Jazz in Paris, Vol 3 -"Saint-Germain-Des-Prés (1946-1956) 3 x CD, Compilation, 2004 (Gitanes Jazz Productions )

I love everything French ever since I was a tot and my dad took me to see a Bardot movie in Larkspur  California.  Over decades my love of Parisian aesthetic came to fruition with the music of Serge Gainsbourg, Boris Vian, Les Rita Mitsuko, and many others.  I also love French Jazz, which sometime sounds like American Jazz, but with a French twist to the sound.  In 2004, they released a "Jazz in Paris" series that is excellent.  Eventually, they then made CD boxsets with an additional book in the package.   One can't go wrong with the quality of the book as well as the music of course.  Volume 3 is "Saint-Germain-Des-Prés (1946-1956), and it's a compilation that goes beyond excellence.

Saint-Germain was the focal point of those years for writing and music-making.  Think of it as Liverpool in the early 1960s or Height Asbury in the Psychedelic Era, or NYC from the 1930s to 1970s.  It seems that brilliance was from the air and landed on the grand boulevard of Saint-Germain.

Boris Vian and some others introduce American Jazz into Paris, by releasing recordings as well as arranging tours for various Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and others.  This collection mostly focuses on French jazz musicians like Django Reinhardt, René Urtreger Trio, and including my hero Boris Vian. 

There are also Americans such as Sidney Bechet And His Feetwarmers,  Don Byas, and so forth. Still, the magnificence of the playing and the communication between the two cultures are breathtaking. Beautiful moments of time and this boxset takes you to ground zero of French greatness.  

France Gall - "1968" Vinyl, Album, Reissue, 1968/2020 (Third Man Records)

France Gall, a teenage singer, for whom Serge Gainsbourg wrote many of her hits. That is interesting, but France is also a great Jazz orientated singer singing French Pop. Beside Gainsbourg, her pop, Robert Gall, wrote a lot of her lyrics with various composers. On the surface, Gall sang for teenagers, but the songs were all written by men in their 30s. This is not an unusual occurrence in the world of French pop music. One of her principal arrangers is Alain Goraguer, a remarkable music figure as well. He worked with everyone from Boris Vian, to Gainsbourg and made a significant electronic soundtrack album "La Planète Sauvage." The other arranger on this album is the English composer and arranger David Whitaker. All of the above, including France Gall, contributed to "1968."

The album captures the year 1968 as if it was an early colored photograph. "1968" yells out the decade due to the exotic instrumentation as well as the balance of pure pop with something substantial. The interesting thing about following French pop music is one should not only pay attention to the headliner (the singer of course) but also equally important are the arrangers. Whitaker and Goraguer have a unique sound, and they truly put their mark on their recordings. "1968" is not only a great France Gall disc but also a crucial recording made by the French, with the help of an Englishman (Whitaker) in a highly inventive album. There are two Gainsbourg songs on the album as well. They are highly recommended. 

Alain Goraguer - "J'irai Cracher sur vos Tombes" OST, Vinyl, 7" 45 rpm EP, 1959 (Philips)

I have a bit of history with Alain Goraguer, in the sense that I published with my press TamTam Books, J'irai cracher sur vos Tombes (I Spit on Your Graves) by Boris Vian.  Vian had a love and hated relationship with this book due that he got into much trouble with the law on this title, as well as loathing the film version of his novel.  Also, the fact that he died during the screening of this film, sort of makes this a cursed book/film.  Still, and even Vian agreed, Alain Goraguer is a fantastic musician and composer.  

I had the music as a download for years but had a hard time finding the original edition of this classic.  Until I found a copy at HMV in Shinjuku Tokyo.   In pretty great condition, and with a price of around $30, I purchased this piece of history.   The EP is approximately 10 minutes long, with six pieces, but an essential work by Goraguer.   

His most famous work in the English speaking world is his electronic soundtrack to the animated film "La Planète Sauvage," but sadly it ends there with most listeners of that work.  Goraguer is a jazz pianist who also played and arranged the early Serge Gainsbourg records of the 50s,  as well as working with  YéYé teenage acts of the 1960s.  Throughout that decade up to the 80s, he worked on with other French artists and wrote and performed various soundtracks, including adult films.  Whenever I see his name on the record label, either as artist, arranger, or his orchestra, I pick it up and never am I disappointed with the music or recording. 

