.



its a nice venue, just over the edge of the Peripherique, so a little off the beaten track, but very accessible by metro. Personally I'm excited to have the chance to see the combination of the Balafon (an african wooden marimba) played by the Burkina Faso master Moussa Hema, combined with the quartet of Francois Merville. Click here for a sample of Moussa's playing



And although there are lots of big names at the Clubs, don't forget to check out the many jazz jams around the city. Its very free form, but you'll see some of the most amazing players in the city (For Free!) working out their chops with their friends - its a wonderful vibe, and different clubs specialize in different styles. There's a classic night at the Duc des Lombards on Dec 12th at midnight. And personally I LOVE the Jazz Groove Jam at the Caveau des Oubliettes every wednesday night - its where the spirit of Eddie Harris, one my heroes, lives on




(I recommend it especially now they've outlawed smoking in the bars -previously you'd have to schedule half hour breaks just to step out of the cellar to get some oxygen in your lungs!)

Enjoy - I'll put more details for Xmas up next weekend...

December in Jazz in Paris

Jazz Clubs in Paris are in full swing for December. There is great live jazz in December in Paris every night of the week! I'll put a few listings up for the next couple of weeks, and check back in for the holiday season listings - which I'll put mid month

and you can always browse our pages on the venues Here

soooo, as usual I try to pick out something traditional and maybe vocal, fun and couple orientated and something a little more out there, and also then something totally off the radar...

for my Trad. pick -



I'd have to say that Anne Ducros at Duc Des Lombards is a good bet - (that's her with the mic, not the guitar!) she's not the most thrilling singer, but she puts over great standard versions of the tunes she picks, and, since she's French, she has access to a stable of amazing players and will probably mix in some French standards into the evening. She's happening for the next week, till the 8th - links and address details on our venues page.

now this - for the more adventurous out there - should be amazing.



Das Kapital plays Hanns Eisler. Eisler was a German composer of the 20's - 50's and worked in cabaret, along side Kurt Weill, and after the war returned to Germany, unlike Kurt, to work in socialist East Germany. A wonderful composer (I've always loved his song cycle - Hollywood Elegies - written after a period in LA) and I'm so curious what this power trio will do with him. Edward Perraud drums and electronics, Daniel Erdmann, sax, flute and electronics, and Hasse Poulsen guitar. They're playing at Le Triton (11 bis, rue du Coq Français, 93260 Les Lilas) so it's just outside the edge of Paris, but really easy to get to via Metro. Here's Perraud's myspace - very funky

and finally, on the small and tiny note... don't forget the lovely Swan Bar - its wonderfully situated in the South of Paris near Montparnasse. The programming is eclectic, (sometimes too eclectic!) but if you hit it on a good night then the cocktails are great, the lovely Irish bartendress is chatty, and the music and ambiance is very classy. Here is there lineup for Dec. I don't know the specifics of the players, but if you're in the neighbourhood it can be a great bet

02/12 La Clouée 19h30
Lezi 21h30

03/12
Jam Vocale Lexi & Sheldon 21h30

04/12 Laetitia Ayres 19h30
RMG 21h30

05/12 Caroline Jeannoutot & Joel Bouquet 19h30
A.Tcholakian Trio invite Cécilia Bertolini 21h30
Round Midnight avec Sheldon Forrest minuit

06/12 en attente 19h30
Léo Céra 21h30
Round Midnight avec Sheldon Forrest minuit

09/12 Saulo Gama Solo 19h30
Ballades chez Swan 21h30

10/12 YAPA 19h30
Richard Razafindrakoto Trio 21h30

11/12 en attente 19h30
Apéro lyrique Alina Pavalache 21h30

12/12 Maria Inês Guimaraes 19h30
The New Sisters 21h30
Round Midnight avec Sheldon Forrest minuit

Back at it - Jazz in Paris for the Holiday Season

So, there's soooooo much going on in the Paris Jazz Clubs and Cafes and with Live Jazz in Paris over the next month and half. Visitors roll into the city in spite of the rain and drizzle, and what could be more romantic than a walk across the Seine on the Pont Neuf from the left bank to see a fine jazz band playing in the Marais in the cellar of some 500 year old building. And, by the way, its great to back updating this after a couple of months away - life called me away from the web while I toured and did the final mix on my new album (more on that in later posts...)



