This is Paris, ancient and modern, an international city for jazz lovers. From l'Odéon Métro, we amble along narrow winding streets into the heart of the Montparnasse Latin Quarter, where the bygone street lamps are glowing orange halos. The warm August night has a mellow whispering people hum. The air suffused with the odours from Bistros, is a pungent mix of garlic, onions, and grilled steak. A vivid luminescence from the city lights tints the sky.
Le Chat Noir jazz club has plush gold and burgundy decor. On the walls gold framed photographs of the jazz luminaries: Brubeck, Coltrane, Davis, and others. At the long glass top mahogany bar, Moroccan waiters serve wine to fashionable French jazz fans. The small tables are occupied by excited American college students, loud gossiping Germans, and grinning Italian tourists pose as cameras click. A tenor sax, piano, and double bass, riff "Night and Day" to whistles and applause. Latecomers jostle for space, and beer spills on lacquered table-tops. Wine glasses clink as eyes touch, dancing couples smooch, the atmosphere in the club is jocular.
After an hour of Cole Porter jazz standards a buzz of anticipation rises. The star attraction is the aging high priestess of soul, Nina Simone. A long drum roll announces the Diva. Simone has rapturous applause, her plaintive, husky, "Ne me quitte pas," (Don't leave me) stills the captivated audience. When Simone completes her forty minute repertoire, she has a thrilled standing ovation with loud encores. Dedicated fans smother her piano with huge floral bouquets.
We exit merrily from the huddle in the club, for a stroll along the left bank to Pont Saint Michel, where the Seine writhes like a captive black snake. Below the bank at Notre Dame, the bright pearl moon illuminates the river with silver ripples. A fresh cooling breeze follows us to l'Odéon, where we use our return train tickets to Vavin Métro, on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. If the night has a thousand eyes, many in Paris are slow to shutter. Jazz in this city beats into the early hours, with irresistible, memorable, romantic tunes and lyrics.
Le Chat Noir jazz club has plush gold and burgundy decor. On the walls gold framed photographs of the jazz luminaries: Brubeck, Coltrane, Davis, and others. At the long glass top mahogany bar, Moroccan waiters serve wine to fashionable French jazz fans. The small tables are occupied by excited American college students, loud gossiping Germans, and grinning Italian tourists pose as cameras click. A tenor sax, piano, and double bass, riff "Night and Day" to whistles and applause. Latecomers jostle for space, and beer spills on lacquered table-tops. Wine glasses clink as eyes touch, dancing couples smooch, the atmosphere in the club is jocular.
After an hour of Cole Porter jazz standards a buzz of anticipation rises. The star attraction is the aging high priestess of soul, Nina Simone. A long drum roll announces the Diva. Simone has rapturous applause, her plaintive, husky, "Ne me quitte pas," (Don't leave me) stills the captivated audience. When Simone completes her forty minute repertoire, she has a thrilled standing ovation with loud encores. Dedicated fans smother her piano with huge floral bouquets.
We exit merrily from the huddle in the club, for a stroll along the left bank to Pont Saint Michel, where the Seine writhes like a captive black snake. Below the bank at Notre Dame, the bright pearl moon illuminates the river with silver ripples. A fresh cooling breeze follows us to l'Odéon, where we use our return train tickets to Vavin Métro, on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. If the night has a thousand eyes, many in Paris are slow to shutter. Jazz in this city beats into the early hours, with irresistible, memorable, romantic tunes and lyrics.
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