SFJAZZ presents Paris Combo
2014-04-16
Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, April 16, 2014

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[7:32 PM lights down, announcements from Randall Kline]

1. [7:37 PM] Le Début (beginnings)
2. [7:42 PM] Baguée (the ring)
3. [7:47 PM] Tout Excusé (totally forgiven)
4. [7:52 PM] Señor
5. [7:58 PM] Chaque Fois (each time)
6. [8:04 PM] Irénée
7. [8:09 PM] Les Cailloux Blancs (white pebbles)
8. [8:13 PM] Living room
9. [8:18 PM] Titanic
   [set ends 8:23 PM, all off after group bow]

[8:46 PM lights down, band returns without Belle]

1. [8:49 PM] I Saw Stars †
2. [8:55 PM] Chez Nous
   [Belle returns]
3. [9:02 PM] Sous la Lune (under the moon)
4. [9:07 PM] Lux
5. [9:12 PM] Comptez Sur Moi (come to me)
6. [9:17 PM] Le Roi de la Forêt (king of the forest)
7. [9:20 PM] Je Te Vois Partout (I see you everywhere)
8. [9:2x PM] Homéron
   [set ends 9:32 PM]
    
   Encore
9. [9:33 PM] Je Rêve Encore (I'm still dreaming)
10. [9:38 PM] Attraction
    [show ends 9:43 PM; applause, bows, then off for good]

Paris Combo

• Belle du Berry: vox;
• Emmanuel Chabbey: contrabass;
• François Jeannin: drums, † vox;
• David Lewis: piano, trumpet;
• Potzi: guitar.

I think I picked tonight's show based on the sound samples posted on the SFJAZZ website – that, and the pursuit of new experiences, as I don't recall having seen this band before.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, and Belle was a charming emcee, doing her best to let us know what the various tunes were about (besides love), yet I'm not too sure that I'd go see them again soon – they just didn't get me riled up enough. For one, despite the sporadically interesting flourishes from David and Potzi, the musical offerings seemed a little too snoozy for me. Or maybe the solos just came too infrequently. I don't recall hearing anything all that interesting from the bass, and the shift to a cliche disco beat throughout Homéron pretty much erased any respect that François had earned from me for his drumming up to that point. Disco might be just the thing to start a dancing frenzy in Paris, but that unvarying 4/4 just bores me to death.

On the positive side, David's “water trumpet” solo during Sous la Lune was pretty cool, and certainly something I'd never seen before. To explain, for this bit, David held his trumpet vertically, dropping the bell into a clear bowl that held about 2 or 3 inches of water. A clip-on mic affixed to the side of the bowl did a great job of picking up the weird sounds made by the trumpet bubbles bursting forth as David soloed. Strange and cool!

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!