PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Manouche Maestro |
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Henri Crolla
Henri Crolla (born Enrico Crolla; 26 February 1920 – 17 October 1960) was a French Jazz Guitarist and film music composer. Born in Naple, Campania, Italy, to a family of itinerant Neapolitan musicians, he moved with his family to Port de Choisy in France in 1922 following the rise of facism in Italy. One of his neighbours was a young Django Reinhardt with whose family he became very close. He died in Paris.
Henri Crolla & Stephane Grappelli
A child of the Italian immigration wave in the 1920s,
he grew up in the poverty-stricken Parisian suburbs of the time, where he met Django Reinhardt whose pupil he became, before embarking on his own career.
He composed over forty film scores and several tunes that are still famous today, such as Sanguine, fruit joli. Through interviews with members of his family, his friends (Georges Moustaki) and those who worked with him (Jacques Higelin, José Artur) the filmmaker tries to convey the exceptional personality of this musician, whose premature death, at the age of forty, led to his reputation sinking into oblivion. Although the film is a tribute to Crolla, it is also very interesting for its lively and detailed descriptions, via archival footage, of the eventful eras, both terrible and thrilling, that the guitarist lived through.
Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput and Henri Crolla
Henri Crolla Video Showing the Manouche Zone of Paris
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Forgotten but highly gifted
guitarist, Henri Crolla. 
Rare
soundtrack work from Parisian guitarist Henri Crolla -- best known as a straight
jazz artist, but sounding pretty darn great here in a cinematic setting! The CD
brings together 3 soundtrack sessions from Crolla -- two shorter dates that
feature orchestrations by Hubert Rostaing, and one longer set with especially
great charts from Andre Hodier! First up is Cette Sacre Gamine from 1955, a
quartet of tracks that have Crolla's guitar alongside Rostaing's clarinet --
cutting warmly graceful lines on tracks that include "Boidi Boidi Boidi Boi", "Jardin
Dans La Nuit", "Des Filles Sensass", and "Dans Ma Tete". Next are four more
tracks from Une Parisienne, recorded in 1957 -- again with Rostaing, who plays
alto sax here, in a larger, jazzier group that also include Martial Solal on
piano and Roger Guerin on trumpet, as well as some great scat vocals from
Christine Legrand on one number! Legrand sings on the dynamic "Paris BB", and
other titles include "Valse Du Roi", "Duo Du Balcon", and "La Parisienne". Last
up is the full score for Saint Tropez Blues -- co-written by Crolla and Andre
Hodier, and featuring an array of players that includes George Arvanitas and
Maurice Vander on piano, Michel De Villers on baritone sax, Raymond Guiot on
flute, Nat Peck on trombone, Roger Guerin on trumpet, Pierre Michelot on bass,
and Jean-Pierre Drouet on vibes. Crolla's guitar isn't nearly as prominent as on
some of the other tunes, but the soundtrack is still a great one -- and some of
the best numbers have the vibrant jazzy feel of some of the better-known scores
from the French New Wave. Titles include "Piano Mechanique", "Pot Pourri", "La
Ponche", "Petit Mambo", "Blues Pour Flute", "Mambo", "Barbecue 1", "Paris Saint
Tropez", and "Tumbleweed" -- which features vocals by Marie Laforet.
Lovely
work from Henri Crolla—possibly France’s greatest jazz guitarist in the post-Django
Reinhardt years ! The package features a wealth of rare 50s material by Crolla—all
of which perfectly showcase his sensitive, thoughtful approach to the guitar—a
sound that’s almost a precursor of the styles that Baden Powell would record on
the French scene a decade later, and a mode that uses the instrument in a much
less rhythmically-driven way than some of Henri’s predecessors. The first CD
features two full albums recorded for the Vega label—Le Long Des Rues and
Bonsoire Cherie—both of which features Crolla’s guitar in front of larger
orchestrations, but backings that are still used with enough sensitivity to let
the guitar come through strongly. Disc 2 starts with the haunting C’Est Pour Toi
Que Je Joue album—a solo guitar set recorded in 1967, relatively early for the
genre, and putting Crolla firmly in the company of Laurindo Almeida, Luiz Bonfa,
and other Brazilian-bred soloists. The remainder of that disc features rare
soundtrack work by Crolla (a key sub-category of his recording career)tracks
from the films Histoire D’Un Poisson Rouge, Voulez Vous Danser Avec Moi, Montand
E Mouloudji, and Saint-Tropez Blues. The package features a whopping 44 tracks
in all, and is a great look at this overlooked genius ! © 1996-2009, Dusty
Groove America, Inc.