So, lets start with next weekend......

First, I'll just drop in my link to the listings of Django-style Jazz Manouche. Here's an extensive listing on the pages of Marc Masselin, he hasn't updated these for a while, so always give a call to confirm beforehand!


Then lets try and find something 'out-there', and something a little more trad.


So, coming up on the 21st of November there's a group that wire calls "disciplined, focused music, the sound of people really thinking and playing, and close attention is consistently rewarded." - Clive Bell, The Wire.





Trio Sowari
Phil Durrant software sampler/treatments
Bertrand Denzler tenor saxophone
Burkhard Beins percussion & objects

And they're playing at Souffle continu - 20/22 rue gerbier - 75011 paris - 01 40 24 17 21.

I don't know the group but the label does some really fine work and they've been touring continuously now for the last while with this work. I'm always curious to see how a group integrates the samplers into live work. Here's a review from London

"Trio Sowari is one of European EAI's most consistently impressive working units, and their set didn't disappoint. Percussionist Beins and laptopper Durrant are old hands at lowercase - the former a stalwart of the Berlin scene (Phosphor, Perlonex..), the latter one of the pioneers of so-called reductionism (he helped coin the much-maligned term in the first place) in the groundbreaking trio with Radu Malfatti and Thomas Lehn documented on 1997's Beinhaltung (Fringes) and 1999's dach (Erstwhile). Trio Sowari takes its name from Durrant's 1997 album of the same name, but the violin has been consigned to its case in recent years, and it's on laptop that he joins forces with Beins and tenor saxophonist Denzler, who's mastered a whole repertoire of so-called extended techniques. You'd never guess he started out playing thorny free jazz. That said, Trio Sowari's set at the Instants was quite sprightly, Beins and Denzler's scrapes and hisses coinciding with almost uncanny telepathy to counterpoint Durrant's meticulously deployed fizzles and pops. "Too perfect", grumbled a local noisenik at the bar afterwards. Well, I've heard that said about Evan Parker, too. Maybe it simply means that this kind of music has matured sufficiently to define its own aesthetic rules and regulations. Then again, one person's maturity is another's stagnation. Let's see what the second decade brings. Here's to the next ten years, Jacko."
- Dan Warburton on Potlatch's 10th Anniversary at Les Instants Chavirés, Montreuil (Paris), May 29th-30th, 2008 -


And on a more traditional, accessible level Elizabeth Kontomanou will be at Sunset Sunside with an album release party that's coming out on Nocturne.





She'll be there on the 21st as well and tickets are a reasonable 22 Euros. She has a really fine voice and a nice quartet behind here with some blues and billie holiday stylings going on. You can check out her voice on her Myspace page


And finally, my recommendation for all of the holiday season will continue to be the fantabulous new incarnation of Duc des Lombards - the venerable institution on the street of the same name. When I saw they were 'renovating' it last year I fully expected it to reopen as an Irish Pub, or some other theme bar - but no, they've brought it back in much more splendour than before, with better sightlines and whole new look. So check out any of the programming this season. I'll be pulling some highlights, but its a pretty safe bet any night of the week right now.


and I stumbled on the first image for this posting on the web - its a great mashup of images for Paris and is available here Paris Jazz Poster

Back in Paris, back at the Jazz Clubs,

Hey All... just rolled into town after an amazing run of my show in Edinburgh at the Fringe.. so I'll be updating my listings of live jazz in paris and the paris jazz clubs in the next few days - Looks like there is great stuff coming up...

meanwhile check out the 'clubs in paris' link for lots of addresses of live jazz in Paris

Off for a wee bit

Hi All...

