PARIS BLUES ” is the musical story - sometimes joyful, often melancholy,
and always hopeful - of a beautiful city in a time of war and
liberation. It's the evocation of an era that produced some of our most
gifted composers and performers, Parisians by birth and by adoption who
sustained and redefined their city's sense of romance and excitement in
the years before, during, and immediately after World War II.
Like
the people whose work this CD celebrates, I too have left my heart in
Paris. I've traveled from America to France, and on to Spain and
Portugal, retracing the lives of these artists who, along with Americans
Sydney Bechet and Billie Holiday, gave Paris its special sound in the
years 1937 to 1947.
I wanted to lose myself in the places they
once walked, taste the foods they tasted, listen to the music they
inspired, and talk to the people in the streets.
For generations,
composers, writers, artists of every temperament and from virtually
every country in the world have been irresistibly drawn to the City of
Light, where they could share and refine their superb talents in an
atmosphere of acceptance and celebration.
And even after the
misery of the Occupation, the Mars Club in Paris was one of the many
nightclubs that featured African American musicians, who were
instrumental in resurrecting Paris jazz after its glory days in
Montmartre.
PARIS BLUES ranges from the music of the American
Sydney Bechet (Petite Fleur); Belgian Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt
(Nuages); Billie Holiday (Je suis folle de t'aimer); the queen of
Portuguese “fado” Amalia Rodrigues (Paris s'eveille la nuit);
Argentinean Tangoist Tino Rossi (Ecris moi); French crooner Jean Sablon,
who teamed with Django and violinist Stephan Grappelli (Il ne faut pas
briser un reve); band singer Lucienne Delyle (Jai chante sur ma peine,
Pour lui, malgre tes serments); and sultry Jazz chanteuses Leo Marjane
(Je suis seule ce soir) and Suzy Solidor (Escale).
I have
retained the verses, so seldom sung any more, because it is in verses
that you find the heartbeat of each song. Without them, the songs don't
really exist.
I've spent my life passionately in love with this
music. This was the music I heard growing up, the songs my parents
whistled, hummed, danced to, the poetry that my father - himself so much
a poet at heart - opened up for me.
Together, we spent more than
five years going through his record collection - and more often than
not, my parents would forget I was in the room as they reminisced about
the first time they'd heard a particular song. And once, in the autumn
of their lives, when Tino Rossi's Ecris moi came through the pops and
scratches of the ancient phonograph, their once-again youthful eyes
locked in one long gaze and they stood up to dance the tango.
My
father said to me days before he passed away, and only two months before
I recorded these songs, “Don't be sad when I go. You'll find me again
in all your songs, in every note, in every word.”
And I say: “Papa, the day you were born was the most beautiful day on earth.”
Raquel (the CD’s liner notes)
Tracklist :
1. Nuages (Clouds) 3'42
Jacques Larue / Django Reinhardt / Spencer Williams
2. Petite Fleur (Little Flower) 3:21
3. J'Ai Chante Sur Ma Peine ( I Sang in Spite of My Sorrow) 4:06
4. Pour Lui (For Him) 3:19
5. Ecris Moi (Write to Me) 3:13
6. Malgre Tes Serments (I Wonder Who's Kissing Him Now) 4'05
J. Stephen Howard
7. Paris S'Eveille La Nuit (Paris Awakes at Night) 2:58
8. Je Suis Folle de T'Aimer (I'm a Fool to Want You) 4'55
Raquel Bitton / J. Barry Herron / Frank Sinatra
9. Il Ne Faut Pas Briser un Reve (You Can't Shatter a Dream) 2:35
Jean Jal
10. Je Suis Seule Ce Soir (I'm So All Alone) 3'49
Paul Durand
11. Escale (Lady of the Harbor) 3'07
Credits :
Accordion – Odile Lavault
Alto Saxophone – Steve Parker
Bandoneon – Odile Lavault
Baritone Saxophone – Ray Loeckle
Bass – Mario Suraci
Conductor – Jim Shallenberger
Drums – Harold Jones
Flute – Steve Parker
French Horn – Bill Klingelhoffer
Guitar – Steve Erquiaga
Orchestrated By – Bob Holloway
Piano – Larry Dunlap
Tenor Saxophone – Melicio "The Cat" Magdaluyo
Trombone – Dean Hubbard
Trumpet – Allen Smith
