VINTAGE FRANCE LINER NOTES INTRODUCTION In much of the

VINTAGE FRANCE LINER NOTES
INTRODUCTION
In much of the world, popular culture is about what’s “hot and happening” and the
past is quickly forgotten. But in France, nostalgia has long been hip. Classic
French chanson, as well as older styles such as musette and Gypsy swing, are
still inspiring young French musicians who are proud to listen to the same music
their grandparents enjoyed.
Woody Allen’s 2011 film Midnight in Paris transported viewers to the Paris of the
1920s and reminded us that the romance and joie de vivre (joy of life) of France
has enchanted people for generations. And, just as it is in French painting,
fashion, architecture and cuisine, the history and spirit of France is reflected in its
music.
The word “chanson” (song) dates back to the Middle Ages when typically three
singers would join together in harmony. In the 1940s and 50s, Charles Trenet,
Georges Brassens, Edith Piaf and other French singers elevated the popularity of
the solo singer. Over the years, French standards have been re-interpreted by
scores of artists in a variety of styles. Vintage France features a multigenerational array of artists who share a love of classic French music and
recognize its eternal appeal.
1. Juliette Gréco
La Valse Brune
artist: joo-lee-et GREH-koh song: lah VAHL-suh broon
Juliette Gréco is one of France’s legendary singers and the embodiment of postWorld War II “New Bohemianism.” In the buzzing cafés and nightclubs of Paris’s
Left Bank in the late 1940s, philosophers, musicians, artists and writers came
together to talk, drink and be seen. Gréco’s talent, intelligence and political
activism (not to mention her beauty) earned her friendships with Jean-Paul
Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau and other intellectual
darlings of the period. Gréco is also known for her love affair with jazz trumpeter
Miles Davis. With her many hit songs, starring roles in television and film and
collaborations with French singer-songwriters Serge Gainsbourg, Georges
Brassens and others, Juliette Gréco remains an iconic figure in France.
“La Valse Brune” was written in 1909 by Georges Villard and Georges Krier,
seminal figures of the Parisian Belle Époque music scene. Reprised by Juliette
Gréco in 1957, the song has subsequently been recorded hundreds of times.
“They are not ones to dance a slow waltz / Good roamers who slip into the night /
They prefer the lively waltz / Flexible, fast, where one turns without noise /
Silently they entwine their beauties / Merging with the group / Lightly, lightly they
leave with them / In a joyful whirl.”
2. Asier Etxeandía
J’attendrai
artist: ah-see-EHR ets-yan-DEE-ah song: jah-tahn-DRAY
Originally recorded by Rina Ketty in 1938, “J’attendrai” (I Will Wait) is a classic
song that, because of its melancholy lyrics and the timing of its popularity, has
come to symbolize the beginning of World War II and the heartbreak and loss of
innocence that ensued. A version of the Italian song “Tornerai”– which was
inspired by a melody from Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly – “J’attendrai”
has been recorded in many languages, but the French version remains the best
known and is often used in films set in the World War II era.
This recording of the song was featured on the soundtrack of the Spanish film
Las 13 Rosas (The 13 Roses), which takes place during the final days of the
Spanish Civil War. The vocal performance is by Spanish actor Asier Etxeandía,
who plays a musician. “I shall wait / Day and night / I shall wait for your return / I
shall wait / Because the bird that flees comes back to find lost memories / In its
nest / Time passes and runs, beating sadly / In my heart so heavy / And yet, I
shall await your return.”
3. Madeleine Peyroux
La Javanaise
artist: MAD-eh-lin Puh-ROO song: lah jah-vah-nayz
Written in 1962 by eccentric singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, “La Javanaise”
has earned a spot on the list of best-loved French songs thanks to its seductive
use of the French language. Some have called it “a love song to the letter v”
because of its slang-filled poetic and rhythmic alliteration centered on this
particular letter of the alphabet. The lyrics utilize a pun playing on the word for
Javanese dancing, a French music style and a common French language game.
“If you don’t mind / While dancing the Javanese / Our love lasted / As long as a
song.”
While everyone from Iggy Pop to Beirut has performed “La Javanaise,”
Madeleine Peyroux gives it a special je ne sais quoi on this rendition from her
2006 album Half the Perfect World. Peyroux moved to Paris from the United
States when she was 13, and two years later, she was singing on the streets and
in the metros of the City of Lights. While her voice and style have been compared
to Billie Holiday’s, over the years, she has demonstrated a wider range, covering
songs by Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Joni Mitchell and several French singersong writers.
4. Patrick Nugier
Jardin d’Hiver
artist: pah-TREEK NOO-jyay song: jar-dan dee-vair
While it sounds like a classic from the golden era of French chanson, “Jardin
d’Hiver” (Winter Garden) was written by contemporary Israeli/French
singersongwriter Keren Ann and famously recorded in 2000 by the late Henri
Salvador, a star in France since the 1940s. Salvador was one of the first to
popularize Brazilian bossa nova in the Francophone world. “I would like the
green sun / Lace and tea / Photos by the sea / In my winter garden / I would like
a change of atmosphere / In my winter garden.”