Goraguer also wrote songs with Boris Vian, and it is probably due to this relationship that he composed the score to "I Spit on Your Graves."   A haunting melody, it is a perfect film writing score that shows all of Goraguer's strength as a composer and artist. 

Maurice Lemaître - "Poémes et Musiques Lettristes et Hyperphonie" Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, 2014 (Alga Marghen)

I first discovered Maurice Lemaître's work in a Paris bookstore; I think somewhere in the Marais district.  It was a booklet that came with a CD of him reciting his 'letterist' poetry.   Once I got home, I was hooked on him and the entire Letterist movement, which was the first step that eventually leads to Situationist International.  Not really speaking a word of French, I was more in tune with Lemaître's voice and pronouncement of the words.  For me, it's music or sound that brings up the era of the Boris Vian's Saint Germain des Prés then anything else.  

Letterism or sometimes spelled out as Lettrism is an off-shoot of DADA, that focused on literature, painting, and films.  Isidore Isou is the most famous member of the group, but Lenaître was very much the public face of Letterism.  He even appeared in an Orson Welles documentary on Paris nightlife.   Still, this vinyl edition of his recitations is a marvel.  One can see traces of hip-hop in "Quatre Lettries Sur Des Thèmes Rock" which is him reciting his poetry over a French rock n' roll record.  Very primitive recording, yet a total delight.  I know very little of his paintings, and these recordings are my main entrance to the world of The Letterists, but still, it's a magnificent and fun approach to a Parisian culture at its height.   I find work produced in the Paris 1950s of great interest. To me, it's the bridge between post-war European years to the Hippie movement.  It's a fascinating journey to go on, and this album is very much a suitable soundtrack for that trip.  

Sacha Distel - "La La Song" 7" 45rpm EP, French, 1964 (RCA)

The Last of the International Playboys, if that were a social club, then surely French singer/guitarist Sacha Distel would have been a member.   I discovered him through my obsession with the world that surrounded Boris Vian, the author I published with my press TamTam Books.  Distel was a guy who was in the right place, Paris, and to be specific, at the Saint-Germain des Prés nightclubs and had an obsession with be-bop jazz.   Studied under and pal with the great Henri Salvador, Distel played guitar with artists like The Modern Jazz Quartet, Dizzy Gillespie, as well as with top French jazz musicians.  In the late 1950s, he became internationally famous for being Brigitte Bardot's lover, which in turn introduced himself into a favourite vocalist.

When I think of Sacha Distel, it is in two separate compartments.  One as a massive French pop singer star, and the other as a great jazz guitarist.  Rarely did the two forms of music met on his recordings.  For the casual fan, he is probably thought of as an entertainer who sings.   It's much harder to locate his work on vinyl/CD of his Jazz-leaning guitar work.  I went to Amoeba yesterday and found this French issued 7" EP, of Sacha singing  "La La Song," which is not fantastic, but nevertheless a good French pop song.  The other three songs on the EP are based on Amerian songs with French lyrics written by Maurice Tézé, who worked a lot as a lyricist with Distel.   The best song on this EP is J'aimerais Être Là (I Wanna Be Around) which is based on a Johnny Mercer tune.   The real stars of these recordings are the arrangers.  Three songs are arranged by the Boris Vian/Serge Gainsbourg associate Alain Gorgaguer (as well as doing the futuristic soundtrack to the animated "La Planète Sauvage) and Michel Colombier, another artist who worked with Gainsbourg.  For those in the know, when you see those names attached to a recording, it is usually a good sign that they're good. 

André Hodeir - "L'écume des jours" OST, 45 rpm Vinyl Single, France, 1968 (Philips)

André Hodeir is a fascinating figure in French Jazz.  Think of him as sort of a more adventuresome Gil Evans.  Musician, composer, arranger, and author.  He wrote numerous books on Jazz aesthetics that were published by Grove Books in the 1960s.  Hodeir is also a challenging artist to find record wise.  Even in Paris I had trouble locating his works, but now, with the internet, it's a tad easier, but not a whole lot of recordings are readily available.   One of the hard finds for me, is this record, the soundtrack to Charles Belmont's French film "L'écume des jours."  It's based on a fantastic Boris Vian novel ("Foam of the Daze" which I published through my press TamTam Books).   

