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Jazz Lives Here: French Songbird Shows Jazz Has No Boundaries At Supper Club
C'est si bon, in French that means "it's so good," and that is what audiences at the Supper Club in Times Square thought of Arielle Dombasle. For three starry nights in September the French actress sang big band standards accompanied by the celebrated New York Big Band.
The 53-year-old chanteuse may not be a household name in the states, but in France, she's the Angelina Jolie of Paris, a superstar who is the better half of France's most famous couple. Her husband, Bernard-Henri Lévy also known as BHL is a renowned philosopher-journalist. And with strained Franco - American relations, the chic French icon admits she was a little nervous about how she would be received in the Big Apple.
"I was concerned,” said Dombasle. “I thought oh la la. My French side, maybe I'm not going to be so welcome, but then I was."
Her 2005 album, "Amor Amor," sold 600,000 copies in France and went platinum. Her latest "C'est Si Bon" hits the shelves next week and expectations are high, as she again re-visits the big band sound so popular a half century ago.
Although she may be a French sensation, she is also a bit of a Yankee Doodle, born to French parents in Connecticut. During her show in New York she saluted New York's Bravest for their heroic efforts on September 11th, 2001. Five years after the attacks she said she can feel the pain of that day.
“The sorrow of the people is still so present,” said Dombasle. “It was so insulting for the entire country to be attacked like that."
Joe Battaglia, the leader of The New York Big Band, said his 20-plus ensemble was honored to accompany the French songbird. He said her performance is further proof that jazz swing knows no boundaries.
"Big band music is just a part of music that will never die,” said Battaglia. “These others, rock and rap, they'll evolve into something else. But the big band will not evolve into anything but a big band."
And as far as the Supper Club audience was concerned, big band- era jazz with a French connection, c'est magnifique. 10/25/06
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