Review: PARIS COMBO – ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL 2023 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 10th June 2023.

Belle du Berry, the stage name of Bénédicte Grimault (8 April 1966 – 11 August 2020), was a composer, accordionist, and singer with Paris Combo, and this is a tribute to her memory, featuring many of her songs. Sadly, she passed away too soon, after a short battle with cancer. She first performed in Paris with guitarist, Potzi, and drummer, François Jeannin, then, in 1995, she met Australian trumpeter-pianist, David Lewis, who became both her musical and life partner.

For this performance, an expanded group, including four guest singers: Carmen Maria Vega, Billie, Aurore Voilqué, who also plays violin, and Mano Razanajato, who also plays double bass, perform many of her songs. The band members are: David Lewis, trumpet, piano, and Musical Direction, Francois Jeannin, drums and vocals, Potzi, guitar, with Benoît Dunoyer de Segonzac, double bass, and Rémy Kaprielan, soprano sax, percussion, and vocals.

When not singing, the vocalists sat at a small round table to the side of the stage, which I saw as a nod to the cafés of Montmartre, where the style could first be heard.

Much of their music has a basis in gypsy jazz, but this is not their only genre. Certainly, though, when Aurore Voilqué’s violin and Potzi’s guitar were working closely together in the one instrumental number, it was impossible not to think of how Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France brought gypsy jazz to the attention of the world in the 1930s.

Their second number had a Japanese tile, Tako Tsubo. Senor, introduced with great humour and sung by Carmen Maria Vega, was about long-term celibacy. Perhaps, after all, Paris is not the city of love, and French men might not be the great lovers we have been led to believe.

Another song was very much a Samba, and the final song had a Middle Eastern feel. Mano Razanajato even gave us some gypsy jazz rap, on Step by Step. In the final number, Carmen Maria Vega added some impressive dancing to the evening. As an extra treat, Ella Lewis joined the group to sing one of her mother’s numbers.

This was a packed ninety minutes of superb music, with only a brief introduction separating each song. What more could one want? Hurry to the final performance at 7:30 on Sunday.

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