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...