Album review

PARIS COMBO

Motifs

Paris 

13/09/2004 - 

Motifs, the fifth studio album from Paris Combo, the upbeat fivesome fronted by singer Belle du Berry, takes the group's jazzy-chanson sound to a new level. In recent months, the Parisian band have found themselves setting sail for distant climes and reaching new audiences in Australia and the U.S. And, while Paris Combo have a long way to go before rivalling the mega international 'cargo' tours of the late Mano Negra, the band are beginning to carve out a fine reputation for themselves abroad.

Following in the wake of a string of hit singles including Living Room, Moi, mon âme et ma conscience and, of course, Irénée, Paris Combo vamp up their repertoire with a new album release, Motifs. Meanwhile, the group have been setting their sights on new horizons, lining up dates all the way from Adelaide to L.A. But it seems fitting that the band should have kicked off their latest round of concert dates with an appearance in Australia, performing at the 'Highlight Cabaret' festival in June. Fitting because David Lewis, the band's trumpet-player and pianist, is an Australian born and bred.

"'Highlight Cabaret' is a very eclectic festival," explains Lewis, who was born and raised in the Australian town of Hamilton, "It covers a lot of different styles of cabaret. In fact, I'd say it's a combination of French cabaret and American-style shows – and our performance involved a mix of all that, with a bit of Australian flavour thrown in for good measure!" Australian audiences certainly proved very receptive to the Paris Combo sound – and were lucky enough to discover the band's new repertoire before French fans back home. The band rolled out no less than fourteen new songs and instrumentals, stoking up the jazzy-chanson sound they have made their own since emerging with their debut album in 1997.

"Being in a band is a bit like being on a big ship," laughs David Lewis, "If, one day, you decide you're going to change course, you can't just do it without warning. You've got to sit and plot a course before making a 90 or 180° turn – if not, you'll end up smashing into an iceberg! I think the interesting thing about our new album is that we changed the team involved in the recording process and that meant we were able to elaborate our style without altering it at any fundamental level." In short, Belle du Berry's crystal vocals have lost none of their exhilarating charm and are even given an added edge thanks to doublebass-player Mano's backing croon. Mano also excels solo on songs such as Discordance, a domestic dispute played out over sumptuous George Benson-style jazz. Meanwhile, the band's guitarist Potzi strums out his wild Gypsy jazz rhythms in accompaniment to Lewis's Mariachi trumpet squeals and François François's velvet-soft drums.

After their whistle-stop Australian tour, Paris Combo will be taking their new improved formula to the U.S. for the first time. "We've got several dates lined up on the West Coast," explains Lewis, "We're going to be playing in San Francisco and appearing at the 'Hollywood Bowl' in Los Angeles. And the brilliant thing is, we don't just get to perform in such an incredible venue – we get to play with a full symphony orchestra, too! And that's really exciting! There's going to be a special French theme night with dancers from the Moulin-Rouge and everything. But the orchestra will also be playing classical pieces by Debussy and Ravel."

Have Paris Combo established themselves as the new ambassadors of French music abroad, we hear you ask. Well, the band's ticket sales have yet to rival the mega-international tours organised by Mano Negra or the sell-out gala 'soirées' by Charles Aznavour. But, nevertheless, the Parisian combo are slowly beginning to make their mark in America and Asia. "It's really tough getting regular gigs abroad," says Lewis, "but we've been very lucky in that we have people working for us on the spot. We've got a network of tour organisers and distributors who've done a brilliant job. And that means we've done things like fly out to Brazil in January to play in Sao Paolo. We've found it's been a very enriching and stimulating experience to get out there and perform to audiences who don't really know us and our work."

Meanwhile, individual members of the group have been developing other stimulating and enriching experiences of their own, working with other artists outside Paris Combo. Belle du Berry is set to do a song on Congolese singer Lokua Kanza's new album (due out in January 2005). As for David Lewis, he will be accompanying jazzman John Greaves at the 'Théâtre de l’Oeuvre' in Paris. Lewis is also lending a helping hand to two up-and-coming bands from Lyons and Paris (namely, Cabane and Drôle de Sire) and will be involved in the production of albums by both bands. Is Paris Combo about to spawn a new generation of jazz-chanson combos? "Well, I don't know whether we've really spawned any imitators since we started out," laughs Lewis, "Let's just say that maybe we've encouraged certain groups to try and venture outside pigeon-holes and not become trapped in any one style. Given that we have five very different personalities within the group, Paris Combo has never really had a style that fitted into any one particular mould."

Paris Combo Motifs (Polydor / Universal) 2004

Frédéric  Garat

Translation : Julie  Street