Out of it

Hi All
I'm stepping away from reviewing jazz in Paris and jazz clubs in Paris for a few weeks since I'm deep in rehearsals for the upcoming shows, so I won't be posting here again till April - but browse the old listings and our venues page up on the right and you'll find lots of suggestions for great ongoing music and clubs and players in Paris. And I'll be back shortly!
all the best
Bremner

Champagne at the Chope - Gypsy Jazz in Paris at the Puces

Django Rules in Paris! - Our beloved gypsy Chope has reopened to join all the other great jazz clubs in Paris after 4 long months of renovation...yesterday, all the regular faces were there, toasting the spirit of Django with champagne. even the sometimes-taciturn bartender was all smiles, as Ninine Garcia stepped back into his usual corner and served up his trademark manouche guitar.


as for the renovation, well...the tiny tattered bar area is larger, but the shiny new flatscreen televisions, so that everyone can watch the music from every corner of the room, seem like a good idea taken too far. and the walls are now decorated with some beautiful guitars behind kitsch glass vitrines, which takes some getting used to. everything's a bit too new right now...but that'll wear off soon enough, when the crowds hit, this summer. on the upside, the red wine is a thousand times better than it used to be, there's now more space for cutting the rug, and the toilets, ah, they really did need some renovating.

any weekend, head up to the Puces de St-Ouen, and have a drink at the Chope des Puces,122 rue des Rosiers, music every Sat & Sun, 2pm - 7pm (free--contribute to the hat)

Django Symphony

Now this is going to be a cool addition to the live jazz concerts in Paris..

Symphonic Django/ Django Symphonique is the first ever edition of the legendary Django Reinhardt´s music orchestrated for symphony orchestra. The idea originated from Jon Larsen and was developed in cooperation with the festival Christianssand String Swing. The arrangements are by Per Ekdahl and were first performed live by Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra featuring Florin Niculescu (RO) and Stochelo Rosenberg (NL) as soloists.


check out more info here at their website


and as a plus, its on at the Cirque d'Hiver - an amazing historic building in the middle of the city.

Live Jazz in Paris and Jazz clubs in Paris for January 2009 - Happy New Year

So, 2009 looks like live jazz in Paris is going to be great despite (or maybe because of) the global downturn. Jazz clubs in Paris are never going to be making that much money, so hopefully having a few less tourists turn up won't change their situation too much... like the whole jazz world, we're used to operating on a shoestring!

That said, January is always a slow month, but I think there is some great stuff going on - so, here's some links and some recommendations for the next couple of weeks. As usual, explore the Venues page and you'll find lots of clubs in your Quartier of Paris and you can make your own choices!





This is a nice choice- free, apart from the price of a return ticket on the RER - and, if you're inclined, you can combine it with a day at Euro-Disney, since its one RER stop away. (though why come to Paris and then spend a day at Disney I've never understood - but hey, its there, so why not.... I guess) Or if members of the family are looking for that European mall shopping experience you can always head out early to the immense designer discount mall at Val d'Europe before catching some music... Anyway... - At the Val d'Europe stop at the Médiathèque du val d’Europe there's a nice sounding Trio - on guitar N'guyen Le, vibraphone, Philippe Mace, and drums and percussion Joel Allouche - I always love that crossover world and it seems that they're going to be playing around with vietnamese traditional musics.... Its free but you'll just need to make reservations - 01 60 43 66 28.

In town, here is a very cute idea - At Sunside, every Sunday for January and February at 4pm they will have Jazz for families and kids.






they're going to do an 'homage' to a different jazz legend, or jazz theme evey week and the idea is really to have families and kids and turn the younger set on to jazz. So, if you're in the city with the young ones, it might be an event for you. And, for the older set who want to stick around - and 9pm there will be a jazz jamm based around the theme, so you'll have lots players dropping by with their instruments looking for a chance to play.

so - here's the lineup for the next few weeks...
le 11 janvier : "hommage à Dizzy Gillespie”
le 18 janvier : "hommage à George Gershwin”
le 25 janvier : Laurent Courthaliac Trio plays Sonny Rollins

Philippe Soirat - drums ; Mathias Allamane - upright bass ; Laurent Courthaliac - piano

enjoy....

Slave and Master

The blogs on pause for a week while I finish work on the album - today I'm off to spend the day in front of a set of 20,000 dollar audio speakers listening to myself - I'll be hanging out while James Paul of Rogue studios, 'masters' my album.





Wikipedia defines this as "a form of audio post-production - the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication). After the advent of tape it was found that master recordings could be optimized by making fine adjustments to the balance and equalization prior to the cutting of the master disc. Mastering became a highly skilled craft and it was widely recognized that good mastering could make or break a commercial recording"

When pressed for more details James defined it as 'I give him some money, he sits in front of a set of 20,000 dollar speaker for hours, and then he gives me an album that sounds amazing'....

beyond that it seems to be witchcraft and magic...

basically as far as I can see its the process of finding a middle balance for the sound on the album so it rings true on every kind of speaker - the cheapo transistor, or the ultra high end, or the car stereo... cutting some frequencies, adding others...

it should be a fascinating and strange few hours

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...