Jean-Christophe Averty and the hit of the Week recordings

[Durium]

Jean-Christophe Averty, the French record producer, jazz historian, host in dozens of radio- and tv programs hosted a radio program Jazz For The Happy Few and Les Cingles du Music-Hall in the middle of the night in which he presented all Hit of the Week recordings in chronologically order between 1998 and 2003 - the Hit of the Week discography was labeled as - a piece of art ...............

Jean-Christophe Averty - a marathon radio program

Durium

[Big Beat Steve]

Jean-Christophe Averty hosted that "Les Cinglés du Music-Hall" radio show a LOT earlier than the 90s as an afternoon show. I used to listen to it relatively often for quite some time during my University time in the early 80s (I spent my University years in a town close to the French border so was able to catch French radio) when I had the time. It was a funny show ... while it essentially focused on 20s to late 40s/early 50s acts that you might label under "variety" (actually pop of the day) many of the backing orchestras or small groups often provided at least a semi-jazz dance band sound and some were decidedly in a jazz or swing groove (the featured vocalists notwithstanding). Apart from the occasional show that concentrated on more jazz-oriented orchestras of the 30s, some of the musicians working in those singers' backing orchestras really caught your ear and served as a good introduction to French and Europan jazz and dance bands of that era. I think this is where I got my first exposure to very early Django Reinhardt backing Jean Sablon and other singers.

Those Cinglés du Music-Hall radio shows were funny shows to listen to. Judging by his speed and intensity of talking, Jean-Christophe Averty seemed to have a habit of working himself right into a frenzy during each show, which was all the more striking because the comments and background info on each tune were set up as a sort of dialogue between Jean-Christophe Averty and a co-host (Jacques .... somebody) with Averty seemingly getting increasingly carried away as the show went on whereas his co-host came across as a sort of relaxed "straight man" to keep things a bit calmed down after all. Amazing ... and a real test on one's abilities to understand French and - above all - catch the key info on the featured artists and the names of the tunes ...

The programming format was something else too. Who would expect a one-hour radio show to be made up entirely of nothing but all the available recorded versions of ONE SINGLE TUNE from that particular era? (Every now and then they did such one-tune specials there; IIRC the early versions of "Just a Gigolo" were one such show I caught on that program)

Anyway, it did guide me in my buying of the occasional French 30s jazz reissue vinyl that popped up in record stores here and there back then ... Fond memories ...

Edited February 4, 2012 by Big Beat Steve

[Ted O'Reilly]

Who would expect a one-hour radio show to be made up entirely of nothing but all the available recorded versions of ONE SINGLE TUNE from that particular era? (Every now and then they did such one-tune specials there; IIRC the early versions of "Just a Gigolo" were one such show I caught on that program)

I tried doing something very similar once on my show: something like 20 versions of 'Maple Leaf Rag', from a very early acoustic recording -- might have been someone like Vess L. Ossman on the banjo -- to the (then) most recent one.

It was fairly boring, to be honest, and I didn't do it again.

[Big Beat Steve]

Who would expect a one-hour radio show to be made up entirely of nothing but all the available recorded versions of ONE SINGLE TUNE from that particular era? (Every now and then they did such one-tune specials there; IIRC the early versions of "Just a Gigolo" were one such show I caught on that program)

I tried doing something very similar once on my show: something like 20 versions of 'Maple Leaf Rag', from a very early acoustic recording -- might have been someone like Vess L. Ossman on the banjo -- to the (then) most recent one.

It was fairly boring, to be honest, and I didn't do it again.

I found it very interesting at the time, and though some of the tunes were not my favorite staple it was quite instructive. I also remember havnig heard something similar in a shorter (30-minute) jazz radio show many moons ago but cannot remember the tune they focused on.

But then again, for my very own listening amusement in my car I once dubbed an entire 60-minute cassette with all the versions of "Jumping At The Woodside" (including MANY Basie versions, obviously ) I had in my collection. And no, I did not tire of listening to it.

(My excuses to Durium for those off-topic remarks ... )

[brownie]

Averty's radio shows were wild. I listened to them whenever I was holidaying in France. They were rebroadcast in the early afternoons.

Loved Averty's obsession with full details of the matrix numbers of the records he played!

Some of the shows are available on CDs from Frémeaux & Associés:

Les Cinglés du Music-Hall

Averty was the ever-present director of the TV broadcasts from the Antibes jazz festival (including the Coltrane video of 'A Love Supreme' from the 1965 festival) in the '60s.

He had a brief appearance in the French New Wave classic 'Adieu Philippine' where he is seen directing a 'Jazz Memories' show with Maxime Saury.

I still have a grudge against him after he ruined a screening of Otto Preminger's 'Laura' (a rather rare showing in pre-digital days) when he and a friend sat behind me and made comments throughout the film.

[Durium]

(My excuses to Durium for those off-topic remarks ... )

No, please, continue: it's interesting :-)

Durium