Essays about Paris in Notes of a Native Son

  

 

 

Recently I opened Notes of a Native Son (originally published in 1955), by one of America's greatest writers, James Baldwin (1924 - 1987).  The Francophile in me made me turn first in this book of essays on life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and Americans abroad to the two essays about his experiences in Paris, France.  As I was reading Baldwin's Paris essays, I was thinking how sad that his early relationship with the City of Light could not have been more positive.  However, as a quote on the Fantastic Quotes page of this blog states, "Everyone develops his or her own personal relationship with Paris."

 

One of Baldwin's two Paris essays, “Equal in Paris” reveals the hard times he had with surviving, adjusting to life, and making friends during his first year in Paris.  In the stark realism of this essay about Baldwin’s personal experiences, there are mentions of various places he frequented, including the historically literary landmark, Café de Flore:

… for as soon as I was out of bed, I hopefully took notebook and fountain pen off to the upstairs room of the Flore, where I consumed rather a lot of coffee, and as evening approached …

There is a general mention of the cafés of St. Germain des Près:

… in one of the cafés of St. Germain des Près, I was discovered by this New Yorker and only because we found ourselves in Paris we immediately established the illusion that we had been fast friends back in the good old U.S.A.

The Gare St. Lazare and Ile de la Cité are also referenced in "Equal in Paris."

The other Paris essay in Notes of a Native Son is titled “Encounter on the Seine:  Black Meets Brown,” which speaks to the differences between Africans’ and American Negroes’ experiences in Paris, based upon the differences in their histories.  Places such as Chez Inez, La Sorbonne, and the Place de la Concorde are mentioned in this essay.  
_______________________________________________________________
*Note:  Baldwin's personal relationship with Paris, France, eventually became better; for he lived in the South of France for most of his later life, and he died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Celebrating Gwendolyn Bennett's Birthday

Writer, poet, and artist Gwendolyn Bennett's birthday is July 8th.  But since I believe a person's birthday celebration should not be limited to just one day in the month, I'm starting the celebration  early with this piece about Bennett's Paris-connected moment in time.

Gwendolyn Bennett was one of the literary lights of the Harlem Renaissance.  The Columbia U. and Pratt Institute graduate became a professor of art at Howard University in 1924.  In 1925 she received a $1,000 fellowship from the Sigma Alpha Theta sorority to study in Paris, and she arrived in the French capital in June of the same year.

During her year in the City of Light, she met writer Gertrude Stein, singer and activist Paul Robeson, poet and novelist René Maran, and other writers and performers.  She carved a place for herself in the African American Community there.

As she did not have a lot of money, Bennett spent many of her days painting and writing poetry,  and recording her observations in a journal.

About the City, she wrote in her journal:

            “There never was a more beautiful city than Paris… there couldn’t be.  On every hand are works of art and beautiful vistas. . . one has the impression of looking through at fairy-worlds as one sees gorgeous buildings, arches and towers rising from among mounds of trees from afar.”

While living in Paris, Bennett saw Josephine Baker perform, and met musicians, singers, and dancers.  She dated Louis Jones, a violinist, and she enjoyed dancing at Bricktop’s nightclub, and experienced nights on the town in Montmartre.

After the year ended, Gwendolyn Bennett returned to New York.  Although she never lived in Paris again, she paid homage to that great city in short stories that she wrote, such as “Wedding Day” and “Tokens.”   Her time in Paris had surely broadened her literary horizons,  just as it had done for other important African American writers of the 1920s,  

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.

 

 

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.