Frank Ténot (31 October 1925 – 8 January 2004) was a press agent, pataphysician and

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 m ...

critic. He managed a number of publications over the course of his long association with

Daniel Filipacchi Daniel Filipacchi (born 12 January 1928) is the Chairman Emeritus of Hachette Filipacchi Médias and a French collector of surrealist art. Career Filipacchi wrote and worked as a photographer for ''Paris Match'' from its founding in 1949 by J ...

. He is best remembered as one of the founders of the influential radio show and magazine Salut les copains.

Life

He discovered jazz in Bordeaux in 1944, where he became president of the

Hot Club of 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 Panas ...

. Based in Paris after World War II, he was employed at the

Commission for Atomic Energy The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and securit ...

, and copy editor at the magazine ''Jazz Hot'', alongside

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sull ...

with whom he discovers

'Pataphysics Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of imag ...

. In the 1950s, he worked at the French Club label, with

, then press photographer, and with him among the magazine ''Jazz Magazine''. Until his death, he held a regular column in ''Jazzman'' and ''Jazz Magazine''. They then hosted a radio show on

Europe 1 Europe 1, formerly known as Europe n° 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. Owned and operated by Lagardère Active, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it is one of the leading radio broadcasting stations in France and its pr ...

, for those who love jazz for sixteen years, from 1955 to 1971. In 1959, he began issueing ''Hi folks'', whose great success with youth leads the publication of the magazine of the same name and allows the two partners to create a media group which included ''Lui, Pariscope, Union'' and ''Photo''. They bought ''Paris Match'' in 1976 before joining forces with Matra and take control of creating the

Hachette Filipacchi Médias Hachette Filipacchi Médias, S.A. (HFM) is a magazine publisher. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Active, a division of the media conglomerate Lagardère Group of France. History '' Hachette'' was founded by Louis Hachette (Fren ...

. By 1986, Ténot participated in the creation of the

Europe 2 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In 1999, he is the co-founder of TSF Jazz with Jean-François Bizot. With his partner Daniel Filipacchi, he also tried as lyricist. They wrote all the text by adopting the pseudonym Daniel Frank, sung by

Henri Salvador Henri Salvador (18 July 1917 – 13 February 2008) was a French Caribbean comedian, singer and cabaret artist. Biography Salvador was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native C ...

on air Lil 'Darlin' by

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

. They also produced the song ''Panne d'essence'' for

Sylvie Vartan Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian; hy, Սիլվի Ժորժ Վարդանյան. on 15 August 1944) is an Armenian-Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. ...

, under the pseudonym Dan Frank. They produced concerts of

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

, Louis Armstrong, and Sylvie Vartan in Olympia. He presided over a management company, founded Éditions du Layeur and was named "Provveditore" College Pataphysique. From 1995 to 2001, he was mayor of the town of Marnay-sur-Seine. The Foundation Ténot involved in supporting artistic creation with the art center CAMAC in Marnay-sur-Seine.

Works

* ''Dictionnaire du jazz,'' 1967 * ''Radios privées, radios pirates,'' 1977 * ''Jazz encyclopoche'', 1977 * ''Le jazz'', 1983 * ''Boris Vian Jazz à Saint-Germain'', 1993 * ''Je voulais en savoir davantage'', 1997 * ''Frankly speaking : chroniques de jazz, de 1944 à 2004'', 2002

References

20th-century French journalists French publishers (people) French music critics Jazz writers 1925 births 2004 deaths Writers from Mulhouse French magazine publishers (people) Pataphysicians French male non-fiction writers French radio presenters 20th-century French male writers Mass media people from Mulhouse {{france-journalist-stub