Gérard Lévêque

Gérard Marcel Marie Leveque (* 1. June 1924 in Raismes , † 31 May 1978 in Bry-sur-Marne ) was a French jazz - clarinetist and arranger . He is known as a member of the Nouveau Quintette du Hot Club de France by Django Reinhardt in the 1940s.

Career

Lévêque played only in the Hot Club of Valenciennes . In January 1943 he took part with the orchestra of this hot club in an amateur competition in Paris, where he received the Prix Jo Bouillon as best soloist. Django Reinhardt noticed him there and hired him for his quintet, where he replaced Hubert Rostaing . Reinhardt also used him as an arranger, for example for orchestral pieces (symphonies) and his plans for a mass as part of the pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer . Lévêque put the notes played by Django Reinhardt on paper (although after Lévêque he literally played note for note) and orchestrated them; Django Reinhardt himself never learned to read music.

Since Lévêque had received a classical education, he also introduced Django Reinhardt to classical music such as Claude Debussy and Georges Bizet (Carmen) through auditions. According to Lévêque's memories, Django Reinhardt was seriously interested in orchestral music at the time and only interested in his quintet to earn money. His symphony was about to be performed in the Salle Pleyel ( Jean Cocteau was supposed to serve as Master of Ceremonies) when the Hungarian conductor (Lévecque himself did not trust himself conducting) was arrested by the Germans and deported (including the score, which has probably disappeared) is). He also used Lévêque to work on his mass for the Manouches, but it was never finished (after Lévêque, she showed an affinity for Johann Sebastian Bach ). Django Reinhardt used parts of both for the film Village de la colère from 1947 (directed by Raoul André) and had them transcribed by André Hodeir . For a time Lévêque also lived with Reinhardt in the Rue de Acacias. In 1943 and 1947 Lévêque recorded with the quintet and he can also be seen in photos as a member from 1944 to 1946.

At the same time he played with Ray Ventura's orchestra and then with Jacques Hélian's orchestra (as clarinetist, arranger, saxophonist). He later worked as an arranger (recordings and for stage shows, variété). He also recorded with Marcel Bianchi . He lived in a Parisian suburb in the 1960s and gave interviews to Reinhardt for Fred Sharp in 1967 (who published about Reinhardt in Jazz Hot in 1972 ).

Lévêque also played the baritone saxophone .

In 1957 he took part in the half-hour documentary by Paul Paviot about Django Reinhardt, as did other former musical companions.

Tom Lord records 41 recordings in his jazz discography from 1943 to 1957.

Web links

Information on Gérard Lévêque in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
Biography with photos on a website about Django Reinhardt and his quintet (with a text by Lévêque about Django Reinhardt)
IMDb
Photo of the musicians in the memorial concert for Django Reinhardt from the 1957 film by Paviot, with Leveque and Rostaing on clarinet

Notes and individual references

↑ Entry on Gerard Marcel Marie Levecque in Fichier des personnes décédées , accessed on June 20, 2020.
↑ In the feature film Django: A Life for Music by Etienne Comar, Lévêque is nicknamed la plume ("the spring"). See from today in the cinema: “Django - a life for music” jazz newspaper
↑ Memories of Lévêque, see web links. According to the biography of Django Reinhardt by Michael Dregni (p. 177), on the other hand, the conductor Jo Bouillon shied away from the modernity of the symphony and Cocteau could not write a libretto for the intended large choir (up to over a hundred singers) because Reinhardt did not send him an exposé . There may also have been technical difficulties after Dregni, as Lévêque had problems jotting down Reinhardt's complex ideas. Reinhardt called it Manoir de mes rêves (Castle of My Dreams), Reinhardt saw the melody in a dream in which he played the organ in a lonely castle in the forest. The score was lost at the time. Reinhardt used parts of it in several jazz recordings, for example on February 17, 1943, whereby the reminiscence of organ playing should be created by the clarinets by Levecque and André Lluis .
↑ memories of Levecque. According to Dregni (p. 179), Reinhardt worked on it with Levecque for a year and a half before he gave up the project. There were two attempts to record the mass (which was composed for organ) and the recording in 1944 on the organ of the national school for the blind with Léo Chauliac was also made, but did not come out at the time (it was later rediscovered and lasts seven and a half minutes). The organist of Sacre Coeur was very impressed by the mass at the time.
↑ IMDB
↑ Entry (Djangostation)
↑ ^a ^b Tom Lord, The Jazz Diskograpy or (alternative spelling)

personal data
SURNAME	Lévêque, Gérard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Lévêque, Gérard Marcel Marie (full name); Lévecque, Gérard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH	June 1, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH	Raises
DATE OF DEATH	May 31, 1978
Place of death	Bry-sur-Marne

[1] Entry on Gerard Marcel Marie Levecque in Fichier des personnes décédées , accessed on June 20, 2020.

[2] In the feature film Django: A Life for Music by Etienne Comar, Lévêque is nicknamed la plume ("the spring"). See from today in the cinema: “Django - a life for music” jazz newspaper

[3] Memories of Lévêque, see web links. According to the biography of Django Reinhardt by Michael Dregni (p. 177), on the other hand, the conductor Jo Bouillon shied away from the modernity of the symphony and Cocteau could not write a libretto for the intended large choir (up to over a hundred singers) because Reinhardt did not send him an exposé . There may also have been technical difficulties after Dregni, as Lévêque had problems jotting down Reinhardt's complex ideas. Reinhardt called it Manoir de mes rêves (Castle of My Dreams), Reinhardt saw the melody in a dream in which he played the organ in a lonely castle in the forest. The score was lost at the time. Reinhardt used parts of it in several jazz recordings, for example on February 17, 1943, whereby the reminiscence of organ playing should be created by the clarinets by Levecque and André Lluis .

[4] ries of Levecque. According to Dregni (p. 179), Reinhardt worked on it with Levecque for a year and a half before he gave up the project. There were two attempts to record the mass (which was composed for organ) and the recording in 1944 on the organ of the national school for the blind with Léo Chauliac was also made, but did not come out at the time (it was later rediscovered and lasts seven and a half minutes). The organist of Sacre Coeur was very impressed by the mass at the time.

[5] IMDB

[6] Entry (Djangostation)

[lord-7] Tom Lord, The Jazz Diskograpy or (alternative spelling)