Bonjour de Paris Chers Amis,
It feels like spring in Paris but I hesitate to convince myself that winter is over. It is never good to shift into "spring mode" until one is very confident that winter is gone for good. This was never an issue for me when I was a resident of California. I do miss that very much.
I continue to enjoy teaching at the International Music Educators of Paris College of Music. I have been doing some substitute teaching for some of the other professors and find myself thinking how lucky I am to get paid to do this because if I wasn't there listening to and talking about this music I'd be doing it at home without the salary!
Leslie has been doing some concerts with Philippe Duchemin's trio. They were working in Le Mans last Saturday which meant that I worked with a different singer at our Monteverdi gig. Since I turn into a bumbling mess when she is gone I completely lost track of time once I got home from work (it is about a 60 second walk from the gig to our apartment) and stayed up till around 9:00 am Sunday morning reading and listening to music. I think it was around noon when she returned home from Le Mans and after catching up on our respective gigs, we both slept most of the afternoon. In May and July she has a few more dates booked with Philippe so who knows what I'll end up doing then. We are booked to perform at a jazz festival in Conakry, Guinea West Africa in May. We are required to get vaccinated for yellow fever in order to go there. It will be our first time in Conakry and our second performance in Africa. If nothing else it will be an interesting trip! In July we are in La Baule for three days to do the La Baule Jazz Festival. La Baule is on the Atlantic coast and is one of our favorite summer hangs so we are excited to do those dates.
I am happy to say that right after the La Baule dates we are flying to Los Angeles. We are booked at the "Laguna Beach Live" Wednesday night jazz concert series on August 2nd. Once they have the summer schedule on the website you will be able to find tickets here http://www.lagunabeachlive.org/concerts/jazz-wednesdays In an odd scheduling quirk we are performing the next day (Aug. 3rd) at The Bop Stop in Cleveland and will be in that area for a while before returning to L.A. later in August. If you know of any jazz fans in Cleveland please let them know about our concert there. In case you can't make the Laguna Beach gig we are at "Jazz At The Merc" in Temecula on August 17th. In hopes that we will have some downtime to spend at the beach and catching up with friends, we decided to only do those two performances in California.
Leslie & Gerard at Chez Papa Jazz Club in Paris.
On April 25th we are doing a concert at Sunside Jazz Club in Paris that will be an "Hommage à Ella Fitzgerald". We will be working with Peter Giron, bass and Mourad Benhammou, drums. We have already heard from some friends who will be in Paris for that date, so if you are in Paris that week please put this date on your calendar. Our concerts at Sunside are always great fun and usually we sell out so please take that into consideration. http://www.sunset-sunside.com/2017/4/artiste/1852/4501/
Peter Giron contrebasse.
Mourad Benhammou Batterie.
Please check our website for our April dates. We have the usual jazz club gigs in and around Paris including Chez Papa Jazz Club as well as Le Speakeasy and Monteverdi. While you are on our website please sign up for our weekly email blast to learn where you can hear us.Until next time,
Leslie and Gerard
Please if you have any comments feel free to contact me at <gerard@surfcovejazz.com>. I enjoy hearing your thoughts. This email also appears on our website where you may comment as well. http://www.surfcovejazz.com/blog/
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