I'm up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the month of August - I'll try and catch up on some listings later this week but it's very busy up here and my update may be delayed ... All very good here so far - two 5 star reviews for my concert of Kurt Weill songs...

meanwhile click over to the Clubs listings and you should find enough addresses to keep you going while you're in town

see you soon
Bremner

Jazz in Paris for late July and on - The American Jazz Fest Continues

Jazz clubs in Paris are hopping this warm week and its easy to find great jazz music in Paris up till the end of July (when a lot of the players and clubs head out of town for the month of August) I like the programming in the American Jazz Festival at Sunset/Sunside - and my pick for the week is at this festival - Jeri Brown with the Jobic Masson trio.








Jobic plays a pretty outside free style when he gets going, but pulls in the reins a bit when working with singers and I think the combination of Jeri Brown's stylings with Jobic's work should be pretty amazing. They're on at the Festival Sunday the 26th and Saturday the 27th. - see our 'Best Of' page for detailed listings and the club listing page for addresses and phone numbers.

Next up ...and running until the 5th of August, there is the All Star Festival at New Morning. It is Jazz/Blues/World Music with a lot of bands making stop overs in Paris while they cruise the festival circuit. This great club is a little north of the downtown core, in the fabulous neighbourhoods around the Boulevards (a gorgeous 15 minute walk from Opera or a hop skip and a jump from Strasbourg St. Denis Metro) Here's the LINK to their site and my recommendation (as I'm on old ska fan from the days of the Specials and Madness and The Selector, who were my first concert!) for a really and fun night out would be the New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, playing on the 29th of July. Enjoy!!

Whiskey Bars with songs by Kurt Weill at the Edinburgh Fringe

For those of you travelling north this summer come see Whiskey Bars by Bremner Duthie, with the songs of Kurt Weill at the Edinburgh Fringe. I'll be in Edinburgh performing at the Fringe Festival with my show based around the songs of Weill. Here's a link to myspace site if you want to check out the recordings - not a jazz album - but a lot of these songs did end up becoming standards for other jazz recording artists, so think of this as a kind of historical reenactment of the original versions!

http://www.myspace.com/bremnersingsweill

here are the dates and times... come check out the show - it's only 6 pounds!

WHISKEY BARS

by Bremner Duthie, with songs by Kurt Weill

at The Vault, 11 Merchant Street

preview Aug 3, 9pm (1hr) £3.00

Aug 4-10, 12-17, 19-25, 8:40pm (1hr) £6.00(£5.00)

book online at edfringe.com

WHISKEY BARS AT THE ED FRINGE, THIS SUMMER

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/whiskey.bars/whiskey.html

Fests and Super Groups - Live Jazz listings for Mid July upcoming in Paris

Live Jazz in Paris is alive and well this week and jazz clubs in Paris are not closing down for their summer holidays yet! So its a great time to get out to the clubs and festivals and see some great players.

Well, the fusion super group Return To Forever is at the Olympia on July 8th. Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White will be doing their virtuoso fusion thing with tickets going from 70 to 100 euros. It should be an amazing concert, though I have read some on-line reviews of their tour that complains a bit of a cold virtuosity sneaking into their playing - but I'm curious if age has added a new depth to what they do - it has been what, 30 years since ego and differing musical ambitions broke them up.


The Sunset/Sunside has the American Jazz Festival for the next two weeks. I'll post the entire schedule in the "Best Of' page (click through is over to the right) There are some fine young players - and I'll be curious to hear Dan Tepfer play on the 5th - he's the pianist son of a some friends of mine who've been running a wonderful performance space (Atelier de la Main D'Or) in Paris for years - they've provided a great launching pad for many careers and projects.


