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earconnector is delighted to announce the first in a series "from our own correspondent" in paris, saxophonist amy gamlen. please check out the fantastic audio interview with drummer john betch below. NEWS FROM PARIS No. 1:
Hi! I think this site earconnector is really great and I’m going to try and get some transatlantic, er, trans English channel/La Manche stuff happening here so all you English and French guys can meet each other so I’ll be sending in interviews and the like about once a month – I hope you like it!
LES 7 LEZARDS:
There’s some important background info to know before listening to this interview. We’re all feeling very sad because the wonderful jazz club, “Les 7 Lézards”, (“The 7 Lizards”) has just closed. Caroline Volcovici (here in the photo) is the owner and founder of the club and, with her brilliant team, valiantly struggled to keep it open as long as possible. I was going to hear gigs at the 7 Lezards before I even moved to Paris and it soon became a focus point and refuge and dose of regular inspiration for my often-chaotic Parisian life. I cant count how many concerts I have been to. A highlight for me was always the fantastic saxophonist Steve Potts who had regular gigs there with fantastic musicians who always gave a magical performance. I met almost every musician I know at the 7 Lezards and I was also lucky to perform there many times and develop many musical projects without any artistic constraints imposed by the club. Caroline was always supportive and encouraging. Many musicians have also benefited enormously from her generous spirit in this way. It is a great loss to the artistic community. So to Caroline I say a big THANK YOU.
Links:
http://7lezards.com/welcome.htm
http://www.santxo.net/ (An organisation hoping to continue the 7 Lezards)
http://www.stevepotts.net/
JOHN BETSCH and THE JOHN BETSCH SOCIETY, “EARTH BLOSSOM”:
John is one of the musicians I met at the 7 Lezards. You can read about him here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=2283 . I’ve seen many many gigs with John, a memorable one was with Jean-Jacques Avenel and Steve Lacy. We had some lovely gigs together in Jobic Le Masson’s sextet (you can a live extract here : http://jobic.lemasson.free.fr /) as well as other groups. John’s been everywhere and played with everyone and is on countless recordings but so far he has only made one recording under his own name and it’s just been re-released: “Earth Blossom” by the John Betsch Society (1974). It’s really great so everyone run out and get yourself a copy now!
Obviously it would be great to hear John talking about this recording so I asked Peter Giron to interview him. Peter is a fantastic bass player. He and John play together a lot – they make a great team! Peter’s also a very knowledgeable musician and is a top professor at the Parisian “American School” of jazz. Thanks again to Nicole for dinner, mmmm!, and it was very nice to meet the American side of Peter’s family who were visiting. Hope you like the interview! Listen HERE (1 hour long - will take a while to stream, so control/right click to download if you want - 50 meg)
LINKS:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=70138992 (You can hear “Ode to Ethiopia”)
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=69440 (Review and audio extracts)
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=2283
http://jobic.lemasson.free.fr/
http://amygamlen.free.fr/
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