“Baudelaire Jazz!” is a literary live performance created by Patrick Chamoiseau (textual content/vocals) with Raphaël Imbert (saxophone), Celia Kameni (vocals), Sonny Troupé (percussions), and Pierre-François Blanchard (piano). First carried out on the Musée d’Orsay in October 2021, this new iteration takes place on the Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM, situated at Fort Saint-Jean-Place d’Armes, in Marseilles, France) at 9:00pm. [A related book has been published by Éditions du Seuil. See previous post Baudelaire Jazz: Meditations poétiques et musicales.]
Patrick Chamoiseau (Texaco, Prix Goncourt 1992) and saxophonist Raphaël Imbert share a style for poetry and jazz. It was throughout a residency on the Musée d’Orsay that Martinican author immersed himself within the work of Baudelaire, whose freedom absolutely nourished that of Césaire, Glissant, or Fanon. The connection between the rhythmic construction of the nineteenth century poet’s phrases and that of jazz was apparent to those two nice artists who love nothing greater than to attract from the roots of a piece to raised tease out its modernity.
Accompanied by a number of artists, Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaël Imbert summon, 200 years after his start, an surprising Baudelaire who, just like the blues, brings out the fantastic thing about evil. “To pay homage to Baudelaire with what we’re,” is the problem of this creation within the type of a “chaos-opera” which can set Fort Saint-Jean ablaze with music, photographs and poetry.
Translated by Ivette Romero. For extra info and authentic description, see https://www.mucem.org/programme/baudelaire-jazz
[Image above: Baudelaire Jazz © Eric Daribo © Nicolas Serve.]