Charles Delaunay on 52nd Street, NYC, October 1946 (Gottlieb 01961)

Charles Delaunay (18 January 1911 – 16 February 1988) was a French author,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

expert, co-founder and long-term leader of the

Hot Club de France The Hot Club de France is a French organization of jazz fans dedicated to the promotion of "traditional" jazz, swing, and blues. It was founded in 1931 in Paris, France, by five students of the Lycée Carnot. In 1928, Jacques Bureaux, Hugues Pana ...

Biography

Born in

Vineuil-Saint-Firmin Vineuil-Saint-Firmin () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France. The communes cooperate in the followin ...

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 ...

, the son of painters

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

and

Sonia Delaunay Sonia Delaunay (13 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in Odessa (then part of Russian Empire), and formally trained in Russian Empire and Germany before moving to Fr ...

, Charles Delaunay was one of the founders of the Hot Club de France. Together with

Hugues Panassié Hugues Panassié (27 February 1912 in Paris – 8 December 1974 in Montauban) was a French Music criticism, critic, record producer, and impresario of traditional jazz. Career Panassié was born in Paris. When he was fourteen, he was stricke ...

he initiated the

Quintette du Hot Club de France The Quintette du Hot Club de France ("The Quintet of the Hot Club of France"), often abbreviated "QdHCdF" or "QHCF", was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli and active in one form ...

with

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

and

Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece) A stephane (''ancient Greek'' στέφανος, from ''στέφω'' (stéphō, “I encircle”), '' Lat.'' Stephanus = wreath, decorative wreath worn on the head ...

. He also organised concerts, for example with

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

. In 1935, together with Panassié he founded ''Le Jazz Hot'', one of the oldest jazz magazines. From 1937, Delaunay shared artists and repertory responsibilities with Panassié on a new record label, Disques Swing ("Swing Records"). As well as the Hot Club ensemble, it issued recording by visiting Americans such as

Dicky Wells William Wells (June 10, 1907 – November 12, 1985), known professionally as Dicky Wells (sometimes Dickie Wells), was an American jazz trombonist. Career Dickie Wells is believed to have been born on June 10, 1907 in Centerville, Tennessee, Uni ...

and

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

, as well as Carter. It was among the first record labels dedicated exclusively to jazz. ''Jazz hot'' ceased publication in summer 1939, being revived in March 1945. During World War II, Delaunay was a member of the Resistance, but continued leading the Hot Club. In 1948, Delaunay founded the record label

Disques Vogue Disques Vogue was a jazz record company founded in France by Léon Cabat and Charles Delaunay in 1947, the year after the American Vogue label ceased. They originally specialized in jazz, featuring American performers such as Sidney Bechet, D ...

and was one of the first people to introduce bop into France, but Panassié did not even consider the new music to be jazz. Delaunay was the author of ''Hot Discography'' which ran to five editions in England, France and the USFred Sharp, "Charles Delaunay 1911-1983".
/ref> (the first jazz discography) and also worked as an artist. Delaunay died in Paris of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 1988.

Works

*''Django Reinhardt- Souvenirs'', Paris 1954, Editions Jazz-Hot, English London 1961 *''Hot Discography'', 1936, latest as ''New Hot Discography'' 1982 *''Hot Iconography'' (lithographies of jazz musicians) *with

Robert Goffin Robert Goffin (21 May 1898 – 27 June 1984) was a Belgian lawyer, author, and poet, credited with writing the first "serious" book on jazz, ''Aux Frontières du Jazz'' in 1932.Epperson. Life Robert Goffin was born in Ohain, Brabant Province i ...

''Jazz 47'' *''Django mon frère'', Paris 1968 *''De la Vie et du Jazz'' *''Delaunay's Dilemma'' (autobiography, also title of a

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

composition) 1983

References

External links

Biography
1911 births 1988 deaths People from Oise French music critics Jazz writers Discographers French male non-fiction writers Record collectors 20th-century French male writers {{France-nonfiction-writer-stub