Leslie Lewis & Gerard Hagen "Jazz from Paris"

Bonjour de Paris ... 

“Maybe we thought it was a dream and we’d wake up in Niagara Falls with a hangover.” 
Robert Mitchum  “Out Of The Past” 

Chers Amis, 

Leslie and I were watching “Out Of The Past” when I was struck by how much was communicated in the above line. In our home, when it comes to music, we think a lot about what to communicate and how to communicate it. When it comes to this missive, I do the best I can to communicate through words, but I make no claim that I am, in any way, a writer. 

I…

Bonjour de Paris 

 “…the band was a bit amped when we started the concert…”  

Chers Amis,  

We returned to Paris from La Petite Pierre late this afternoon. We were there for the Au Grès Du Jazz festival.  It was our first time in the Alsace region of France.  La Petite Pierre is not far from Strasbourg which we are told is a very charming town that many people who travel in France will find the time to visit and after having spent a few days near there, we decided to find the time to return someday.  That…

 Bonjour de Paris ... 

  “She conducted the band with her ass.” 

Chers Amis, 

 So it was on this day, July 2nd 2012, that Leslie and I arrived in Paris with two suitcases and no clue what awaited us.  At that point we weren’t even sure if we would receive the visas that would allow us the rights of residency and work.  About two weeks later we received a congratulatory email requesting that we come to the French Consulate in L.A. to have the visas stamped into our passports. During that time I remember…

Bonjour de Paris ... 

           “I have never been nervous walking in Paris late at night.” 

Chers Amis, 

Last week I was confronted with a health issue which required an out-patient surgery at the American Hospital here in Paris. We had very little time to prepare and I was required to have a covid PCR test that was negative. It was quite the challenge to find a lab to do the test and produce the results in that short of a turn around. It was a very busy lab. They must have done 15 tests in the thirty…

                                  Bonjour de Paris ... 

                                 “We were home well before daybreak” 

Chers Amis, 

We have been very fortunate to end 2021 and begin 2022 with a lot of great music. Leslie and I worked with Bruno Rousselet at Chez Papa Jazz Club for the New Years celebration.  It was quiet this year (we were home well before daybreak)  but still enjoyable.  In fact maybe even more enjoyable. Recently Leslie has been working with Nico Peslier at the beautiful Hotel…

Joyeux Noël de Paris

Bonnes Fêtes 

Chers Amis,  

As we close in on Christmas later this week Leslie and I are enjoying some free time away from performing. So Leslie is devoting some time searching for new material for her repertoire. Next week we are working four nights in a row so a little down time is a welcome thing. We have managed to make Christmas pretty stress free by eliminating things that don’t really add to our lives. We did get the booster shot a while ago but for the most part, Delta and now…

      Bonjour de Paris ... 

         “Crazy Huh?”   

Chers Amis,  

Things have been incredibly busy here.  Paris is essentially back, (for now).  The streets are busy, as are the stores, restaurants, clubs and theatres. People are traveling again and in general things feel better now. There are some isolated areas in France that are still dealing with higher cases of Covid and the government is urging older people and those with special health conditions to get the booster vaccination.  Germany is seeing a…

                                                             Bonjour de Paris ...                                                         

                                             “Godspeed my friend”   

Chers Amis,  

The Jazz world is full of many, many bright lights.  Some make the music and some support the artists who make the music.  The value of music is the degree in which it communicates in ways that spoken words cannot.  That magic is what creates the light, illuminating a pathway or offering…

    Bonjour de Paris ...   

“Watching, waiting and hoping!”   

Chers Amis,  

Watching our little corner of the world, we are waiting to see what’s next and hoping for something that resembles a world that we can truly live in. We all have these same stories, feelings and frustrations. In spite of the pandemic, Leslie and I do our best to make a life here in Paris. Normally that is not too difficult for us.  We live in the centre of town surrounded by restaurants, parks, museums, art galleries, stores…

Bonjour de Paris ...    

      “The way things are going these days… I got no explanation!”   

Chers Amis,  

I have started this newsletter several times over the past few weeks.  Every time I sat down to write, something came up that was more pressing and caused me to put this on the back burner. Getting everything in place for the release of our new CD and creating the material needed for booking the new “Funky Ella” band has taken many, many hours. For many of us there is no longer any balance between…