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Universal Languages of music, love presented by Paris Combo
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The Flint Journal , Universal Languages of music, love presented by Paris Combo >>
By Doug Pullend
FLINT - Their songs may be in French, but the members of Paris Combo speak the universal language of music. With a repertoire that piles jazz, tango, flamenco, gypsy swing, Latin and Arabic influences on top of the French chanson (or song) tradition, that's a lot to talk about.
The French quintet brought its jazzy cosmopolitan cabaret pop to Bower Theater on Thursday night, the first seasonal offering of the Flint Cultural Center's Masters of Jazz and the Blues series at the intimate 300-seat theater, which was about two-thirds full.
The only things missing were the bar and dance floor, but that didn't stop a handful of audience members big and small from shaking their money-makers in the space in front of the stage.
Paris Combo's rhythms are that infectious. With their polyglot of styles and sounds, played almost entirely on acoustic instruments, it really didn't matter that we couldn't understand charming singer Belle du Berry's offbeat lyrical observations about life and love.
In heavily accented English, du Berry humorously introduced several of the 14 songs from their 90-minute set as "about love," which they are, then added various qualifiers. The tango inflections of "Senor" helped illustrate a song about being single and lonely, be it in Paris or "Fleent."
Du Berry's expressive voice and friendly demeanor fit comfortably among the subtly swinging sound of the four musicians backing her, particularly the tastefully restrained Australian-born trumpeter and pianist David Lewis and the fleet fingers of French-Algerian guitarist Potzi, a disciple of Django Reinhart's swinging gypsy jazz.
While the music is diverse and often danceable, the technical prowess of the quintet was most evident on the lovely, melancholic "Sous La Lune (Under the Moon)," highlighted by Lewis blowing a solo into a bowl of water, less a gimmick than an eerie evocation of drowning love.
That's a language we all can understand. 11/01/05 >> go there
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