Header uses jazz as a foundation, but he also had an interest in Musique Concréte practices as well.  "L'écume des jours" in parts, is almost electronic in that he processes the children's vocals into a hypnotic and haunting sound.   There is nothing on this French EP that is predictable. Incredibly melodic in parts, but also obsessed with the sound process as well.  Hodeir was a genius and very worth while to locate his recordings.  I think I have most of his work in my collection, as well as a huge Boris Vian presence in my sound and book library.  

"Henri Salvador Alias Henry Cording and his Original Rock and Roll Boys" CD, Album, France, 2002/1956 (Philips)

The first French Rock n' Roll and it may have been a joke, but alas, it does rock.  Henri Salvador is a jewel in the French music world.  Entertainer, incredible jazz guitarist, songwriter, and humorist.  Also a great pal of Boris Vian, who signed him to Philips, in his later career as an A&R man for a record label, after a career in writing, translating, singing, songwriting, and of course, engineer.  Vian and Salvador wrote what sounds like a parody of rock, played by French jazz musicians.  This originally 10" release (Oh, how I wish I own that version) in 1956, saw the presence of rock entering the French market place.  My guess is that Vian, a total Jazz-head, probably liked the Black American elements of rock n' roll and not that crazy about the commercial push of that genre.  But that's just an educated guess on my part.  Half the album is Salvador/Vian, and the other is Vian/Michel Legrand songs.  Big band, honking horns, excellent cutting electric guitar, and Salvador singing the absurd lyrics by Vian.   Superb music. 

Franck Barcellini & Alain Romans - "Bande Originale du film de Jacques Tati "Mon Oncle"" Vinyl, 7" EP, France, 1958 (Fontana)

It took me forever but I eventually found a copy of this French EP in Shinjuku Tokyo.  And in good shape!  I already have the music on a long player vinyl that focuses on all of Jacques Tati's soundtracks.  But this one is special, and not only due to the great front cover to this 7".   Boris Vian wrote the liner notes when he was working for the record label.  I never had it translated it into English, but since I'm a Vian freak, I just had to have this copy in my collection. 

The music, of course, is light. It fits in perfectly with the world of Tati and the planet that he lived on which I think is Tati-Land.  Or that should be the name of this planet Earth.  Tati had the ability to understand the nature of the industrial overtures in Europe, especially in France, and his witty commentary on modernism is both profound and of course, hysterical.  But if you dig deeper you can tell Tati had a real hatred or at the very least, a deep suspicion of the modern world.  

I know nothing of the two composers who wrote the soundtrack and researching them online in English comes with very little information.  Nevertheless, once you hear the music, it becomes the natural (almost organic) sounds of Tati and of course, Tati-Land. 

Barney Wilen/Alain Goraguer - "Jazz & Cinema Vol. 1" CD, Remastered, France, 2000 (Gitanes Jazz Productions/Jazz in Paris)

It's no top secret that the Paris culture loves American Jazz.  Similar to American pop culture being in tuned to the British Invasion of the early 1960s.   Gitanes, the tobacco company that probably killed Serge Gainsbourg and many others, had the good taste to sponsor a series of classic French Jazz sessions, that are way out of print, yet, essential to the jazzier and French cultural maven.  I think I have the complete series.  The majority of the recordings are from the post-war years in Paris, from 1946 to 1959.  A lot of it is American and French musicians who made recordings for the French market.  A lot of American musicians, especially Black Americans, made a good living in Paris during those years.   Thanks to people like by beloved Boris Vian.

"Jazz & Cinema" comes to five separate CDs.  Their first volume is devoted to the soundtracks of "J'Irai Cracher Sur Vos Tombes" by Alain Goraguer (based on a Boris Vian/Vernon Sullivan novel) and Un Témoin Dans La Ville by Barney Wilen.  Both from 1959.   Both are great scores by these magnificent talented musicians.   Goraguer is of special interest to me, due that he had worked with Vian, Serge Gainsbourg, and made a pioneering electronic score for La Planète Sauvage.  The CD series is not expensive, and all come with great liner notes and images of the original release.  Their outer CD covers look like a tourist trap attraction but believe me, the sound is great and the talent/recordings are all magnificent. 

Andy Chango - "Boris Vian"

Andy Chango - Boris Vian

Download

This is an album I know very little about, except that Andy Chango is from Buenos Aires and it seems he likes Boris Vian’s music.   Chango covers all the Vian hits on this very respectful album to his aesthetic or style.  And that is why I have trouble with it.  The music is well-arranged, well sung, and very properly respectful, and this is the problem.  I think Vian needs a John Zorn or an artist of that range to really transfer the Vian aesthetic to another plane on this planet.  The only singer (besides Vian) that I think does a proper job on his songs is Serge Reggiani, who odd enough reminds me of Bryan Ferry.  Still, the Vian world is a small one, and for the collection one must have this album, no?

