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First time I heard Hugh ‘Peanuts’ Whalum was a year ago, autumn 2006. I already shared with you what I felt when I first heard him sing: ‘I’ll Close My Eyes’ (When I heard Hugh “Peanuts” Whalum, I closed my eyes…), and I mentioned several other (mostly jazz) singers I use to listen to. Among them are Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole… But I’m also listening to more recent artists such as Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton, Harry Connick, Jr, Diana Krall, Robin McKelle, Norah Jones and Dianne Reeves (Dianne Reeves: Good vibes, and Good work). So beside being all renowned jazz singers/musicians, what do they have in common? Some of them have made covers of the same songs, which is frequent in jazz music. But it always takes me by surprise when I hear the first…⇒ READ MORE

Working hard on my next exhibition (a few more days left before the big night), I needed to take a break and listen to good music, the kind that really brings your spirit somewhere else during busy days. So two days ago, while I was looking at this huge pile of CDs I have, to find something ‘new’ (actually I mean something ‘else’, other than the artists I use to listen almost everyday like Hugh ‘Peanuts’ Whalum or Dean Martin), I finally found something ‘old’. Dianne Reeves‘ album: “New Morning” (Blue Note), recorded live in the pre-eminent jazz club of Paris in 1997. I couldn’t find this CD I had for years when I was first looking for it last year. I was then watching “Good night, and Good luck” (I mentioned the movie in this post) when I heard Dianne Reeves’ warm and deep voice. The movie recreated the…⇒ READ MORE

Last time I talked music was in my post about Hugh ‘Peanuts’ Whalum. In this post I mentioned some of the singers I enjoy the most listening to and the very cool Dean Martin was one of them. First time I heard Martin’s sublime voice was on a CD, singing with Rat Pack friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. Two decades after I listened to him for the first time, his easygoing attitude and velvety voice still captivate me. But Dean Martin is not only a voice as some of my friends may think. In the late 1940′s he formed a music-comedy team with Jerry Lewis, he was an actor in Rio Bravo, Toys in the Attic, Ocean’s Eleven (starring the five Rat Packers, in the original movie of 1960) to name a few, and he also hosted a successful TV show in the mid-1960s: The Dean Martin Show….⇒ READ MORE

The 1930s were a great time for movies and design, as well as the 1950s and the 1970s. I have several furniture and objects from the Seventies, reminding me when I was a kid (along with Abba, Star Wars, flares pants…). Everything was ‘designed’, from the Maruman table cigarettes lighter (made in Japan) to the ‘Boby’ storage cart by Joe Columbo (made in Italy) in the late 60′s. Colors were fresh, orange, green, red or yellow. If you like this period, then you would probably enjoy this photo I took 2 days ago. This is the vintage desk I’m often working on, listening to Donna Summer or Leonard Cohen. There is an orange phone (I don’t use it), an orange alarm-clock (displaying the right time only once a day), an orange apple shaped ice-cube storage and some orange vinyl toys (Stereotype 04: Be My Guest, two red Rolito birds). And…⇒ READ MORE

I like jazz, mostly ‘old jazz’ as many would say. When I draw, I listen to these beautiful voices from the past such as Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore but also Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra (and Dean Martin), Nat King Cole among many others. I’m also listening to more recent and varied artists like Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton, Harry Connick, Jr, Diana Krall, Robin McKelle, Norah Jones… I know Kirk Whalum for a long time, obviously one of the most influential contemporary saxophonist of his generation and last year I was browsing the Internet about his latest album. I got to his Myspace page and then I read something about a mysterious 75 years-old Hugh “Peanuts” Whalum. One click away and I was on Peanuts Whalum’s Myspace page. The Real Three Tenors started to play while I was reading with much interest the introduction note…⇒ READ MORE