And this is a fab little Paris Jazz Fest - Les Arenes du Jazz takes place in the stately roman ruins of the tiny arena Lutece, on the left bank above the latin quarter - 27, Rue Chappe - 75018 Paris. Its a great history filled space and makes a wonderful outdoor concert hall...



and for those who like their jazz really 'outside' -although the Festival Rotonde de Choc takes place inside the Espace Jemmapes on the lovely Canal St. Martin (definately worth getting there early to put up at some outdoor terrace and people watch) the music should be as out there as Paris can provide. Perhaps we'll see the future fusion super group in the making as they push the boundaries of what improvised music can mean...




check out the 'best of' page for the sunset schedule and you'll find addresses for the clubs in our separate 'clubs' page...

Out and About - Jazz in the Summer in Paris and Jazz Festivals near Paris

With the weather in Paris and summer coming on strong I'm going to suggest more Jazz festivals and also some events that are happening in venues where you can get out and either be in Parcs in Paris or see Jazz outdoors.

First, for the diehard Gypsy Jazz fans there is the Django Reinhard Fest at Samois Sur Seines



http://www.festivaldjangoreinhardt.com/

Its about a 40 minute drive from the city, and if you plan it well, you can combine it with a trip to the fabulous Chateau of Fontainbleu.

Then, from the old to the new (ish) John Zorn will be doing a whole series of concerts at the Cite de La Musique . To get his sound back in your ear, here's a brief video of the work of Man Ray with soundtrack by Zorn.




the Cite is a venue I adore, since its right inside my favourite parc in Paris - the Parc de La Villette... a kind of post-modern playground where real submarines are parked in the middle of the grass. Get out there on Sundays if you can to see the many Samba bands that set up in the afternoon!

and finally - this is inside, but it should be amazing - on July 4th the Studio Ermitage presents the congolese poet Loscony with the extraordinary Bobby Few with Rasul Siddick, Tom Mckenzie, King Blaise, Chansse Evans and Eddie Allen...among others...

Weill Inspirations

When I first started working on my CD of the songs of Kurt Weill inspired by my show Whiskey Bars, I knew I wanted to do the gorgeous Speak Low, but the coaches I saw in New York all advised me to do it as this shlocky uptempo musical theatre thing. And it made me itch - probably because the words are so heartbreaking... I couldn't see myself believing in an interpretation of these words


Speak low when you speak, love
Our summer day withers away too soon, too soon
Speak low when you speak, love
Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
we're swept apart, too soon

as some bouncy fingersnappin' uptempo thing. So I was delighted to stumble upon a strange recording of the amazing bassist, Charlie Haden, jamming on this song with a recording of Kurt Weill, the man himself, apparently taken from some rehearsal where he was coaching the song. And it's heartbreaking. (ok...the video itself is kind of kitsch...but it was the 80's.... however the song is gorgeous... hell, anything Haden ever did is gorgeous...)



so Stan (my amazing pianist) and I decided to do it as slow as possible and just let all those beautiful words and harmonies just flow out. This is live from the show...





and you can hear the version from the CD here... or here - on Amazon, or itunes..

WHISKEY BARS - AT THE ED FRINGE THIS SUMMER

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/whiskey.bars/whiskey.html

Jazz Festival Season in Paris is Fast Approaching

Jazz Festival season is almost upon us in Paris, along with the summer weather, or almost summer weather, depending on what bit of odd early spring weather global warming is forcing on you. But rain or shine there will be a lot of great music in Paris over the summer months. This is the first post about upcoming festivals. Mostly links to their sites where you can explore their programming -

ongoing is the Les Couleurs du Jazz from the 6 to 29 juin 08




also ongoing is La Defense Jazz Festival I'm not a great fan of the neighbourhood and the immense glass boxes that it celebrates, but hell, if some of the corporate money goes to fund starving jazz musicians then I'm a fan! And even fund some non-starving artists like the amazing Herbie Hancock, who'll be performing on the 29th!



and finally in a venue I adore, in a neighbourhood I love, don't miss upcoming shows at Jazz Au Zebre from the 17th to the 20th of June... it should be a great weekend!

