An intro to jazz in Paris

The Earful Tower: Paris

Oliver Gee

Arts, Paris, Society & Culture, Travel, Places & Travel, France

4.8 • 749 Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Jazz is a compressed history of the modern world."

So says Alex Freiman, a jazz musician from Paris who also works as a bookseller at Shakespeare and Company.

We sat down in the Square René Viviani park beside the bookshop, where Alex had just finished a live set in front of a crowd.

We talked about the vibrant jazz scene in Paris, great musicians to get you into the jazz world, and how Alex is bringing live music to the streets of Paris.

We also talked about how jazz music can lead to life as an outcast, the trouble with how the movie La La Land depicted the Paris jazz scene, and the day the Notre Dame burned down.

You'll hear people in the background, the occasional church bell, siren, and the crunch of Parisian gravel under people's feet as they walk past.

To get Alex's album, Play It Gentle, from Shakespeare and Co, click below.

https://shakespeareandcompany.com/d/3341348159997/play-it-gentle

While you're at it, why not add my book to the bundle as well :)

https://shakespeareandcompany.com/d/9781098301996/paris-on-air

If you're enjoying The Earful Tower, become a member here:

https://www.patreon.com/theearfultower

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello everyone. You are listening to the Earful Tower podcast. This show, which is all about Paris and France,
0:07.8	is brought to you by me, Oliver G, and presented by the lovely Patreon supporters of the show. They're my
0:15.4	sponsor. The members. It's that simple. So if you want to become a member as well, it's patreon.com
0:20.4	slash the Earful Towerful tower loads of extra benefits
0:22.5	and you're helping make this show better.
0:24.6	And while we're talking about this show,
0:26.7	this one is all about jazz.
0:29.3	But before we get into it and before we get into even the guest,
0:33.0	I want to just, something I've not done before, actually,
0:36.8	is I want to dedicate this episode to the memory of Lawrence Lowe Leathers, a jazz musician I met in Paris, who we talk about it a little bit in this show, but I want to tell you the story. I feel like maybe I even told her on the show two years ago, but very sad end to the story. I feel like maybe I even told on the show two years ago, but very sad end to the
0:58.1	story. He died a year ago in a domestic dispute, as I understand it, but it was a really lovely man
1:06.8	that I met in Paris two years ago on the basketball court, and I told this story so many times, and I always had planned to have him on the show.
1:15.5	Had such a lovely voice, too, this guy.
1:17.9	And I met him playing basketball, and I invited him one day out to the proper basketball courts,
1:24.4	not the street courts where we usually play that I wrote about before in the book and I talked about a lot out to the kind of the pro courts where I sometimes
1:31.1	go. And we all played and he was a really good player too. And there were a bunch of us, this is two
1:36.8	years ago. And afterwards we had a beer and we're all chatting about how we're kind of struggling
1:42.4	along in life. I said, you know, I'm a struggling
1:45.1	podcaster. Someone else said there were a struggling whatever. And we're all telling the stories.
1:50.3	And he said, you know, I got to be honest with you guys. I don't think I'm struggling at the same
1:55.4	level as you. We said, well, what do you do? He said, I'm a jazz musician, I'm a drummer, and I played on two
2:03.1	Grammy award-winning tracks, or something like that. And we're like, what? And he said, yeah, and he said,
	...

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