Various: C’Est Si Bon – Foreign Artists Singing In French 1931-1962
This is one for the Nice Novelties department. Exactly what it says on the tin, what we have here are eight non-French performers singing French songs in French. In alphabetical order the artists are Louis Armstrong, Blossom Dearie, Marlene Dietrich, Billy Eckstine, Eartha Kitt, Hildegard Knef, Harold Nicholas and Anthony Perkins.
Before playing the album, I would have said that Billy Eckstine had the best pipes by a country mile. That opinion still obtains – providing this octet were performing in English, but they are, of course, singing in French and here Eckstine appears to be reading the words phonetically with little or no idea of what he is singing, and, by definition, no feeling for the material. On the other hand he does include the verse – as long if not a tad longer than the refrain – to Joseph Kosma-Jacques Prévert’s Les Feuilles Mortes, arguably the best-known internationally of the 46 selections via the English translation by Johnny Mercer, renamed Autumn Leaves. Mercer anglicised only the refrain so the verse is rarely heard.
The bulk of the material was recorded around the mid-point of the 20th century when all eight performers were active prominently; the three who are most likely to have dropped off the radar are Harold Nicholas (who, with older brother Fayard, comprised one half of the Nicholas Brothers, acknowledged widely as the finest tap dancers in the world), Hildegard Knef, a German-born actress who starred briefly both on Broadway and in Hollywood, and Anthony Perkins, best known for his appearance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho in 1960. Indeed it is Perkins who eclipses Eckstine here, given that he appears to be fully at home performing in French and has a decent set of pipes.
Perhaps the most bizarre number is performed by Ms Knef. Qu’Avez-Vous Fait De Mon Amant? first saw the light of day in the heart of the Great Depression as Remember My Forgotten Man, an early “protest” song featured in the film Gold Diggers of 1933, and was, of course, very much of its time. The version heard here translates roughly as “What have you done to my lover?”, so Al Dubin’s lyric possibly loses in translation. Marlene Dietrich peaked in the 30s/40s but she did have a late success with Where Have All The Flowers Gone? And for good measure she performs it here in French as Où Vont Les Fleurs?
The majority of the tracks feature orchestras with anonymous personnel but Blossom Dearie’s three tracks feature herself on piano, Ray Brown, bass, Jo Jones, drums, Herb Ellis/Kenny Burrell, guitar, and Dearie’s then-husband, Bobby Jaspar, flute, on Chez-Moi and L’Etaing. Although a knowledge of French does help, it is, I feel, possible to enjoy this two-disc album without access to a single word. Above all other languages French and music are a match made in Juilliard.
Discography
CD1: (1) C’Est Si Bon; Bal Petit Bal; Under The Bridges Of Paris; Je Cherche Un Homme; (2) Quand L’Amour Meurt; Je M’Ennuie; Assez; Symphonie; La Vie En Rose; Je Tire Ma Révérence; Cherche La Rose; Où Vont Les Fleurs?; Marie Marie; Déjeuner De Matin; (3) Tout Doucement; Plus Je T’Embrasse; Chez Moi; L’Etaing; (4) La Fille De Hambourg; Bal De Vienne; C’Était Pour Jouer; J’Aimerais Tellement Ca; Qu’Avez-Vous Fait De Mon Amant (71.35)
CD2: (5) Ne Dis Plus Rien; Quand Tu Dors Près De Moi; On Ne Meurt Pas Pour Ça; Il n’y a Plus D’Après; (6) Je Ne Peux Pas Rentrer Chez Moi; Bébé Mon Bébé; Le-Loco-Motion; À La Vie, À L’Amour; Oh Oui C’Que J’Aime Ça; Desafinado; (7) Avec Ces Yeux-Là; Nuages; Pardonnez-Moi; Les Feuilles Mortes; Quand J’y Pense; La Valse Des Lilas; Chez-Moi; Aime-Moi; Place Blanche; Je Sais Que Vous Êtes Jolie; Tout Doucement; C’Est Lui L’Amour; (8) C’Est Si Bon (67.02)
(1) Eartha Kitt (v) with Henri René and his orchestra. (2) Marlene Dietrich (v) with orchestras conducted by Peter Kreuder, Charles Magnante, George Smith and Burt Bacharach. (3) Blossom Dearie (v, p) with Ray Brown (b); Herb Ellis, Kenny Burrell (g); Jo Jones (d); Bobby Jaspar (f). (4) Hildegarde Knef (v) with Andre Persiany and his orchestra. (5) Anthony Perkins (v) with Andre Popp and his orchestra. (6) Harold Nicholas (v) with Jimmy Walters and his orchestra. (7) Billy Eckstine (v) with Bobby Tucker and his orchestra. (8) Louis Armstrong (v, t) with Sy Oliver and his orchestra.
Frémeaux & Associés FA5910
GinmanBlachmanDahl: Play Ballads
Until approximately three hours ago my grasp of Danish culture was scant: two writers – Hans Christian Andersen and Karen Blixen; two musicians – Victor Borge and Kai Winding; and one film director – Carl Dryer. I’m now delighted to supplement that meagre showing with three further names, pianist Carsten Dahl, bassist Lennart Ginman and drummer Thomas Blachman.
For reasons best known to themselves they choose to run all three surnames together, forming a single nonsensical name from which Lewis Carroll may well have fashioned a character(s) who made its/their home in Wonderland. This three-headed creature, however, makes its home in the jazz clubs of Denmark, and in 24-25 April 2024, it meandered into the Copenhagen recording studios of MillFactory, where it laid down this beguiling album comprising 15 standards composed between 1934 and 1958 and performed in an entirely original fashion.
Unlike, for example, the block chords of Dave Brubeck, the single, spaced-out notes of Carsten Dahl’s piano offer both a well-thought-out and long-drawn-out meditative take on the material, at most blowing a kiss to the original melody before uncoiling like a garden hose filling with water and spraying new improvs hither and yon. Virtually every track is taken at an agonisingly slow tempo, Dahl’s keyboard doling out notes for Ginman’s bass and Bachman’s drums to fall upon and weave elaborate, almost imperceptible cable-stitching around. Whilst the purist in me mused “Where’s the melody?”, the art lover basked in the atmospheric and highly stylised mood evolving not so much before my eyes as beside my ears.
The discography runs the gamut from Vernon Duke’s Autumn In New York through Matt Dennis’s Angel Eyes via Cannonball Adderley’s Work Song and Duke Ellington’s Come Sunday. It goes back to pop via Allie Wrubel’s Gone With The Wind and Jimmy Van Heusen’s Here’s That Rainy Day. Although even the composers would barely recognise these 15 standards, anyone auditing this album can bask in these exquisite originals.
Discography
Angel Eyes; Gone With The Wind; Autumn In New York; But Beautiful; Take The ‘A’ Train; Chelsea Bridge; Blue Monk; Here’s That Rainy Day; Work Song; There Is No Greater Love; C Jam Blues; Don’t Go To Strangers; Satin Doll; Come Sunday; Things Ain’t What The Used To Be (61.20)
Carsten Dahl (p); Lennart Ginman (b); Thomas Blachman (d). MillFactory Studios, Copenhagen. 24, 25 April 2024.
Storyville 1014365