The sense of nostalgia and displacement reflected in the song’s lyrics must hit
close to home for Patrick Nugier. Born in Paris, the accordionist and singer
has been living in Japan for many years, where he is a popular representative of
classic French music. He has appeared on numerous Japanese television
programs and concert stages performing well-known French melodies.
5. Martijn Luttmer
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
artist: mar-TINE loot-mair song: lay pah-rah-pluee doo shair-bore
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) is a beloved French
musical film directed by Jacques Demy and starring Catherine Deneuve and
Nino Castelnuovo. Released in 1964, with dialogue entirely sung to music
composed by renowned French composer Michel Legrand, the film chronicles a
bittersweet romance and remains one of the most popular French movies of all
time. Its vivid colors, ingenious melodies, unique concept and attractive stars
helped it earn four Academy Award nominations and made a star out of the
young Deneuve.
Martijn Luttmer was born in the Netherlands and received his first harmonica on
his 4th birthday. At the age of 9, he was inspired by the work of virtuoso jazz
harmonica player Toots Thielemans to master the chromatic harmonica, which
allows for greater melodic range than a standard blues harmonica. Luttmer has
since played with some of the top Dutch jazz artists and toured extensively
throughout Europe. His version of the famous French theme song was featured
on his 2010 solo album La Libelula.
6. Daniel Roure
Les Baleines Bleues
artist: dahn-yel roor song: lay bah-len bluh
Daniel Roure was born in Marseille, France, in 1948 and began formal music
training at the age of 6. His father was a pianist and Roure grew up surrounded
by the sounds of jazz and French chanson. After living in California for six years,
he recently returned to his native country. Roure has released three albums and
considers his main influences to be French stars Charles Trénet and Yves
Montand as well as American legends such as Dean Martin and Nat King Cole.
As Roure’s influences reflect, American jazz has had a huge impact on popular
French music over the years.
“Les Baleines Bleues” (The Blue Whales) was co-written by Daniel Roure,
Jacques Roure and Christophe Marie and first released in 2001 on Roure’s
album Le Temps d’un Jazz (Time of Jazz). The dreamlike lyrics describe the
hope that can be found by observing the beauty of nature and specifically by
peering into the eyes of blue whales. Roure has ample opportunities to try this
out for himself as he now works as a ship’s doctor and performs in the many
countries he visits on his journeys.
7. Norbert Slama Trio
Nany
artist: nor-BEAR slah-mah song: nah-nee
Blind accordionist Norbert Slama was born in French Algeria and grew up in
post-World War II Paris listening to Gus Viseur, Jo Privat and other masters of
bal musette. With roots that date back to the 1880s, bal musette developed in the
cafés and bars of Paris, influenced by Italian immigrants who had introduced new
rhythms such as the waltz and polka. It became the blues of its day, attracting
people of all backgrounds looking for the excitement of the rough-and-tumble
bars where the music was performed. Also influential in Slama’s youth was the
Gypsy jazz of guitarist Django Reinhardt, violinist Stéphane Grappelli and others.
During his long career, which began in the 1940s, he’s been a bandleader and
performed with many legends including Josephine Baker. He also has performed
for an astonishing array of celebrities and world leaders including Elizabeth
Taylor, Aristotle Onassis, Pablo Picasso and Queen Elizabeth II. These days,
Slama divides his time between his home in France and his adopted home in
New Orleans, where he performs classic French music to a growing legion of
fans who appreciate his unique connection to the bygone era of Paris in the
1950s.
8. Francesca Blanchard
Sous le Ciel de Paris
artist: fran-CHEH-skah blahn-SHAR song: soo luh syel duh pah-REE
Francesca Blanchard is a young singer-songwriter born in 1992 in the south of
France. With parents who worked for international humanitarian agencies,
Francesca lived and went to school in Ethiopia and Burundi and traveled to more
than 30 off-the-beaten path countries before settling in the small town of
Charlotte, Vermont. Influenced by Diana Krall and Norah Jones as well as
French singers Edith Piaf and Carla Bruni among others, Francesca composes
and sings in French and English. While she has yet to record an entire album,
the weekly newspaper of Burlington, Vermont, Seven Days, called her debut sixsong EP, Songs on an Ovation, “quietly and profoundly stunning,” adding that “It
is an ode to love, heartbreak and home that says more about all three topics in
the span of 17 minutes than some songwriters do over entire careers.”
Blanchard recorded this version of the classic “Sous le Ciel de Paris” (Under
Paris Skies) specifically for this Putumayo collection. While the film and its title
song were originally released in 1951, more than 40 years before she was born,
Francesca puts her own stamp on a love song to Paris that was made famous by
Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and other legends of French chanson.