André Popp - "If You Go Away"

André Popp - If You Go Away

Vinyl LP, UK, 1972

Circle of Sound (Download)

Probably the worst album in my collection that is still, somewhat interesting due to the fact that he knew Boris Vian.  André Popp was one of the key arrangers during the post-war years in France.  Worked with Bardot and Gréco on their recordings and also with Boris Vian, right before he passed away.   Popp in the Fifties made almost experimental ‘lounge’ music, especially for the hi-fi market that was a big thing at the time.  Vian, without a doubt, being an mechanical engineer, had an interest in new recording equipment and developments in that world.  Would he liked the CD format?  Nevertheless this is not an important album to own. In fact it is on my computer, so it is almost not really here in physical space. 

Brigitte Fontaine - "13 Chansons Décadentes et Fantasmagoriques" CD Album

Brigitte Fontaine - 13 Chansons Décadentes et Fantasmagoriques

CD, Album, France, 2002 (originally recorded 1966)

Disques Jacques Canetti

What planet is this woman from, and why am I not born on this same planet?   Brigitte Fontaine, is a force that goes forward and rarely looks back.  But for me who just discovered her maybe five years ago, I have a lot to catch up on.  So I believe this may be her first album.  Chansons Décadentes et Fantasmagoriques.  Fontaine, who I know very little of, with respect to her background, but I have a strong suspicion that she is the bohemian’s bo-ho.  A chanson singer by trade, but one who took that form into another world.  Her singing style is very theatrical with a tinge of contemporary feeling or soul.   What is interesting to me (among a lot of stuff regarding her) is that Jimmy Walter arranged this album, and also worked with Boris Vian.   And she also did an album of recordings of Vian’s music as well.  So that thread between Saint Germain des Prés culture is very much part of Fontaine’s world, yet different because it is being made for the May ’68 generation.  This is an artist who didn’t stand still. I want to belong to her cult.

Edison Denissov - "Boris Vian/La Vie en Rouge Cycle de mélodies & Colin et Chloé suite de l'opéra 'L'Ecume des Jours'

Edison Denissov - Boris Vian La Vie en Rouge Cycle de mélodies & Colin et Chloé suite de l'opéra 'L'Ecume des Jours'

Vinyl LP, France, 1983

Le Chant du Monde

Very little information about this album, except that Edison Denissov was a Russian composer who lived in Paris, and was quite fond of French literature, including the works of Boris Vian.  Side one is a suite of songs based on Vian's poetry with the vocal talents of Gerda Hartman.  Small orchestration behind the songs, but still quite operatic in style.  

The second side is "Colin et Chloé" an opera based on Vian's L'écume des Jours (Foam of the Daze).   It's is without a doubt an opera and i am not sure if it has ever been staged, but I like it.  There is a nice part of the piece where they use jazz melodies, which of course is the ultimate tribute to Vian and his world.   Interesting odd record within the world of Boris Vian.

Boris Vian, Marie-José Casanova - "Marie-José Casanova chante Boris Vian" Vinyl LP

Boris Vian, Marie-José Casanova - Marie-José Casanova Chante Boris Vian

Vinyl LP, Album, Canada, 1965

Disques Jacques Canetti

A very interesting album on a couple of accounts.  First of all between the songs of Marie-José Casanova (is she a relative?) there is poetry by Vian recited by Pierre Brasseur, an actor who played the  great insane doctor in Les Yeux sans visage (“Eyes Without A Face”)  Also Jimmy Walter who co-wrote a lot of songs with Vian, arranged this album.   So what is one getting is very much an on-hands-because-I knew him approach to this specific record.  Also there is Vian himself either reciting his poetry or making commentary about his work.  I don’t speak French so I am not sure about this.

Nevertheless this is a fantastic album.  In a way it reminds me of Lotte Lenya’s great recordings of her husband Kurt Weil’s music.   Which is not a bad comparison because Casanova covers a Brecht/Weil song here that was translated or re-worked by Vian.  The beauty of this album is that it is very much a late-in-the-evening type of feel.  The arrangements are full but simple, and never gets in the way of Casanova’s smokey bluesy voice.

