American Expatriate Musicians in France

Dee Dee Bridgewater

It's well known that a number of American jazz musicians have lived in Paris and other European cities, often because work opportunities have been greater there than in the States at certain times, like during the 1950s,‘60s, and ‘70s.

Drummer Kenny Clarke moved to Paris in 1956. He worked steadily, steadily, married and had a son.  He moved his family into a house, and he lived in France for the rest of his life.  


Tenor saxophone player Hal Singer settled in Paris in the early 1960s and still lives there, as does pianist and vocalist Bobby Few, who moved there in 1969.

Trumpet player, saxophonist and educator Nathan Davis also lived in Paris in the ‘60s.  He later returned to the States and pursued a dual career as a musician and as a professor and director of Jazz Studies at U. Pittsburgh.  He retired in 2013 and is now Professor Emeritus there.

Jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater moved to the City of Light from Flint, Michigan in 1986 and has said that France opened its arms to her.  She added that her time in France was one of healing, growth as a woman and artist, and the lives of her two daughters, as well as her own, have been deeply enriched, because they've lived in France.  She met her husband Jean-Marie Durand in France, and they have a son.

 

 

Spring Love Affairs

The calendar tells us springtime begins in late March.  However, some people think spring begins in late April or early May and that it lasts until early to mid-June; because in regions where four seasons occur, mild to warm weather used to arrive and settle in during these months.  But with the way Climate Change has been affecting the weather in recent years, no one has been able to predict spring's exact arrival month or how long it will last before we're plunged into hot, hazy summer weather.

Whenever spring has arrived and settled in, however, many people's thoughts have turned to romance or perhaps to a love affair.  The love affair could be with a favorite place or with a person, or it could be with both simultaneously.  One’s thoughts might even turn to an ended affair and how wonderful it was while it lasted.

As most people know, a person's love affair with a favorite city is described in the song “April in Paris.”

An affair with a beautiful person in a beautiful city is considered in the poem titled "April in Paris;" which is included in the poetry books, The Sound of Dreams Remembered and Something about the Blues.  Both books are by African American novelist, essayist, and poet Al Young. 

An ended love affair is described in the song “I’ll Remember April,” as its lyricists (Patricia Johnston and Don Raye) convey the beauty of April and the loveliness of the affair experienced during that month.  The song, composed by Gene de Paul, also speaks of the contentment and  gratefulness the lover feels for having had the affair at all.