New York night owls of a certain age might remember Henri Salvador from his mid-’50s appearances at the Waldorf Astoria. Now, at long last, all others can be formally introduced to the 84-year-old French icon with the stateside release of Room With a View (Blue Note CD 36710; 48:24). You’ll be delighted to make his acquaintance. Best known in his native land for TV work and top-selling novelty tunes, Salvador surprised his legion of continental fans by ending a six-year recording hiatus in early 2000 with this change-of-pace collection of soft ballads and gentle bossa novas. It has since been certified double platinum in France and gold in Belgium, and earned both album of the year and male artist of the year honors at Les Victoires de la Musique (the French equivalent of the Grammys). In addition to a noirish teaming with Toots Thielemans on “Un Tour de Manege” and a breezy reading of the more familiar “Mademoiselle,” Salvador neophytes will delight in “Le Fou de la Reine,” his gorgeous duet with fellow French legend Francoise Hardy. For Room’s American release, two of the most popular selections-the title track and “Jazz, Silver Moonlight”-have been rerecorded in English and “All I Really Want Is Love,” a peppy duet with Swedish pop star Lisa Ekdahl, has been added. Magnifique!
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Harry Connick, Jr.: Direct Hits
Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. taps legendary producer Clive Davis for an album of crooner roots and beloved tunes
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro