The Best Bar in ...

A quick non-Paris amazing jazz club note -

I have been on the road on the other side of the water for the last three weeks.  From New York City to New Orleans and back via Memphis, Nashville and Detroit.  Making music and also just some touring around.  Got stuck in Detroit (sadly broke an axle on my 1964 Skylark

just outside Toledo.... so I got a tow truck to take me up to Detroit).

I toughed it out by booking myself into the fabulous newly renovated Book Cadillac hotel

and and spent 3 days wandering around the surreal dying city

checking out the amazing music scene.  And I stumbled into the best Jazz bar in Detroit.  Cliff Bell's. 

Must See! Saturday Night Cool - Lee Konitz headlines in one of my favourite Paris Jazz Clubs

If you're looking for a great experience watching live jazz in Paris or visiting one of the many live jazz clubs and bars in Paris then I would advice you check out a concert this Saturday night (November 13th at 8pm, 25 euros) at Sunset/Sunside  - one of my favourite jazz bars in the city.  

Lee Konitz and Dan Tepfer

Lee is generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, and one of the few altoists to retain a distinctive sound in the 40s, when Charlie Parker exercised a tremendous influence on other players.

Konitz began his professional career in 1945 with the Teddy Powell band as a replacement for Charlie Ventura. The engagement apparently did not start out smoothly, as Ventura is said to have banged his head against a wall when Konitz played.

In 1949 he teamed up with the Miles Davis group for one or two weeks and again in 1950 to record Birth of the Cool. Konitz has stated that he considered the group to belong to Gerry Mulligan, and credits Lennie Tristano as the true forebearer of "the cool".

In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra. In 1961, he recorded Motion with Elvin Jones on drums and Sonny Dallas on bass. This spontaneous session, widely regarded as a classic, consisted entirely of standards. The loose trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and chromaticism.

Konitz has been quite prolific, recording dozens of albums as a band leader. He has also recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others.

Louis

OK, it's not Paris Jazz Clubs and it's not about live Jazz in Paris - but it's amazing.  This video kills me everytime I watch it..... so I'm posting it again so everyone can see it...again and again....  You understand after this how Louis Armstrong was not only an amazing innovator in jazz instrumental styles, but an extraordinary innovator in vocal stylings.

Dinah!!

Who needs Jazz clubs in Paris - Go home with a real Paris Jazz Musican

Bored of simply seeing live jazz in Paris bars and clubs.... well, now the house concert has finally hit France!

And man, I love the way they say this in France - 'participation aux frais au chapeau' just means 'we'll pass the hat', but somehow it sounds so much more refined when they say it.

If you would like to get down and dirty and get really intimate with the Paris jazz scene, then why not risk your best tourist-French and call and make a reservation to hear these two fine players in an intimate setting in a home in Paris.  (click on the image to get the details in a larger window)

15,000 Visitors to Paris Loves Jazz

15,000 people searching here for live jazz in Paris and live jazz clubs and bars in Paris

Wow.  How did that happen!  I started this blog a while ago to communicate my amazement at all the extraordinary music going on in the city.  Coming from North America, where unless you live in NYC, you're lucky if a city has two or three clubs that specialize in jazz, I was blown away by the dozens of clubs that cover the Paris landscape.  It seemed logical to talk about the great times I was having experiencing all the variations of jazz and improvised music by players of all ages and backgrounds across the City of Lights....

I'm glad it worked out....

Visitors to Paris

Through this blog I not only get the pleasure of writing about and visiting the Paris jazz clubs and seeing live jazz in Paris, but I get the pleasure of meeting some spiffy visitors to the Fair City. Jazz musicians, singers and jazz lovers drop me a line, and, when I can, it's great to cross paths and show them some of the sights and the sounds, or just meet up to swop stories and see a band. Occasionally I even get to make music with them.

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting the wonderful west coast Sax player Paul Wainwright.

Paul has has played with hundreds of renowned musicians and singers such as Kenny Loggins, Stevie Nicks, Michael Buble, Martha Reeves, Jim Byrnes, Donny Walsh (Mr Downchild), Vic Damone, and opened for Herbie Hancock, Manhattan Transfer, Etta James, k.d. lang, Melissa Etheridge and The Great Guitars (Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Charlie Byrd)... he has some great stories about his travels and music, and we dropped by Sunside/Sunset to hear some music.

Later that week he dropped by my place (a lovely little cobblestone alley in the north of the city) and to my delight my street was closed that day for a festival and a marching jazz band was wandering up and down.  I felt like Paris was doing it's best to impress Paul.

And this summer, lo and behold, I went on tour, and I got a chance to play with him.  On my tour of Canada I played a bunch of dates across the country in support of the new album 'The Sky Was Blue' , and Paul helped me set up a couple of shows in the lovely town of Victoria, BC, where he is based.

He loaded me with CDs and so I've spent the last month listening to the sounds of his very tight little 3 piece 'big band' - I love his new album ...it's a bit bigger with Steve Duben on Bass, John Ferraro on Drums, Tom Lang on Guitar and Morry Stearns on Keyboard and it is up here  for listening or purchase.

Paris is truly a moveable feast .....

Fall in the Fair City - Jazz Clubs in Paris in Autumn - September and October

Springtime in Paris Jazz is pretty sweet - but even sweeter is Fall, especially for jazz clubs in Paris and live Jazz in Paris as all the well-tanned Parisians return revitalized from their 5 week holidays and set out to begin a new season of eating well and drinking well and heading out to see fine musicians around the city.

Even the Jazzers get their time to recharge. Under France's mandated assistance to artists and performers and musicians, all employers of these artsy types have to set aside 10% of their wages to assist them later in taking a summer holiday - the wonderful 'Conges Spectacles' program, where even the poorest of Jazz musicians can take two weeks and bring his family to the seaside.

So, expect some energetic performances in the next weeks in Paris.