Back to all posts

"Leslie Lewis Gerard Hagen" Bonjour de Paris Janvier 4, 2025

                                                                                                                               Bonjour de Paris...
 

                                                                                                                “Ciao Ciao Ho Ho."                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Noah D.                                                                      

Chers Amis,

Our friend’s 2 year old son (Noah) lives in a home where French, Italian and English are routinely spoken. This year he associated “Ho Ho Ho” with Santa Claus. This resulted in him saying “ciao ciao ho ho” whenever he passed by an image of Santa. 

It’s now officially 2025. The celebrations are over and the house has been returned to pre-Christmas condition. We are back to the things that concern us during the rest of the year such as working on new music, rehearsing the Funky Ella band, playing our club and concert dates, booking dates for the future, and preparing for classes at IMEP to resume next week.

The fall was busy as usual.  It didn’t take long before the sense of calm that we experienced during our summer days spent on the beaches of Majorca and Collioure was forgotten and replaced by the concerns of “real life”. Just making sure that the music is happening and the teaching is relevant to the student’s needs takes up a lot of our energy. 

One last view of the beach at the Hotel Bon Sol in Majorca!
Leslie found a very nice traditional Thanksgiving dinner for us at the Sofitel La Scribe hotel in Paris. We were joined by our friends Mariya from Bulgaria and Sacha from San Diego. Here's a photo from that night.
Leslie's Christmas tree 2024.
A closer view.
Leslie and I went out to listen to friend's concert on a night off.  Here are some random photos of Paris at Christmas time.
 
In October the folks at Jazz sur Seine produced 180 concerts in 25 venues throughout Paris. Funky Ella played for the festival Jazz sur Seine at Jazz Club Etoile. We had a great night.  The room was sold out and the audience was energetic. Leslie has really developed her jazz vocabulary which she is using to great effect as an improvising musician. She is able to interact with any member of the band which results in some very cool moments during our performances; the kind of moments that create some good energy.  Later that month she did a masterclass at IMEP College of Music.  They have been asking her to do one for a number of years and she never felt like it was something that she wanted to do. This year she relented.  I offered to help her with it but she took it on by herself.  She put a lot of thought into this. Did some research and made a plan. We put together a trio to accompany her as well as the students who were chosen to perform for the class.  It was standing room only and  the student response was such that the school has asked her to do another one in the spring. Some pretty amazing musicians have done masterclasses at that school. I’ve been teaching there since 2017 and have never seen anyone get asked back for a second time. Especially during the same year. Speaking of amazing musicians doing masterclasses at IMEP, Brad Mehldau will be doing one on February 13th. Stay tuned for that one.
Funky Ella pre-concert at Jazz Club Étoile.
Funky Ella concert at Jazz Club Étoile.  
Piano, keyboard set-up at Jazz Club Étoile.

In November we went to La Bocasse, near Rouen, for a concert with Carles GR (guitar) and Stéphane Moureau (drums). I was playing the Yamaha YC61 which I like for the B3 sounds. I’m getting more and more comfortable with that keyboard and consequently using it has become a fun opportunity for me to play in an organ trio setting with Leslie singing.  We worked at Café Laurent on Leslie’s birthday. Upon arriving she found that Diana (her childhood friend) had sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers that were on the piano. 

We were busy with twelve concerts in December.  Fortunately all of our work was in town so there was no travel to be done.  We did have some time off.  Leslie put up one her very best Christmas trees and we had a quiet, but very enjoyable Christmas Eve and Christmas day together  before Leslie, Peter Giron and I did a five night stretch at Chez Papa Jazz Club which culminated in a New Year’s Eve dinner concert. 

Leslie with the organ trio at La Bocasse near Rouen.
Poster for La Bocasse concert.
Leslie & Gerard at Chez Papa Jazz Club New Year's Eve 2024.
The following are photos from New Year's Eve at Chez Papa Jazz Club. Cédric general manager. Leslie with Michel the owner. Leslie with Marie one of the servers. Cédric & Marie are siblings and Michel is their father. 
This fall many friends have visited Paris.  It’s always great to catch up face to face over lunch or dinner or just coffee. The list, in no particular order, includes Clifford and Lydia who made their annual trek from Washington DC,  Mariya who came to Paris from Sofia, Bulgaria in part for Leslie’s birthday, Ned & Carol visited from Northern California and Phyllis came from L.A. to be with her daughter Dominique who  graduated from a culinary course in baking.  Richard Hastings and his wife Teresa were also in town. Richard was able to reconnect with Franz whom he met in 1975 while traveling in Europe!                                                                                                      
Leslie with Dominique & Phyllis at Café Laurent, Paris.
Leslie gets birthday flowers delivered to Café Laurent in Paris from childhood friend Diana who lives in New Jersey.
Gerard with bassist extraordinaire Darryl Hall at Café Laurent, Paris.
Having dinner in Paris with Ned & Carol from Northern California.
Clifford & Lydia with Leslie & Gerard after dinner in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Leslie with Richard & Teresa. Leslie and Richard have been friends and colleagues for 40 some years. He and Teresa split their time between L.A. and Baja California. 
Richard & Teresa with Franz & Marti at Chez Papa Jazz Club in Paris. Richard met Franz while traveling in Spain in 1975.  They connected again last week!

Looking ahead, Leslie is going to Bayonne in a couple of weeks for two nights of concerts with a trio called “Swingin’ Bayonne”.  In February Leslie and I are going to Beaulieu-sur-Mer in the south near Nice. We think we’ll be in Biarritz in April. We’ve been asked to re-create the gospel concert we did in August of 2023 with Rhoda Scott and a local choir in Saverne, France.  This time it’s next November in Mantes-la-Jolie, France. The previous concert was put together with four rehearsals over almost ten months.  Each rehearsal required Leslie and I to travel to Saverne to work with the choir.  No word yet on the rehearsal schedule for this concert.    

In September we are going back to Majorca for another beach vacation.  This time Peter Giron and his wife Nicole will join us. We are really looking forward to more time in Majorca.                                                                                                                                                                                                

Leslie has two concerts in Bayonne on Jan. 25th & 26th.
 

In the next few months there are plenty of opportunities to hear us in Paris starting with Café Laurent on Jan. 13th (Duo), Chez Papa Jazz Club on Jan. 16th (Duo) 17th & 18th (Trio w/ Jean-Philippe Naeder and Darryl Hall), Leslie performs with “Swingin’ Bayonne” Jan. 25th & 26th. In February there is Chez Papa Jazz Club on Fév. 13th (Duo) 14th-15th (Trio w/ Peter Giron), Café Laurent on Fév. 18th (Duo). You can find out more at: https://surfcovejazz.com/tour 

The Funky Ella CD can be streamed on any number of platforms but the main ones are: 

"I Put A Spell On You" first recording by "Funky Ella". 
 

Thank you for giving us your time and attention, we appreciate it very much. Please check our website for news and updates. While you are there please sign up for our weekly email to learn where you can hear us. http://www.surfcovejazz.com   If you have any comments feel free to contact me. I enjoy hearing from you. This email appears on our website where you may also comment. http://www.surfcovejazz.com/blog/ As always thanks for staying in touch with us. 

Until next time,  Leslie et Gerard

Leave a comment