AVALON JAZZ BAND - I LOVE PARIS

I LOVE PARIS

AVALON JAZZ BAND

SONGWRITER: COLE PORTER

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: I WISH YOU LOVE

LABEL: AVALON JAZZ BAND

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 2016

"I Love Paris" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and published in 1953. The song was introduced by Lilo in the musical Can-Can. A line in the song's lyrics inspired the title of the 1964 movie Paris When It Sizzles.

As two musicians involved in the New York swing renaissance, Tatiana Eva-Marie and Adrien Chevalier wanted to share their experience of French jazz with their American audience, and that’s how Avalon Jazz Band was born. Ever since its creation, the band has performed in the hottest clubs and venues in the city, from hidden speakeasies to the Oak Room at the Plaza. In July 2012 they were invited by the French Ambassador to give two private concerts in Washington for the French National Day and represent the expansion of French culture in the United States.

The music of Avalon Jazz Band is inspired by the Parisian jazz scene of the 1940’s, which emblematic sound was made popular by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. They perform the American standards popular in France at that period, but also the songs of French composers influenced by that new sound called « jazz ». In addition to these classics, Avalon Jazz Band also performs the original music written by their vocalist Tatiana Eva-Marie, who offers her own vision of what contemporary swing can be, blending her francophone culture into her American experience.

The Zazous, the swing youth of Paris, were a subculture in France in the 1930’s and 1940’s. During World War II, they expressed their resistence and their nonconformity through music and dance. They wore big excentric clothing, checkered and colourful, had long hair and always carried an umbrella when it didn’t rain, to underline the irony of their time. When the yellow star was forced on Jews, the Zazous began to wear yellow stars with ‘Swing’ written on them. They became persecuted and gathered in the medieval cellars in the Latin Quarter, the heart of the jazz culture in Paris.

Why is it called Avalon Jazz Band? Tatiana Eva-Marie, who has a Master’s Degree in medieval studies from the Sorbonne University in Paris, came up with the band’s name. In arthurian legends, Avalon is the island of regeneration where King Arthur goes to rest after his last battle and whence he will return some day to rule over his land once again. The name «Avalon» carries the symbol of rebirth and underlines the band’s involvment in the current swing renaissance.

Tatiana Eva-Marie is a singer and actress living in New York City. She is the lead singer of the Gypsy-French Avalon Jazz Band and was recently included, alongside Cyrille Aimée and Cecile McLorin Salvant, in a list of 37 rising jazz stars by the magazine Vanity Fair. 

Every time i look down on this timeless town,

Whether blue or gray be her skies,

Whether loud be her cheers, or whether soft be her tears,

More and more do I realize that...

I love Paris in the spring time

I love Paris in the fall

I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles

I love Paris every moment

Every moment of the year

I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris

Because my love is here.