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TATIANA EVA-MARIE AND THE AVALON JAZZ BAND Avalon Jazz Band is the ambassador of vocal French swing in the United States and the world. Created in New York in 2012, the band has performed at the most renowned venues in the city (Summerstage, Midsummer Night Swing Lincoln Center, Winter JazzFest, New York Hot Jazz Festival, JALC, The Iridium, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Joe’s Pub, The Carlyle, The Rainbow Roo), sharing the stage with the likes of Norah Jones, Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks, Catherine Russell, Harry Connick Jr., Aurora Nealand, Stéphane Wrembel, and touring internationally (UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, India, Puerto Rico, Fiji). The musical style presented by Avalon Jazz Band is inspired by the kind of jazz played in Paris in the 1930s and 40s, especially by the Hot Club de France, founded by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, whose repertoire consisted of original music and jazz standards. This style of hot jazz then became what we now know as « Gypsy jazz » or « Jazz Manouche », with its technical bravadoes and virtuoso skills 38
fact magazine
The delicate voice and swing phrasing of Tatiana Eva-Marie brings the Zazou element to the mix: an ingenuous and mischievous joie-de-vivre, which she incarnates to perfection. The Zazous were young Parisians obsessed with American swing: their way of rebelling against the war was through dance and jazz (a forbidden music during the German occupation), displaying a very insolent kind of joy, which caused them to be marginalized and persecuted. The influence of the Russian aristocracy’s diaspora to France after the Russian Revolution and of the Jews fleeing Eastern Europe right before WWII, can be felt in the French compositions of time. This element is also present in the music of Avalon Jazz Band, with a sound palette of Gypsy, Klezmer and Balkan inspiration. The vocal repertoire of Avalon Jazz Band comprises jazz standards and French songs made popular by Yves Montand, Jean Sablon, Juliette Gréco and Charles Trenet, among others. The instrumental repertoire comprises original compositions and music by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. ✤ WEBSITE: WWW.AVALONJAZZBAND.COM