Leonard Cohen World Tour...

honestly... he was... just amazing... 73 and brimming with charisma and charm and honesty.. it was a totally brave concert... he could have walked out and coasted on his hits and just walked through the evening, but he made it extraordinary...

Available...well...everywhere...

Why does this kind of freak me out... just checked itunes and amazon.com and the CD is up there as well... available in whole or by single song download... i guess that something about being a part of the apple empire and actually participating in this 'new economy' is very odd... I had enough trouble with the old economy, much less the new one...

anyway... for those who swing that way - its now searchable, listenable, viewable, buyable on

Amazon
Rhapsody
Tradebit
Apple iTunes
GreatIndieMusic
PayPlay
Inprodicon (whatever that is...)

Brave New Days - My Jazz in Paris available around the world

At last the digital age. My CD's go up on sale for downloads at CD Baby. You can just click on a button and the songs will arrive in your computer - no clumsy jewel case, no CD to get scratched - it is all virtual. I feel so light and modern and new... I'm thinking of following the example of Jane Siberry and changing my name, renouncing possessions and travelling the world with nothing but a macbook and a great set of clothes.... but then I'd also feel a bit too much like a character in a William Gibson novel...

anyway, I digress... the songs are available at http://cdbaby.com/cd/bremner

My first CD  features 14 songs from Weill's early works with Brecht to his last unfinished Broadway show: Huck Finn. The pianist is the wonderful Stan Cramer. This CD came out of a collaboration between Stan and Bremner on a show of Kurt Weill’s songs that has since toured across the world. Critics have said…

The second CD is new arrangements of Standards and Al-Rock Classics from the Talking Heads, Velvet Undeground, Ron Sexsmith, Leonard Cohen etc etc


"Bremner Duthie has a voice of power and inner beauty that commands the whole space..... One feels seduced by the sheer power and beauty of this performance"
-- Musical Stages Magazine: London, England



“And my god, does he ever sing. Bremner's performance is jaw-dropping-my jaw literally dropped-as he not only sings beautifully but actually performs the songs beautifully as well. " --View Magazine, Hamilton , Ontario



"When he sings, his voice is like a big, dark, sultry room --full of emotive and expressive possibilities. Even when Duthie sings in languages other than English, the passion and subtext come startlingly alive." -- The Georgia Straight, Vancouver



“For many of us, our first exposure to Kurt Weill was on Bette Midler's early albums. Since then, such performers as Ute Lemper and Teresa Statas have become great interpreters of his music. Add Bremner Duthie, the star of 'Whiskey Bars' to that list. He delivers a stunning, stirring rendition of "What Keeps a Man Alive?" and his 'Mack the Knife' is done slowly and seductively, because it's a song for a bad boy. – Stephen Lavigne, Minneapolis Web Reviewer



“Bremner Sings Weill is a 15-song collection of some of the best work of German-born composer Kurt Weill, most famous for his collaborations with writer Bertolt Brecht but who also worked with such lyricists as Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein. Duthie - with fabulous accompaniment by pianist Stan Cramer - savours each word as a succulent morsel. With Duthie's comforting, soothing baritone voice, this is music to satiate the soul.

Thanks to his background in opera, and talent for cabaret and broadway song styles, Duthie "pays close attention to text," as the expression goes. Indeed, he treats every song as a script and each is quite scenic - none more so than his unique and pleasing interpretation of Weill & Brecht's "Mack The Knife". His vocal presentations also range from celebratory ("Bilbao Song") to mischievous ("Apple Jack") to soft and gentle ("Speak Low"), and then immediately to passionate and with gusto for a trio of tunes ("The Song Of The Big Shot", "What Keeps Mankind Alive" and "Alabama Song"). If you're at all interested in the music of Weill, this is a CD to add to your collection. If you're not familiar with his work, this CD would make an excellent primer. Bremner Sings Weill ... he also sings well ... exceedingly well, as a matter of fact."
Robin Chase, Winnipeg Web Reviewer


FEATURING:

