Le jazz des années (19)20 au féminin
Le jazz des années (19)20 au féminin

The Band

Certains L’Aiment Chaud (ie Some Like It Hot) was founded in 1983 by Kiki Desplat and Claude Jeantet; it is still one of the rare female jazz orchestras of the 1920s on the international scene. In 1992 the Academy of Jazz awarded Certains L’Aiment Chaud with the Sidney Bechet Prize which recognizes the best classical jazz musician or orchestra of the year. The band, as the movie Some Like It Hot does, demonstrates that Jazz is not only a man’s affair and it brings a feminine flair about it. Certains L’Aiment Chaud chooses its repertoire among the most beautiful themes of the 1920’s a decade of vibrant artistic life : blues, rags, stomps, all mingled with songs of the times.

Certains L’Aiment Chaud performed at numerous concerts and festivals in France and abroad

  • In France on major summer stages: Jazz in Marciac, Boogie Woogie Festival in La Roquebrou, “Fête des Jazz” organized by André Francis in Paris, Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, Jazz in Vienne, St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Vannes, Toulouse, Andernos, St-Raphael, Megève, Munster, Castelsarrasin…
  • In Switzerland: Geneva, Zurich, Neuchâtel, Lugano, Basel, Sarga…
  • In Europe: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, including the festivals of Molde and Oslo, in Italy, Greece, Latvia, Macedon…
  • In America: the world’s largest traditional jazz festival in Sacramento, Chicago, Davenport, Milwaukee (U.S.A.) and Toronto (Canada)
  • Elsewhere… in Tunisia in Tunis and Tabarka, and in Dubai in 2011 to present the film The Girls in the Band at the International Film Festival
  • And regularly in Parisian clubs like the famous “Petit Journal”

Certains L’Aiment Chaud chooses its repertoire among the most beautiful themes of this period of intense artistic activity that are the 1920s: blues, rags, stomps mingle with songs of the time.

The style of Certains L’Aiment Chaud is faithful to that of the orchestras of Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke… Improvisation ufolds in solo or “collectively” in a structured framework where the melody is queen. The swing here is witily distilled, a combination of delicacy and a relaxed and communicative enthusiasm.

The “sound” of Certains L’Aiment Chaud is characterized by the arrangements signed by Kiki Desplat, a renowned orchestra leader and cornet player. Her work creates a colorful atmosphere for each piece and highlights the qualities of each musician: the Bix Beiderbecke cornet by Kiki and her bluesy voice in the line of Bessie Smith, the smooth sound of Sylvette’s bass clarinet, Nathalie’s dynamic play on the banjo, the lyric flights of Claude on the sousaphone and the refined and invigorating style of Catherine on the washboard. The songs in duet or trio remind the vocal groups of the time and add to the undeniable charm of this original orchestra, to the delight of a large audience.

Certains L’Aiment Chaud have long contributed their share of innovation to the tradition. The extent of their talent is readily apparent: no unnecessary frills, no gratuitous virtuosity demonstrations. We go straight to the point. Through imaginative arrangements, they offer some of the masterpieces of original jazz. These 5 Parisian ladies will take you away in an eloquent flow of good humor!

Puymirol. Jazz feminine plural

The second evening of the Puym'Jazz festival opened its doors last Thursday at the old style jazz quintet Certains l’aiment chaud. Certains l’aiment chaud founded in 1983 by Kiki Desplat and Claude Jeantet, is still the only female orchestra of 20s jazz on the international scene. In 1992, the Jazz Academy awarded the group the Sidney Bechet Prize, which recognizes the best classical jazz musician or orchestra of the year.

During the evening, these five musicians showed their talent by revisiting standards from George Gershwin, Irving Berlin among others. The audience, around 300 people, was won over by this quality concert which has nothing to envy the older ones.

Evenings of this quality, we want more!

