Summertime! And the Livin' is Easy

Jazz in Paris- the actual jazz aspect. Here is a wholesome academic centered post, no cultural antics to be found.

Within this lovely course, our cultural outings included attendance at three different jazz concerts in authentically Parisian jazz nightclubs. 

As the class would suggest, our excursions included the opportunity to see live jazz shows. For our first show, we attended an Ahmad Jamal concert at the iconic Fondation de Louis Vuitton. The venue was incredible, especially for what was my first jazz concert, and all of us lowly college students were dressed to the nines with the rest of the crowd who you would imagine would go to see a jazz concert on a Friday night. The building was all towering glass and spired silver beams of metal, immaculately pristine white walls and of course an amazing acoustic set up. The stage was set in front of windows looking out onto the expansive, flowing waterfall that covered the grounds. We took our seats and the concert began.

Ahmad Jamal is a jazz pianist, one of those who were a part of the original jazz music movement. Herlin Riley (drums), James Cammack (double bass) & Manolo Badrena (percussion) accompanied his performance. As it was the first jazz concert I'd ever been to, it seemed I'd started at the top with the gold standard of jazz musicians. Their seamless improvisation and understanding of the music that they were weaving together absolutely astounded me. Even to an untrained ear like mine, it blew me away. I had never seen anything like it. The set passed in a whirlwind of sound and talent and before I knew it, it was over. At least that's what I thought. But we were treated to encore after encore from the talent of Jamal and his accompanists.

The following concert was held at a popular jazz nightclub, Sunset/ Sunside, on Rue des Lombards. This time the performance was by Michel Goldberg, a jazz saxophonist, alongside his son Dexter Goldberg, a pianist. Now seated in a dimly lit jazz club, the experience was much more intimate, homier, grittier in a way. The atmosphere was more relaxed and laid back as the performance began. The seats were set all the way up to the edge of the stage and with the closer proximity, we had a different relationship with the performers than we did at Jamal's concert.

Last up was jazz vocalist Eddie Wakes at Duc des Lombards. Now, this was another first- a performance with a vocal component. His voice was incredible, smooth and rich as he was accompanied by numerous instrumentalists including Samuel Lerner (Piano), Fred Delestre (Drums), Felix Lemerle (Guitar), Gilles Naturel (Double Bass), Joel Chausse (Trumpet), Ricardo Izquierdo (Alto Sax, Clarinet, and Flute), and Jerry Edwards (Trombone). Wakes performed several well-known songs such as "The Girl From Ipanema" and Nat King Cole's hits. My favorite of the night, however, was when he performed a childhood spiritual a capella. It was simple, Wakes on a stool, no instruments in the background, while his voice carried unknown emotions and crooned laments high into the rafters.

Even though the study part is important, it’s the abroad part that we do it for. That’s what we’re going for. That’s what we’ll remember when we’re old and wrinkly and telling stories of that time we sat on the banks of the Seine at twilight, eating strawberries while the Bastille fireworks exploded in the background. So having these jazz experiences and witnessing the music created in front of my eyes was certainly a highlight I won't forget anytime soon.