Mack The Knife
(lyrics by Bertold Brecht, from Three Penny Opera)

Youkali
(lyrics by Rodger Fernay)

Bilbao Song
(lyrics by Bertold Brecht, from Happy End)

You Gentlemen Who Think You have a Mission
(lyrics by Bertold Brecht, from Three Penny Opera)

Alabama Song
(lyrics by Bertold Brecht, from Mahagonny)

I'm a Stranger Here Myself
(lyrics by Odgen Nash, from One Touch of Venus)

Je ne t'aime pas
(lyrics by Maurice Magre)

Lost in the Stars
(lyrics by Maxwell Anderson and Alan Paton, from Lost in the Stars)

My Ship.
(lyrics by Ira Gershwin, from Lady in the Dark)

Speak Low
(lyrics by Ogden Nash, from One Touch of Venus)

The Song of the Big Shot
(lyrics by Bertold Brecht, from Happy End)

Nowhere to Go But Up
(lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, from Knickerbocker Holiday)

Apple Jack (backing vocals: Stan Cramer)
(lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, from Huck Finn)

Moon Faced Starry Eyed
(Lyrics by Langston Hughes, from Streetscene)

One Life to Live
(lyrics by Ira Gershwin, from Lady in the Dark)

Goodbye 7 Lezards - goodbye to one great jazz cafe in Paris

Well, a brief note is in order for the passing of the venerable 7 Lezards jazz club and cafe in the Marais in Paris. It had been around for years and its wonderful ceiling mural of the heads of the jazz greats had hung over many a fine concerts. On the, 'oh well, at least' side of things, I did hear through the grapevine that they received a very fine settlement/buy out from the Ville de Paris, which is setting up some sort of community liason house there... so I hope she pocketed a bit of cash after years in the non-lucrative world of jazz!

in upcoming news the next few weeks feature the
Banlieues Blues Festival



this remarkable little festival happens just over the edge of Paris, in St. Ouen, which is turning into one of the new havens of musical and artistic activity as rents skyrocket in the city and force the arts scene over the border... From the 14th of March to the 18th of April there is a selection of newcomers, old timers, roots musicians and avant-gardists. Click through to their site on the title above or check out our Best Of section (the link on the right) for some details of what's playing there and some other weekly options.

Just don't miss

Well the big concert in the next couple of weeks would be the the fabulous Martial Solal at Theatre du Chatelet on the 15th of March. He'll be doing duets with the amazing gypsy guitarist Bireli Lagrene, and the Eric Le Lann on Trumpet, and the vocal stylings of Claudia Solal. The Danish Bassist Mads Vinding and drummer Roy Haynes (who's played with Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan)round out the evening. Here's a link to Chatelet and here's a taste of Martial and Eric

We're Back!! Jazz in Paris - the venues, the jazz cafes, the concerts, the cocktails...

Hey... a long time on tour and away from the blog and the listings... Just finished two months in Japan on the road with a big band... a great and strange experience... the Japanese audiences are fab, we were playing to houses of 2 and 3 thousand people and they are the best listeners in the world. The only odd thing is that they all wave goodbye at the end... very odd...

I finished the tour with a side trip to Hong Kong and and on one of the final nights we wandered around looking for some where to have a drink and stumbled into an Australian Bar (dedicated to the criminal Ned Kelly) and caught the last set of the South China Coast Jazzmen… actually looking mostly Indonesian, these guys were headed by the 80 year old trumpeter (and in this video dancer/percussionist/singer/rubber chicken player and all around party animal) Silverio Yaneza, who is dancing up a storm in the back row. They were pretty loose (but hey, it was the last set of the night and they’ve been playing there for 20 years) but still he rocked and gave us a great send off to an amazing trip... so here's a clip from that night in Hong Kong... see if you can catch the rubber chicken in the moment... I hope I have this much jive in me when I'm 80




I'll start updating this blog next week... there's a lot going on for the new year in Paris Jazz...

cheers
Brem