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Sacha Distel
Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French musician and singer who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, " Scoubidou", and " The Good Life". He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1997. He had also scored a hit as a songwriter when Tony Bennett recorded Sacha's song for "The Good Life" in 1963. It peaked at #18 on ''Billboard''s Hot 100 chart and Top 10 on the Easy Listening chart. Career Distel was the son of Russian-French émigré Léonide Distel who was born in Odessa, Ukraine and French-Jewish pianist Andrée Ventura (1902–1965), born in Constantinople. His uncle was bandleader Ray Ventura. After Ventura settled in Paris with his orchestra Les Collégiens, Distel gave up piano and switched to guitar. During his career, Distel worked with Kenny Clarke, Jimmy Gourley, Lionel Hampton, Slide Hampton, Bobby Jaspar, Barney Kessel, John Lewis, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996. Hampton was a member of the executive committee of the Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Israel group. In 1984, he signed a letter protesting German arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Biography Early life Lionel Hampton was born in 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky, and was raised by his mother. Shortly after he was born, he and his mother moved to her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. He spent his early childhood in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before he and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1916. As a youth, Hampton was a member of the Bud Billiken Club, an alternative to the Boy Scouts of Ameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Zazie Dans Le Métro
Isabelle Marie Anne de Truchis de Varennes (born 18 April 1964), better known by her stage name Zazie, is a French pop singer and songwriter. Her greatest hits include "Je suis un homme", "À ma place" and "Speed (Zazie song), Speed". She co-produces all her albums and is noted for her playful use of language. Biography Early life Isabelle de Truchis de Varennes was born on 18 April 1964 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. She was nicknamed "Zazie" in reference to the title character of the Raymond Queneau novel ''Zazie dans le Métro (novel), Zazie dans le métro''. Her mother was a music teacher and her father, Hervé de Truchis de Varennes, was an architect. At home, they listened to Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel and Barbara (singer), Barbara, as well as classical music. Inspired, Zazie began learning to play the violin at the age of ten, later teaching herself to play the piano and guitar. After high school, Zazie began studying to become a psychotherapist; however, her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Barney Wilen
Bernard "Barney" Jean Wilen (4 March 1937 – 25 May 1996) was a French jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist and composer. Biography Wilen was born in Nice, France; his father was an American dentist turned inventor, and his mother was French. His father's American citizenship allowed the family to take refuge in the United States during World War II, where Wilen started learning the saxophone. After the family's return to France, he began performing in clubs in Nice after being encouraged by Blaise Cendrars, who was a friend of his mother. After moving to Paris in 1953, Wilen regularly appeared at the club Le Tabou together with musicians such as Jimmy Gourley, Bobby Jaspar and Henri Renaud, as well as American jazzmen passing through. In 1955 he made his first recordings, accompanying Jay Cameron and Roy Haynes. Wilen's career was boosted in 1957, when he worked with Miles Davis on the soundtrack for the Louis Malle film '' Ascenseur pour l'échafaud''. The same year, he rele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
René Urtreger
René Urtreger (born July 6, 1934) is a French bebop pianist. Early life Urtreger was born in Paris and began his piano studies at the age of four, studying privately first, and then at the Conservatory. He studied with an orientation toward jazz, playing in a small Parisian club, the Sully d' Auteuil. Conducted by Hubert Damisch, the Sully boasted an orchestra of talented students including Sacha Distel and Louis Viale. In 1953, Urtreger won first prize in a piano contest for amateurs, and from that moment decided to be a professional musician. Later life and career In a Parisian concert in 1954, he accompanied two great American expatriates: saxophonist Don Byas and trumpeter Buck Clayton. Their collaboration in the "Salon du Jazz" became one of the most highly requested French performances by the American musicians that toured the French capital. After serving in the military from 1955 to 1957, Urtreger would play in a club on the left bank of the Seine, the famous Club Sai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Martial Solal
Martial Solal (23 August 1927 – 12 December 2024) was a French jazz pianist and composer. Life and career Solal was born in Algiers, French Algeria on 23 August 1927, to Algerian Jewish parents. He was persuaded to study clarinet, saxophone, and piano by his mother, who was an opera singer. He was expelled from school in 1942 because of his parents' Jewish ancestry. Algeria was a French colony, and the Vichy France, Vichy regime in France was following Nazi policies. Solal educated himself after having studied classical music in school. He imitated music he heard on the radio. When he was 15, he performed publicly for United States Army audiences. After settling in Paris in 1950, he began working with Django Reinhardt and U.S. expatriates such as Sidney Bechet and Don Byas. He formed a quartet (occasionally also leading a big band) in the late 1950s, although he had been recording as a leader since 1953. Solal then began composing film music, eventually providing over 20 score ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Art Simmons
