Jazz in Paris
One of the advantages of living in Paris is all the jazz clubs. In addition to the famous New Morning, there’s the classic Caveau de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter. But many of the clubs are grouped in a two-block area on the rue des Lombards in the heart of Paris. There’s the Duc des Lombards, the Baiser Salé and the twinned Sunside/Sunset Club.
That last one, open since 1982, is where I spent last night. The owner of the club must have a sense of humor because the Sunside is upstairs, where the sun can indeed shine, while the Sunset is downstairs, where it doesn’t. The decor is that of the Paris Métro subway system: curved walls arching overhead made of white tiles. There’s a bar at the entrance by the stairs, and mercifully they stop serving when the music starts, which means a rush for drinks beforehand but no invasive bar noise or back-and-forthing of wait staff in your line of sight.
Tonight is a jazz quartet with Dmitry Baevsky on alto sax, David Wong on bass, Jason Brown on drums and my friend Peter Bernstein on guitar. They all stand at the end of the long, narrow room on a stage area over which looms JAZZ IS FREEDOM in talk dark letters, stating perhaps why we’re all here. The club info says there’s room for a hundred, and almost every seat is taken, including me on a barstool at the back.
The first set started at 8:30 and ran an hour. It opened with an almost atonal number, probably an original. I didn’t catch the name when Dmitry said it at the end, but it didn’t usher in more of the same modern jazz genre. Instead it was followed by a classic, “Falling in Love with Love”, and then an Ellington piece. After that came a touch of calypso with Tommy Flanagan’s “Eclypso.” Plus another original, probably by Baevsky.
On the first piece, Wong’s bass solo was hard to hear, but the sound guy fixed that on his board by the second piece. Brown’s drumming, which you may have heard behind Joey DeFrancesco or Monty Alexander, was masterful, light-handed, and showed a great sense of humor in places that brought out a chuckle in me. Russian-born saxophonist Baevsky knows how to lead when the spotlight’s on him and when to step back and let the others shine in their solos. As for New Yorker Peter Bernstein, with his large Zeidler archtop guitar made in 1981, he seems the perfect blend of jazz artist and rock star.
After a short break, they’d come back with a second set, but I was tired and it was a long way home, so I said good-bye to Peter, thanked him for being such a great musician, and walked two blocks to the boulevard where I flagged down a taxi to take me back uphill to Montmartre. Ah, Paris, and its jazz scene.