Josephine Baker

Enrico kinldy sent the url for his latest youtube video. Well done, Enrico. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuAv4s7UbD0&fmt=18

One of my mother's records was the Josephine Baker 78 with "J'ai deux amours" on one side and "La petite Tonkinoise" on the other.

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As a child, I listened to the record all the time. Here is a link to "J'ai deux amours"

http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/baker/jaideuxamours.ram

Listen to the intro carefully, just before Josephine starts singing. Although the song is not a tango, I clearly detect the French tango sound of the 1930s in that intro. Remarkable.

And here is the link to "La petite Tonkinoise"

http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/baker/LaPetiteTonkinoise.ram

These two tunes, as well as "Haiti", were co-composed by Vincent Scotto. Scotto was born in Marseille and composed thousands of songs and dozens of soundtracks. A bust of Scotto in the Place aux Huiles, Marseille, France. This is not my photo. I have a better one which I took when I was in Marseille a few years ago, but I can't find it.

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A curiosity: in Frank Capra's film "It's A Wonderful Life" you can hear in the soundtrack Vincent Scotto's composition "Vieni Vieni" sung by Tino Rossi, my wife's favorite French singer.

Albert

This message has been edited by ahaim on Jun 24, 2009 11:33 AM

Posted on Jun 24, 2009, 6:14 AM

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