Hommage à Serge Gainsbourg

Backed by a top-class band well-versed in musical fusions, Virginie Capizzi pays a delightful tribute to the pioneers of French jazz song and, for the first concert in this series, turns her attention to one of the genre’s great masters: Serge Gainsbourg.

A lover of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Art Tatum and Dizzy Gillespie, the young Lucien Ginsburg began his career playing the piano and guitar in the mid-1950s, at the age of 26. From the piano bars of Le Touquet and Deauville to the clubs and cabarets of Paris, the art student played standards to pay for his paints and canvases. He took up composing and songwriting and became a regular at the ‘Milord l’Arsouille’, where he discovered Boris Vian – a true revelation – and where, in January 1958, Michèle Arnaud and Francis Claude invited him to perform his own songs. Six months later, he recorded his first album: *Du chant à la une !…*, with Alain Goraguer and his orchestra. This album, heavily influenced by jazz and highly praised by critics – notably Boris Vian – features ‘Du jazz dans le ravin’ and, above all, ‘Le poinçonneur des Lilas’, his first hit. On his subsequent albums, right up to *Gainsbourg Confidentiel* (1963) and *Gainsbourg Percussions* (1964), jazz, blended with other influences, predominated. And although Serge Gainsbourg later moved from one genre to another – from yéyé to reggae, via rock and pop – jazz would always exert a profound influence on his music.

A concert not to be missed !