and....... we're back!

So, heading back to Paris - after almost a year a way - back to the mecca of Jazz and Jazz Clubs and music all the other good things that Paris can bring...

Look for updates to this site in the next days and weeks

We'll be taking a look at Summer Festivals and the bar scene over the summer months

Vive Le Jazz!

Bremner

A Song a Day - Court and Spark

today's song is track 3 on the album - Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell



Court and Spark is the amazing Joni Mitchell album where she begins to seriously indulge her interest in Jazz, weaving jazz chords and harmonies into a pop setting. It went to the #2 spot on billboard in 1974 and stayed there for a month. Its a beautiful album. But, oddly enough, the musicians who I worked with in France, being serious, serious jazz guys, had never heard of it, or heard this track. Which left us free to start afresh, so to speak. The word street rap was thrown around (in a very thick Parisian accent) and the guitarist edited down the chords to a basic blues progression, and then we come up with this arrangement - which, oddly enough, features serious jazz musicians taking a jazz inspired pop song and simplifying it and taking aspects of rap and blues and layering those on top. I'm still not sure what I think of it - one day I love it, since I get to hear the bones of the song anew, and the next day I think - 'what the hell were we thinking...'


you can always hear more from the album, and buy digital downloads of individual tracks at itunes.com, or pick up a physical version of the CD by emailing me or dropping by www.cdbaby.com

Jazz in Paris and live jazz clubs in Paris for the last weeks of July

A quick run down on another festival and an update on what's up with the clubs in the next two weeks. We've had a blast of hot weather in the last two weeks, so either the cool paris jazz club basements have been great to escape into, or the clubs that feature a little bit of air conditioning (not a standard feature in Paris) have been very popular!

A couple of upcoming highlights
Sophia Domancich is playing at L'Archipel on the 11th of July (www.larchipel.net,
17 bd de Strasbourg – 75010 Paris Metro Strasbourg / St Denis)



- you can hear her new work HERE.

Sophia has spent years in the jazz world, often working with West Indian and African singers and has jammed with players like Bobby Few and Steve Lacy. She's spent a decade working with some of the top players in the British Scene. I like her work a lot - its dramatic and almost orchestral and filled with emotion without being sentimental or losing any sense of musicality. She'd be a top pick for the upcoming week.

And we might as well keep things in a feminine note - ongoing at Sunset/Sunside there's the American Music Festival (which, confuses me since that's mostly what they play at Sunset Sunside, but whatever...) featuring Monica Passos, who is actually riffing on Brazilian and south american forms - she's an upbeat funky samba inspired singer currently based in Paris - check out her work HERE

Or watch her shake her circus thing here -

La caravane de Mônica PASSOS
by jeanlouislaforet

And ongoing in the summer festival update - I live up in the 18th Arrondisement in Paris, which is where real people live in Paris (I know, I know that's small minded and biased....) and we have our own wonderful fest up here 'Music and Gardens'



If you want to get out into Paris and see the Parisians in their most relaxed and community orientated I recommend this highly. Great music, families, wine and cheese and lovely settings in the old parks of Montmartre. I'll post the complete schedule in our 'What's On' Page, but check out Elise Dabrowski, in the Jardin of the Museum of Montmartre at 5pm (17h) on the 11th of July - its free, its lovely, and you get the added advantage of wandering through some of the most beautiful streets in the city.

Enjoy!!

A Song a Day - 'Again'

today's song is (logically enough) track 2 on the album - Again by Lionel Newman




I fell in love with the song when I heard Mel Torme's version. I love the long and complex melodic lines and the enigmatic, ironic text. We were playing around with this and finally Thierry (who is from Madagascar and has played with Brazilian bands) suggested a slight Samba rhythm on the drums. Benoit joined in and suddenly we had this uptempo lilting version.

Apparently the song comes from a 1937 gangster movie called roadhouse, which is described as a 'noir cabaret'. I have yet to find a copy, but I'd love to see it one day.


you can always hear more from the album, and buy digital downloads of individual tracks at itunes.com, or pick up a physical version of the CD by emailing me or dropping by www.cdbaby.com

Paris Jazz Clubs and Live Jazz in July

So its the season of festivals in Paris, but the jazz clubs in Paris and the live jazz in the city in the smaller venues won't be cooling down until August, when a good portion of the city closes down and heads for the countryside.

I'm just back from doing a run of concerts outside the city, so I'll start by giving a list of the festivals coming up - I'm super busy with rehearsals so it'll have to be one a day - and in a few days I'll start catching up with what's on at the clubs. Don't forget you can find a fairly comprehensive list of venues and their websites and contact info on our VENUES page.

All right then - festivals




First and foremost is the wonderful Paris Jazz fest going on right now in the lovely Parc Floral - here is a link to their English Language site. Its on every weekend, and I'm going to post the complete listings on our 'WHAT'S ON' page.

don't forget that its normal practice to come out to these festivals with a blanket, a bottle (or two) of wine and a picnic... I remember the first time I came to an outdoor festival in France and there was a security check - being from north America I assumed they were searching for alcohol - in fact the two security guards pulled my bottle of red out of the bag... and then complimented my taste in wine, and put it gently back and waved us back in....... ahhhh, nice to live in the land of the civilized...

enjoy

Song a Day

putting up a song from the new album every day.





today's song is the lovely 'Lover Come Back to Me'



This slow interpretation was a reaction against the many versions of this song which are upbeat and bouncy, even though the words are totally desperately tragic. We took the first words of the song, 'The Sky Was Blue', as the title of the album - enigmatic, and kind of bittersweet.

you can always hear more from the album, and buy digital downloads of individual tracks at itunes.com, or pick up a physical version of the CD by emailing me or dropping by www.cdbaby.com

I'm Big in Japan

I'm just going to take a moment away from Jazz in Paris and Paris clubs. Since last night I googled to see if my new album of standards' digital distribution had been set up yet by my distributor - the wonderful indie group cdbaby - and instead found this eye popping page.


[ 前の作品 | 次の作品 ]
The Sky Was Blue
発売元：
曲リスト
トラック 試聴 購入 / 価格
01： Lover Come Back to Me
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
02： Again
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
03： Court and Spark
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
04： Chelsea Hotel No. 2
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
05： Secret Heart
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
06： Pale Blue Eyes
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
07： Some of These Days
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
08： Whisper Not
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
09： Angel Eyes
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
10： Love Me or Leave Me
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
11： Sweethearts On Parade
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
12： Heaven
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
13： Court and Spark (Slight Return)
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円



I can't really describe how much ridiculous pleasure it gives me to see the first commercial appearance of the album be in Yen and Japanese (see the actual page here http://download.music.yahoo.co.jp/shop/ic/11/281856353-316831191 )

I know the price because on tour in Japan I only ever figured out a couple of letters, but the sign for Yen ( 円 ) was the obvious one to need to understand. To memorize it I thought of him as a shy little character with one foot turned in awkwardly. I still find him a cute, endearing little guy. The price for one track is about the price for the pair of Japanese socks I'm currently wearing (don't know if that has any existential meaning)

So, I'm now expecting the big phone call from Tokyo. Hopefully the album will go to #1 with the harajuku crowd so I can tour smokey bars filled with folk who look like this:




or this



or this




meanwhile the album is now up for sale in a more comprehensible format at itunes and directly from cdbaby (just click on the links to get there), and you can listen directly to all the tracks at Myspace. No physical discs yet... just the ethereal digital realm...