Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Sergio Mims: Fremeau & Associes to release Tribute to James Reese Europe in Sept.

Tribute to James Reese Europe
Spirit of Chicago Orchestra
Formation Jazz de la Musique de l'Air
Fremeau & Associes

Sergio A. Mims writes:

The French record label Fremeau & Associes will be releasing in late September their latest CD recording Tribute to James Reese Europe with music performed by the Spirit of Chicago Orchestra and the Formation Jazz de la Musique de l'Air.



Labeled by the French and the American commissions for the centenary of the Great War, this release celebrates the 100th anniversary of the arrival in France of jazz, brought over by black American troops (the famous Harlem Hell Fighters) mobilized in that First World War. Produced by the Hot Club Jazz Iroise and arranged by Stan Laferriere, this album is a tribute to James Reese Europe, an influential Harlem composer post- 1910 — he joined the National Guard and fought alongside French soldiers — and a historic figure in jazz and the struggle for civil rights. 

Two orchestras relay each other in presenting this fabulous material: the Spirit of Chicago Orchestra, which plays in the purest rag-time tradition of jazz in its embryonic stage, and the Jazz Formation of the Air Force Band, which brings these melodies right up to date and shows just how much these melodies that go back to the origins of jazz have inestimable value.

Augustin Bondoux / Patrick Frémeaux

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