He is a singer with the soles of the wind, constantly on the road with his musicians, who is expected in a festival placed under the sign of Éole. Saturday September 10, Michel Jonasz will rock his Groove ! on l’Aumône island in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) for the Éole Factory festival.
At his side, a set of virtuoso musicians. Manu Katché on drums, Jean-Yves D’Angelo on piano, Jérôme Regard on bass, Hervé Brault on guitar as well as a fine brass section (Michel Gaucher and Pierre D’Angelo on saxophones, Éric Mula on trumpet ) make up a solid, swing formation. “It’s a subtle alchemy, live performance! You need a chosen repertoire and expert musicians,finding the right tempo and key, souligne Michel Jonah.
The singer of Super Nana, of change everything and Holidays by the sea brought together these sizes to accompany him in this highlight of a three-part tour where he revisits his repertoire. “The goal for me is to be on the boards, he explains. I never stopped the scene, even if I am heard less on the radio and seen less on television. It’s the stage that gives me strength. It’s a real exchange, generous and that makes me feel good. I find there the pleasure of interpreting. »
An “emotional thunderbolt” listening to Piaf
At 75, the singer and actor pays tribute to the music that built him. Originally, Gypsy music drawn from his parents of Hungarian origin, whose vibratos and swirls can be heard throughout his work. In childhood, French song, “the records that my parents listened to, the artists that I was able to discover on stage. My father took me to the Olympia, and I saw Piaf on stage. It was something! I felt a real thunderbolt», he says, also remembering having gone to listen to Brel “Evening after evening, standing at the back, in the cheapest seats which cost 5 francs”, and evoking with tenderness “Brassens and Ferré, my pillars”.
As a teenager, then, in the 1960s, Michel Jonasz discovered blues and rock, Ray Charles, James Brown and Stevie Wonder who gave birth to his vocation as blues player, amateur of jazz box, of storyteller The Fabulous Story of Mr. Swing… Then, still anchored in his time, he created the sensation at the Victoires de la Musique on February 12, 2021 by capsizing the young shoots of the song with Retirement house, striking title taken from his latest album, The Méouge, the Rhône, the Durance.
” With Retirement house, I wanted to write a song about the strength of love. I find it very moving, the elderly couples holding hands in the street,” says Michel Jonasz. Musically, the song is built on an original form: no chorus or verse, but a melody that advances over chords reaching a crescendo of great intensity. A tour de force for the interpreter, who puts all his conviction into this moving and lyrical story, like another of his great titles, I wanted to tell you that I’m waiting for you.
Saturday he will sing Retirement house on stage in this bucolic festival which celebrates music, classical and contemporary, on the banks of the Seine. The two great French manufacturers of wind instruments located nearby in Mantes-la-Ville, Henri Selmer, famous for his saxophones, and Buffet Crampon, king of clarinets, sponsor this family gathering that makes everyone want to swing. It will also welcome saxophonist Lionel Belmondo, Laurent Bardainne & Tigre d’eau douce, André Manoukian, Romain Leleu’s 6tet and the young and brilliant clarinettist Lou Bianco, as well as several concerts for young audiences, including the very joyful Guignol & Mama Swing.