CLAUDIA HOMMEL: Paris in the Jazz Age

Claudia Hommel

Paris in the Jazz Age

© 2000 Maison Clobert

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From ragtime to swing, Claudia Hommel and Bob Moreen pay homage to the love affair between American performers and the jazz-crazy public of Paris--with Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier and Cole Porter in tow.

tracks

1 Alexander's Ragtime Band and That International Rag
2 La Diva de l'Empire (Satie) and I wants to be a actor lady
3 How Ya Gonna Keep '˜em Down On The Farm
4 I'm Just Simply Full of Jazz
5 Shuffle Along & I'm Just Wild About Harry; Black Bottom; Charl
6 Aux Îles Hawaii
7 À Paris dans chaque faubourg
8 Mon Homme (My Man)
9 Insufficient Sweetie; I'm in Love Again; Let's Misbehave; Let's
10 J'ai Deux Amours
11 Harlem on my Mind
12 Wild Man Blues
13 Chanson de Négresse: Mon histoire (Milhaud)
14 Je ne t'aime pas (Weill)
15 Solitude (Ellington)
16 Hôtel (Poulenc)
17 Les chemins de l'amour (Poulenc)
18 Louise, Valentine, Y a d'la joie
19 Tout va tres bien, Madame la Marquise
20 Je suis swing
21 Miss Otis Regrets
22 The Last Time I Saw Paris
23 Ça c'est Paris and Paree, what did you do to me (Porter)

notes

About the recording:
The 28-page liner notes are chock-full of lyrics, translations, illustrations and commentary!
The cover photo, by the way, is of Margot Webb and Hal Norton at the Ambassador Ballroom, mid 1930s.

This album was inspired by the Smithsonian traveling exhibit "The Jazz Age in Paris: 1910-1940" and based on a cabaret concert commissioned to animate the exhibit in 1998.

Created by Bob Moreen and Claudia Hommel, the show met with acclaim in New Orleans at the cabaret Le Chat Noir and the Louisiana State Museum, at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA, Duke University and other schools from coast to coast.

Claudia Hommel is best known for her cabaret concerts of French and American songs celebrating Paris, a theme she has developed in her recordings of "Paris/Paree", "Paris in the Jazz Age" and "Romance Language" (all available here and at her website). Not to be limited to the rôle of French chanteuse, "Claudia is a gifted and uniquely versatile artist, with a wide range of rôles demanding deep emotional commitment or zany satirical high-jinks and everything in between." says her mentor, actor and director Alvin Epstein.

"She is at once sexy and sophisticated, stunning in an Audrey Hepburn sort of way," says North Shore Magazine.

Hommel has found her match in Bob Moreen. The Chicago Sun-Times calls him, "A special, eclectic piano player." The Chicago Tribune describes him as, "An impressive singer in his own right...the complete entertainer".

To top it off, Hommel and Moreen are joined by guest artist, Patrick Holland, music director, pianist and conductor on Broadway; for television; and as educator from New York University, to Roosevelt University. He serves on the boards of the Grace Welsh International Prize for Piano and the World Old-Time Piano-Playing Competition.

reviews

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  • elegant, fresh, supple and candid. ...I've been listening to it again and again
    author: Pierre Saka (Editions Larousse)

    She brings humor and emotion to the immortal texts. "Je Suis Swing" is over 60 years old but in Claudia's voice, it is the song again of a young girl, elegant, fresh, supple and candid. Forgive me if I linger on "Je Suis Swing", with which I have fallen in love. I've been listening to it again and again and sincerely hope everyone else does the same.

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