 LES CHAUDS LAPINS |  "Chansons françaises du temps du jazz"
"Parlez-moi d'amour" est le premier album des Chauds Lapins: une rencontre habile entre les banjos ukuleles et un trio de cordes, la voix troublante de Meg Reichardt, les arrangements colorés et originaux de Kurt Hoffman au service de quelques ténors de la chanson française. Charles Trenet, Mistinguett, Josephine Baker, Jean Sablon, Edith Piaf, Lucienne Boyer...
On y trouve également "Pourquoi", composition d'Olivier Messiaen, avec un arrangement brillant et peu orthodoxe qui met en valeur sa dimension populaire.
L'ensemble est superbe, le mariage entre banjos et cordes est étonnement réussi, les voix sont parfaites, les accents absolument charmants, un swing discret mais efficace parcourt l'ensemble du CD qu'on pourra écouter en boucle sans aucun effort.
WWW.LESCHAuDSLAPINS.COM
Meg Reichardt vocals, banjo uke, guitar
Kurt Hoffman vocals, banjo uke, arrangements
Karen Waltuch viola
Garo Yellin cello
Andy Cotton bass
Frank London trumpet
produced by Les Chauds Lapins and Pat Dillett
recorded and mixed by Pat Dillett at Kampo, NYC
www.leschaudslapins.com • info@leschaudslapins.com
French songs
from the jazz era
Les Chauds Lapins release their debut album, ‘Parlez-moi d'amour'
Deftly merging the unlikely combination of banjo ukuleles with a string trio, and featuring the uncanny voice of Meg Reichardt, and the colorful instrumental arrangements of Kurt Hoffman, this innovative New York-based ensemble presents a set of French songs about love and lust.
These are songs from the repertoires of such French luminaries as Charles Trenet, Mistinguett, Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Jean Sablon and Lucienne Boyer — passionate and witty songs from a time when French music was infusing American jazz and swing elements into their own highly melodic and verbal song style.
A ‘chaud lapin' in French, literally means a ‘hot rabbit'. But really it refers to the perennially hot and bothered, who are endlessly on the prowl for the next tryst.
The album features four songs by the flamboyant and literate chanteur Charles Trenet, a figure little known stateside but for having written the melody of ‘Beyond the Sea,' but in fact an extraordinary songwriter who helped bring the swing craze to France. A sex scandal in the 1960s revealed him to have been a bit of a chaud lapin as well.
Also included is ‘Pourquoi' by Olivier Messiaen, an art song from the 1930's, given an unorthodox arrangement by Les Chauds Lapins, highlighting its connections to the popular material.
In Les Chauds Lapins, Meg Reichardt reveals herself to be a complex and charming vocal stylist, effervescing through the cheeky “Il m'a vue nue” (‘He saw me nude”), and smoldering in Piaf's darker “J'ai danse avec l'amour” . On urbane ballads like “Si tu m'aimes” (“If you love me...”) and “Ces petites choses” (a French re-write of “These Foolish Things”) she displays a deft combination of swank and disarming directness. With her American blues and country inflected guitar and banjo uke playing, she brings a touch of Americana to this classic French repertoire. Meg Reichardt is also known for her work with the Roulette Sisters (www.roulettesisters.com), a group that also specializes in the music from the first half of the twentieth century, albeit from the American side of the pond.
Kurt Hoffman the crooning tenor who sings several songs by Charles Trenet, is also the arranger of the project. Hoffman recounts, “Meg and I had worked up this set of French songs on our ukes. Eventually it got more serious and we decided to add this ensemble of low strings — viola, cello and bass — to the high pitched ukuleles. The combination worked great: the banjo ukes are not only high pitched, but there's also something intractably unserious about them. It's like they're built for simple pleasure and there's no getting around it. On the other hand the strings, are very sophisticated and versatile, able to do classical music as well as all kinds of pop, theatrical and jazz stuff, they're able to provide this fanciful world of colors and moods. I'd done all kinds of film-scoring and writing for various ensembles, including an early swing band I led in the 90s (the Band of Weeds) — for me it was knitting together all these disparate elements of music that I loved. And the funny thing is that most of these disparate elements (jazz, classical, high, low) are found in this French music hall repertoire.” M. Hoffman has played and arranged for the Ordinaires, the Band of Weeds, They Might Be Giants, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
WWW.LESCHAuDSLAPINS.COM
Meg Reichardt vocals, banjo uke, guitar
Kurt Hoffman vocals, banjo uke, arrangements
Karen Waltuch viola
Garo Yellin cello
Andy Cotton bass
Frank London trumpet
produced by Les Chauds Lapins and Pat Dillett
recorded and mixed by Pat Dillett at Kampo, NYC
www.leschaudslapins.com • info@leschaudslapins.com
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