Jazz in Paris remixed

Urban ambience

Paris 

15/03/2006 - 

On the album Jazz in Paris remixed, ten European DJs serve up electro reworkings of legendary jazz classics recorded in Paris in the '50s and '60s. The result? Moody nocturnal ambiences that put a contemporary and original spin on the City of Light.

Jazz in Paris is an impressive collection of reissues including more than 100 jazz records made in Paris between the 1930s and the end of the '60s. The collection, which belongs to Universal Musique France, draws on original recordings from a broad range of labels, featuring work by everyone from Dizzie Gillespie and Chet Baker to Miles Davis and Django Reinhart. Retracing the history of blue notes in the City of Light, Jazz in Paris confirms the city's reputation as a major capital of international jazz. As one listen to just about any record from the collection confirms, this was a white-hot period in history when Paris sparkled with creativity, improvisation and unstoppable swing. Over five decades later, Daniel Richard and François Lexuan have dipped into this musical treasure trove, proposing a new vision of Paris, the mythical home of jazz. The album Jazz in Paris remixed offers a surprising new take on the city, its contemporary remixes reflecting how the French capital has changed over the years – and thus changed the music it inspires.

Electro-jazz atmosphere

The ten European remixers involved in Jazz in Paris remixed have morphed the original recordings from pure jazz to electro-jazz, speeding up the beats on '50s and '60s compositions and breathing new life into jazz classics via cutting-edge electronica and video. Setting the overall mood, the album begins and ends with two very different remixes of the famous soundtrack Miles Davis composed for Louis Malle's 'film noir' classic Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud. Sandwiched in between, in no particular order, come innovative reworkings of jazz compositions by Pierre Michelot, Serge Gainsbourg, Louis Armstrong, Art Simmons and Chet Baker.

François Lexuan, one of the musical masterminds behind the project, explains that "There were no exact specifications imposed upon the DJs. It was more about a certain musical and artistic approach, which the DJs either had or they didn't. This wasn't about concept, it was more a question of feeling. The original recordings were all very atmospheric, giving this powerful feel of Paris by night, like 'film noir' from the late '50s. And what we were essentially trying to do with the remixes was capture a certain atmosphere."

On Jazz in Paris remixed, the atmosphere of Paris 2006 by night is deftly captured in electro remixes by artists from very different backgrounds such as Nicolas Repac, Pierre Audetat, VV, Pole, Chris Bowden and Mobile in Motion. Everyone has their own take on the City of Light, individual visions ranging from trendy, groovy, multi-cultural and exhilarating to evocations of quiet streets and menacing shadows. What all the electro-jazz remixes have in common is a sensitive approach that brings urban landscapes alive to all the senses. Outstanding tracks on the album include the two afore-mentioned remixes of Miles Davis (by Nicolas Repac and Mobile In Motion), Soy Bean's superb reworking of a Barney Wilen classic and a compelling swing number by Chris Bowden.

Sound and vision

While the DJs created a contemporary soundtrack to Paris, a video "remixer" was invited to create a 60-minute "film piece" inspired by the ten tracks on the album. Antoine Carlier's brief was to update the classic '50s image of the French capital. And he does just that, his wild fantasy footage taking us on a sort of psychedelic meander through the city streets, distorting time and space. Sound and image so perfectly complement one another that François Lexuan describes Jazz In Paris remixed as "a film to listen to and an album to watch." As for Antoine Carlier, he defines his contribution to the project as "a process of surgical editing around the music", where rhythmic intuition was all.

As any harried Parisian knows, times have moved on and the deserted night-time alleys of Montmartre that feature at the beginning of the album have evolved into a deafening buzz of activity. Carlier's updated vision of Paris reflects the paradoxical nature of the modern city, conjuring up images of intense urban solitude and the constant hustle and bustle on the streets. The rhythm of city life is now very different to the '50s feel which inspired Miles Davis's atmospheric trumpet and moody silences. Paris circa 2006 is a hotbed of noise and activity and the sheer diversity of the city that never sleeps is perfectly reflected in the diversity of the remixers' soundtracks. There is not one Paris, but many, not one way of approaching jazz, but a multitude of visions and sensibilities – and these are just ten of them!

Compilation Jazz In Paris remixed (EmArcy/Universal) 2006

Eglantine  Chabasseur

Translation : Julie  Street