Late in 2021 Amy and I were fortunate to spend a week in France, part of it centered in La Marais which afforded us the opportunity to visit both a historic jazz haunt as well as an improvised space which blew our socks off.
La Gare / Le Gore
As noted in our recent interview with Erik Deutsch, we met him on a chance in a La Marais cafe and his one piece of advice was to hit La Gare before we left town, to take in some of the edgiest and best music and jazz in Paris at the time. So the next eve we were off on the subway to a funky neighborhood in the 19th Arrondissement. We were fortunate to find an amazing Congolese restaurant (24 Zones) nearby and then sauntered over to La Gare for an amazing experience.
Hard to explain how wonderful, organic and worthwhile a trip outside the city center La Gare is, so let's leave is to Urban Insider and their writeup of the history of this space - off to the right is some choice footage from the eve, I don't think any of the musicians were over 25, as well as the crowd - definitely on the "must do" list when you go to Paris:
"Parisians owe some of the coolest new spots to party and play to… the national railway company! Indeed, for the past few years the SNCF has been willing to give a second life to la petite ceinture, a circle of disused railway tracks and train stations around the French capital. The ‘little belt’ operated as a freight line and Paris’s first metro-like urban transportation until 1934.
Parts of the tracks had already been transformed into parks in the 1980s, long before New York’s High Line, but most of the stations remained abandoned… until a few years ago when the SNCF decided that it was time to profit from all the unused land the company owns in Paris.
La Gare, ‘the train station’ in French – is one of the many festive destinations located on former railway brownfields that have popped all over the city since then. But unlike most of its sisters, like the Station or Ground Control, this place isn’t dedicated to electronic music, but rather to Jazz!" Link to the original article here.
Le Caveau de la Huchette
Well, it was Monday night in Paris and they had a swing band and swing dancing at la Huchette, sign us up! We had not been to this storied jazz haunt before, and the list of incredible jazz musicians and bands who have played there is as stellar as most any.
[Wikipedia] The building dates to the 16th century, but became a jazz club in 1949. The design has been compared to a cellar or labyrinth and allegedly it was once used by Rosicrucians and by those linked to Freemasonry.
Since becoming a jazz club it has been a venue for American greats like Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Art Blakey, as well as leading French jazz musicians like Claude Luter and Claude Bolling, Sidney Bechet and Bill Coleman were American expatriates in France who are also associated with the club.
Incredible ambience and spirit still pervade Le Caveau de la Huchette - definite must see when you're next in Paris.
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