Boris Vian/ Henri Salvador - "Henri Salvador chante Boris Vian"

Boris Vian/Henri Salvador - Henri Salvador chante Boris Vian

CD, Compilation, France, 2000

Barclay

Henri Salvador is a superb jazz guitarist who is also a songwriter and all-around performer.  Proabably most think of him as a goofy character, but on the other hand he was one of Boris Vian’s great friends.  Salvador wrote music to Vian’s words, and both shared a sense of humor and maybe a certain amount of outrage towards the world.  He was Vian’s last partner in crime, before his timely death of a heart attack due to his bad heart.   When you hear these recordings, they are one of great joy.  

I never heard of Henri Salvador till I went to Japan, where he has a following with the Swing dance set.    I had to go to the French section at Tower Shibuya to pick up some of his recordings.  I found this album there as well.  Most of it I believe was recorded after Vian’s death, so it’s a tribute to his friend.  Salvador based instincts is jazz, with pop or early rock n’ roll overtures.  He became knows for his parody songs, but I suspect he had a sharp focus, and had an understanding of the French pop culture of his times.  It makes perfect sense the Vian fitted in his world.  

Boris Vian By Various - "À Boris Vian "On N'Est Pas Là Pour Se Faire Engueuler !”

Boris Vian By Various - À Boris Vian "On N'Est Pas Là Pour Se Faire Engueuler !”

2 x CD, Album, Enhanced, Reissue, France, 2009

AZ

Contemporary French pop singers paying their tribute to the Boris Vian songbook.  In theory this is a no-brainer, and a compilation that needed to be made.  But saying that, it should have been something more…. exciting.  Every cut here is well-recorded and extremely well-arranged, but it lacks a sense of danger that is truly Boris Vian.   One can wonder what this collection would have been like under the ears and eyes of someone like John Zorn.  Zorn is an artist who is a jazzier, but who goes beyond that category into another world.  He would have given these songs a fresh touch but faithful to the vision of Vian.  

The songs here are workable and perhaps it is a good introduction to the Vian songbook to those who don’t know his world.  But I think the hardcore Vian fan would want something more challenging or subversive.   But saying that, there are recordings here that work for me.  “Quand J’Aurais Du Vent Dans Mon Crane” is a great song - and actually the music is by Serge Gainsbourg.  He has the monster talent to make anything he touches into something special.   Vian had three serious songwriting partners that he worked with:  Alain Goraguer, Henri Salvador, and Jimmy Walter.  The hits are here, but also some new music attached to his poetry.  It is all very tasteful and respectful, but one misses Vian the Rebel.

Magali Noel - "Magali Noel chante Boris Vian" CD Album Reissue

Magali Noel - Magali Noel Chante Boris Vian

CD, Album, Reissue, 2002 (originally recorded 1964), France

Jacques Canetti

Both films “La Dolce Vita” and “Rififi” benefited from the presence of Magall Noel, and like a shadow  following another presence, Boris Vian had a wonderful singer to represent the pop side of his music.  Jazz like, but more of a pop leaning, Noel tears into the Vian songbook for the second time.  Her first album was “Rock n’ Roll” which was supervised by Vian as well as being all songs co-written by the master.   This album was recorded in 1964, five years after Vian’s death.  It is both a tribute to the man, but also the distance of years between his passing and the recording allows Noel to convey a fresh light to the magnificent Vian wit.  

Finger-snapping rhythm, most of these songs are up-tempo and it does have a sense of energy due to Noel’s voice and presence in these recordings.  

Boris Vian by Claude Vence - "Je Voudrais pas crever"

Boris Vian by Claude Vence - Je Voudrais pas crever

CD Album, France, 2005

EPM Musique

In my typical fashion I am attracted to an album of Boris Vian’s poetry, in French, a language I don’t speak or understand but put to music by Claude Vence.   It seems it is a class French move to add music  to poetry. it is not uncommon to run upon music with Rimbaud, Baudelaire and of course Jacques Prevert - so why not Vian?

I found this CD  at a bookshop in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and I bought it without knowing what it was, except it had the words “Boris Vian” and that was reason enough to exchange some euros for this product.   Nevertheless an enjoyable listen, and all the words are from Vian’s classic book of poetry Je Voudrais Pas Crever.  I know nothing of Claude Vence, but his music is lively, tuneful and the arrangements are tasteful and very textured, which I imagine would mix well with Vian’s words.