La Dépêche - 25 juillet 2019


How not to thrill, at the beginning of 2017, the performances of Armel Le Cléac'h, first in the Vendée Globe, and of Francis Joyon and his teammates, rewarded by the Jules-Verne Trophy for their round the world sailing. This restores a little confidence in the man on his capacity to surpass himself while the prevailing winds in our countries are bearing questions ... What relationship with a concert, even through some unexpected disgression like these? Or even like this other: thirty years ago, if I remember correctly, Le Figaro Magazine offered its readers a series of reports in exotic and enchanting places, under the title of "Five girls on a boat ", embellished with superb photos evocative of the voyage and where the charm of the navigators added to the pleasure of reading and discovery. Outside, this evening of January 28, 2017, adding to the traditional New Year's greetings, Jazzy 77 welcomed in his Cave du Jazz, to involuntarily parody this memory, five girls on a set, where talent and profession are also guarantees of quality, and an exceptional evening, another escape, this time, because foray into the musical repertoire of the twenties. In a style that some people equate with that of the orchestras of Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton or Fats Waller.

Here, no ocean to set sail, but the stage, that of course at the Salle Sainte Anne in Lorrez-le-Bocage, animated by five great jazz ladies, with instruments and sometimes with singing: Kiki Desplat, the musical skipper and composer of arrangements, at the cornet; Sylvette Claudet, with soprano and bass clarinets; Nathalie Renault, at the banjo; Claude Jeantet, at the soubassophone; and the washbord player Catherine Girard, the "Cajoune" who, on two occasions, delighted us with her own quartet - Sweet Mama - in December 2004 and 2015. A whole program, which attracted, as for the arrival at the quay of our real navigators, a particularly large audience...

But as the title of the quintet announces, since the creation of the band in 1983, to define their style and their sensitivity, in reference to the film that Billy Wilder shot in 1959: "Some like it hot", or better "Certain l 'love hot'! So, let's not let the readers' interest in these few lines cool down, by letting the musical crew set sail, and go back in time, under the trade winds of harmony and connivance, which lead to New Orleans and to its breath which enriches the jazz of the first times.

The change of scenery was also immediate, from the first bars, both in the purely instrumental offer set to music by Kiki, creator of the arrangements, as well as that vocal duet or trio, sometimes in choir, which followed, s' intercalating in the sequences, with a phrasing worthy of the American formations which enchanted our youth, in concert or in the films, installing a permanent listening pleasure. The voices of Kiki, who does not hesitate to sing Mistinguett in "My Man", by Cajoune, with a pleasant and flexible timbre, with "Taking a chance of Love", or "The Man I Love" by George Gershwin, plunge under charm. And then, there is the warmth of the instruments, with the warm dialogues of Kiki and Claude's blowers, from the cornet to the soprano and bass clarinets which, in turn, explore complementary scales, where the notes flow with fluidity and smoothness as the flow around the bow of the boat; with those opposed by Nathalie and Claude, the banjo and the bassophone, one dry and twirling, the other serious and full of roundness and gravity; with the swinging play of Catherine, mistress es-washboard, and whose presence and talent are wonderfully accommodated with all instruments.

Just happiness, therefore, through titles expressed with a feminine sensitivity that does not remove the vigor when it is needed, listening to "Hallelujah"; "Georgia Swing", by Jolly Roll Morton ";" Roses of Picardy ", by Haydn Wood, some references among the twenty-four songs and standarts interpreted.

"Runnin 'Wild", sung in trio and punctuated by a removed final, gave the reason for the title - mysterious for laymen - of the quartet, because song interpreted in the film with the eponymous title: "Some like it hot", a story whose central argument is a girls' orchestra. Hence the choice!

It turns out that a lot of pleasure comes from this meeting of musicians. It is true that it is a formation which, apart from the recent arrival of Cajoune, has an experience of almost thirty years, marked by numerous concerts and festivals both in France and abroad, and which was also rewarded in 1992 with the Sidney Bechet Prize, awarded by the Jazz Academy... A beautiful and deserved reference.

And midnight is ringing without being noticed, Sunday starting with a bis in the title in unison of the past evening, proposed by Sylvette: the famous "C'est si bon". And the public to participate, without being asked, in the sung covers "… so good, so good".

What really to add?
Thank you girls for this musical cruise! (Clairis)

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