The Paris Reunion Band

Several years ago, I was reading an article about American saxophonist and educator Nathan Davis (now Professor Emeritus, U Pittsburgh), and a new album of his that was about to be released at the time.  The article led me to Davis’s website.  From his website and other sources I learned that Davis not only lived in Paris for most of the 1960s and played music with many other musicians there, but he was also co-founder of the Paris Reunion Band. 

 

In 1984, Nathan Davis co-founded the Paris Reunion band with British writer, historian and producer Mike Hennessey, who originally came up with the idea.  The two men co-founded the band with the assistance of legendary African American drummer Kenny Clarke, who at that time had lived and worked in Paris for nearly 30 years.

 

After Kenny Clarke’s sudden death in 1985, the Paris Reunion Band continued to perform and record around the world as a tribute to Clarke and the jazz scene that flourished in Paris in the 1950s and ‘60s.  The Paris Reunion Band--what a tribute to a beloved musician who moved from the United States to Paris when he was 42 years-old and never looked back.  In fact, a quote expressing his love of Paris appears on the Fabulous Quotes about Paris page of this blog.  Take a moment and check it out.

 

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.