Arthur Eugene Simmons (February 5, 1926 – April 23, 2018) was an American jazz pianist. Simmons was born in Glen White, West Virginia, in February 1926. He played in a band while serving in the U.S. military in 1946, then remained in Germany after the war, studying music, and moved to Paris in 1949. There he studied at the Paris Conservatory and the Ecole Normale de Musique, playing with Charlie Parker and Kenny Clarke at the Paris Jazz Festival; he also played with Aaron Bridgers, Don Byas, Robert Mavounzy, and Nelson Williams (trumpeter), Nelson Williams. Simmons led his own group at the Ringside Club in 1951. In the early 1950s he played with Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones, and toured London with singers such as Bertice Reading. As resident pianist at the Mars Club, he worked with Michel Gaudry, Pierre Cullaz, and Elek Bacsik, and accompanied touring singers such as Carmen McRae and Billie Holiday (1958). In the early 1960s he played in a duo with Art Taylor. Simmons also d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fats Sadi
"Fats" Sadi Pol Lallemand (23 October 1927, Andenne, Belgium – 20 February 2009, Huy) was a Belgian jazz musician, vocalist, and composer who played vibraphone and percussion. He chose the name "Sadi" because he disliked his last name, which means "the German" in French. He led a quartet and nonet and won the Belgian Golden Django for best French-speaking artist in 1996. Career His first instrument was xylophone, which he played in a circus in the 1930s. After World War II, he turned professional playing the vibraphone. He performed with Bobby Jaspar in the Bob Shots, then with Don Byas. From 1950 to 1961, he lived in Paris, where he played with Aimé Barelli, Django Reinhardt, and Martial Solal. In the 1960s, he moved to Brussels, Belgium, and was a member of Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band. He worked for RTBF, the TV channel of the French Community in Belgium. Sadi became seriously ill in January 1995 and appeared rarely on stage. Discography As leader * ''The Swing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Henri Renaud
Henri Renaud (20 April 1925 in Villedieu-sur-Indre, France – 16 October 2002 in Paris) was a French jazz pianist, record producer, and record company executive. Biography His styles reflected the decades when he was musically active: he played in the swing, bebop and cool styles. He developed a reputation internationally when he served as an ensemble-organizing point-man for visiting jazz performers from the United States. Renaud moved to Paris in 1946 and established a career as a jazz pianist. He joined tenor-saxophonist Jean-Claude Fohrenbach's combo. During 1949 and 1950, he accompanied Don Byas, James Moody, and Roy Eldridge. In 1952, he performed with Lester Young, Sarah Vaughan, and Clifford Brown. Brown made several recordings with Renaud. In 1954, Renaud visited the United States, where he recorded. He made recordings with Milt Jackson, J. J. Johnson, Al Cohn, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Frank Foster, and Bob Brookmeyer. Upon becoming an executive for the jazz divi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bernard Peiffer
Bernard Peiffer (''pie-fer'') (23 October 1922 – 7 September 1976) was a French jazz pianist, composer, and teacher. His nickname was "Le Most", for his piano skills. Life Born in Épinal, France, Peiffer was raised in a musical family, with his father and uncle playing the violin and the organ, respectively. Beginning to learn piano at age nine, he studied under Pierre Maire, a student of Nadia Boulanger, and quickly demonstrated his abilities by repeating long sections of classical works by ear. After winning the 1st Prize in Piano at the Paris Conservatory, Peiffer began his professional career at the age of twenty, playing with André Ekyan and Django Reinhardt. During World War II, he joined the French resistance after he witnessed the execution of a friend by the Gestapo in the streets of Paris. Soon afterwards he was captured, and was incarcerated for over a year. In the early 1950s, he began a successful career, playing with Django Reinhardt, leading his own quintet, c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Pierre Michelot
Pierre Michelot (3 March 1928 – 3 July 2005) was a French jazz double bass player and arranger. Early life Michelot was born in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris on 3 March 1928. He studied piano from 1936 to 1938, and switched to playing bass at age 16. Later life and career He played and recorded with visiting American musicians in Paris. Michelot "played with Rex Stewart (1948), performed at Frisco's in Paris with Kenny Clarke (summer 1949), and joined Clarke in a band accompanying Coleman Hawkins (winter 1949–50), with whom he recorded; in 1949 he also recorded with Clarke in an ad hoc band led by Sidney Bechet." During his career, Michelot also performed with Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, Don Byas, Thelonious Monk, Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Bud Powell, Zoot Sims, Dizzy Gillespie, and Chet Baker. In a 1957 collaboration with Miles Davis, Michelot took part in creating the soundtrack of '' Ascenseur pour l'échafaud''. He was a member of the Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis (May 3, 1920 – March 29, 2001) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger, best known as the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Early life John Lewis was born in La Grange, Illinois, and after his parents' divorce moved with his mother, a trained singer, to Albuquerque, New Mexico when he was two months old. She died from peritonitis when he was four and he was raised by his grandmother and great-grandmother. He began learning classical music and piano at the age of seven. His family was musical and had a family band that allowed him to play frequently and he also played in a Boy Scouts of America, Boy Scout music group.#Lyons, Lyons, p. 77. Even though he learned piano by playing the classics, he was exposed to jazz from an early age because his aunt loved to dance and he would listen to the music she played. After attending Albuquerque High School, he then studied at the University of New Mexico, where he led a small dance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