9. Raphaël Bas
Confessin’
artist: rah-fah-YEL bahs
Guitarist and harmonica player Raphaël Bas was born in Bourges, France, in
1969 and has been writing and playing music ever since he borrowed his sister’s
Christmas present, a guitar, at the age of 10. He dedicated himself to the study of
the manouche style, often called Gypsy jazz, which was popularized by guitarist
Django Reinhardt in the 1930s. Bas moved to the United States in 1991 and has
been based in New Orleans since 2005, where he is considered the city’s finest
proponent of Gypsy jazz guitar. Bas blends the French traditions he heard as a
child with the multicultural flavors of the city where jazz was born.
“Confessin’” is an American jazz standard based on a melody first recorded by
Fats Waller in 1929. The next year, Louis Armstrong put a version on vinyl,
followed over the years by Guy Lombardo, Rudy Vallee, Perry Como and
countless others. While not a French song per se, it’s just the type of tune one
would have heard in the jazz-crazy Paris of the 1930s.
10. Art Mengo & Lara Guirao
Je Me Fais des Idées
artist: art MEN-goh song: juh meh fay days ee-day
Born in Toulouse, France, in 1961 to parents who had fled the oppressive Franco
dictatorship in Spain, Michel Armengot, who goes by the stage name Art Mengo,
was an unlikely candidate for a musical career. With a shy personality and a
hearing disability that left him partially deaf, he turned to music for solace.
Eventually, an operation restored his hearing, and after studying physics and
chemistry and working on a Renault assembly line, he decided to record some of
the songs he had composed.
Art Mengo’s debut single in 1988 was a hit and the rest, as they say, is history.
He has since gone on to release many critically and commercially successful
albums, written songs for other stars such as Johnny Hallyday and Ute Lemper
and earned wide respect for his sophisticated compositions that honor classic
French chanson while taking it in unexpected lyrical directions. “Je Me Fais des
Idées” (I’m Getting Ideas), performed with French actress and singer, Lara
Guirao, pays homage to the chanson duet tradition first popularized in the 1930s
by Mireille and Jean Nohain.
11. Jean-Claude Laudat
Cloviswing
artist: jon clohd loh-dah song: kloh-vih-swing
Jean-Claude Laudat’s father bought him his first chromatic accordion when he
was just 6 years old. As a child in the Bastille district of Paris, he began taking
accordion lessons and fell in love with the work of the legendary musette
accordionist Jo Privat. Enchanted by musette and Gypsy jazz, Laudat has
devoted himself to maintaining the purity and essence of these classic musical
styles. Since 1994, his consistent musical partner has been guitarist and singer
Jean-Yves Dubanton, with whom he has toured Europe, Chile and Japan. Most
recently, Laudat and Dubanton have been involved with the band Paname
Swing, which blends swing-musette with African-American soul.
Laudat wrote “Cloviswing” in honor of his father, whose nickname was Clovis. It
was recorded in 2000 with the late guitarist Patrick Saussois on the album
Histoires de Jo (Stories of Jo), a tribute to Jo Privat, whose music inspired the
song. This version was featured on his 2001 album Le Jazz et la Java (Jazz and
Java) and includes Dubanton on guitar and Gilles Le Taxin on double bass.
12. Philippe Gautier
Ménilmontant
artist: fih-LEEP goht-yay song: MEH-neel-mon-than
French singer Philippe Gautier has released two albums. His 1991 release, La
Révolution Française, featured songs from the French Revolution such as the
anthems “La Marseillaise” and “Le Chants des Partisans”. This classic track
comes from his second album Les Plus Belles Chansons de Paris (The Most
Beautiful Songs of Paris), which features other classics songs such as “Pigalle”,
“Le Gamin de Paris” and “La Seine”.
Charles Trénet, one of France’s most beloved artists, first recorded
“Ménilmontant” in 1939 and it became an immediate hit. An ode to the Parisian
neighborhood of the same name, “Ménilmontant” reflects a common theme in
French songs: the love of Paris. It has since become one of the most covered
French songs of all time. “Ménilmontant, but yes, madam / This is where I left my
heart / This is where I have found my soul / All my love / All my happiness.”
French 75 Recipe
A classic drink first created at the New York Bar in Paris in 1915. It got its name
from its powerful kick which reminded people of the 75-millimeter gun used by
the French in World War I.
Ingredients:
2 ounces Champagne
1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1/4 ounce St. Germaine (optional)
1 Lemon twist
Directions:
1. Combine gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and St. Germaine (optional)
in an ice-filled cocktail shaker.
2. Shake for 10 seconds
3. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or flute
4. Top with Champagne
5. Garnish with lemon twist
Makes 1 drink