Alain Chamfort, a “Symphonic Dandy” all in elegance and emotion on the stage of the Grand Rex in Paris

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In December 2021, Alain Chamfort released a new album, Symphonic Dandy (Tessland), in which he reinterprets gems from his discography with the Orchester symphonique national de Montpellier-Occitanie. Living such an experience, for a musician, is “a hidden dream”, he confided to Franceinfo in February. Some seventeen songs, from Manureva to LPs, have been entirely re-orchestrated by Nobuyuki Nakajima, Japanese composer, pianist and arranger. After a recording in Montpellier at the end of October 2020, without an audience (due to confinement), immortalized for the cameras of Canal Plus (broadcast in 2021), Alain Chamfort, composer and singer with rare longevity – more than fifty years of career -, should have presented this revisited repertoire to the public on March 11 in Paris. But the Covid-19 prevented it. The Paris date has been postponed by twelve days.

On Wednesday March 23, the concert could finally be given on the stage of the Grand Rex with a Parisian phalanx, the Lamoureux Orchestra, placed under the direction of Gwennolé Rufet, and with the assistance of Nobuyuki Nakajima, the arranger of the new versions of songs, on the piano. To hear this repertoire in the region, three dates are currently scheduled between June and December in Vannes, Mâcon and Bressuire, with local symphonic groups. A fourth concert planned in Rennes had to be canceled.

Wednesday evening in Paris, after a promising artist in the first part (singer Jules Jaconelli in guitar-voice), the hour of reunion with the public finally rings for Alain Chamfort. It is 8:42 p.m. and the orchestra begins, alone, the mysterious introduction of the first song. Seconds later, Alain Chamfort, 73 (since March 2) enters to cheers and begins the song’s fictional dialogue It is only me, in which he recounts an encounter with a young woman. Gray jacket with satin prints shining under the spotlights, black trousers, glasses with slightly tinted lenses, black bow tie (which he will untie during the concert) on a white shirt… The most elegant of the veterans of French pop song would almost make one think to a famous secret agent, carried by the cinematographic arrangements of the orchestra, between layers of strings and brass maintaining a climate of suspense.

Respecting the order of the album released in December, Chamfort continues with To exist, one of five songs from his wonderful previous album The mess of things (2018) which he covered for this orchestral experience (with the eponymous song, the very beautiful Looking at the sea, Salamanders and The Microgrooves). Livelier rhythm, deeper lyrics, and a completely transformed instrumental chorus for the symphonic version. Very quickly, we are delighted to see how much the setting of an orchestra, with its finely chiseled arrangements, suits a performer like Alain Chamfort. The French artist entrusted the reorchestration of his songs to Nobuyuki Nakajima after observing the work he had done for Jane Birkin. Like the latter, Chamfort is not a singer with voice, he is the first to be aware of this, but his timbre and his expressiveness work wonders under the luminous vault of the Grand Rex.

The singer no longer ventures into high notes, never mind, he turns into a storyteller and gives new colors, new intentions, to the texts. Her vulnerability serves her purpose and instills a climate of confidence. Sometimes he alternates singing and recitative, sometimes he paraphrases passages using lower notes, sometimes he simply sings an octave lower, always with this constant delicacy. We find these variations in songs like The Enemy in the Ice of which he offers a sumptuous version, Manurevaan eternal highlight of his concerts, or even the melancholy Royal Palace, highly acclaimed song and unmissable opportunity for groupies to express themselves: “I like you !”launch a few female voices when Chamfort sings “Tell me that You Love Me”…

Throughout the concert, we have fun trying to recognize the instrumental introductions, sometimes long and full of lyricism like that of Giant, an ode to one of his daughters, another highlight. “She is three years old, I am crazy about her” are the first and last words of the 1979 song. On stage, Chamfort likes to conclude it with an update: “She’s 44, I’m still crazy about her…” After all these years, this title retains all its emotional force, palpable in the voice of its composer and with the public. And at the other end of this musical and personal journey, the message of LPsone of the flagship titles of the 2018 album, is all the more poignant, with its words about the relentless time repeated several times, like a question launched – also – to the public: “When life cuts me off, will you sing them, all the songs?”

Meanwhile, the most rhythmic songs of the program retain all their vitality under the baton of conductor Gwennolé Rufet and the orchestra, percussion and blowing in support. On Bamboo and Manureva – which arouses long acclamations -, mythical hits co-signed with Serge Gainsbourg, and on The fever in the blood, Chamfort does not hesitate to dance with his famous hips. The last song of the official program, nobody loves nobodyends with a new message for the public: “Nobody loves anybody like I love you…” It’s 10:07 p.m. Alain Chamfort leaves the stage under the ovations, the orchestra greets the public. Then the singer returns to thank the protagonists of the symphonic project and the authors of the texts of the revisited songs: Jean-Michel Rivat, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Duvall, Pierre-Dominique Burgaud.

As a reminder, Manureva is taken up in an effervescent climate. Then, with the audience still unwilling to leave, Alain Chamfort heads to the far left of the stage, where he replaces the arranger of this beautiful symphonic project at the piano. Alone, in piano-voice, lit by a simple orange projector, he interprets a delicate new song, Inadvertently. A good omen for his admirers who feared that The mess of things was his very last disc of original songs… The time of this ultimate gift, a group of fans gathered at the foot of the stage, a few steps from the piano. Chamfort finally gets up, leans over and shakes a few hands, crosses the stage to cheers, greets the delighted audience one last time. Smiling, he takes the time to sign, with simplicity, a few autographs. Then he slips away for good.

The set list

It is only me
To exist
The Enemy in the Ice
I hear everything
royal palace
The fever in the blood
Giant
Sinatra
Ivory Hunter
Bamboo
The mess of things
Looking at the sea
Manureva
Salamanders
Time that flies by
The Microgrooves
nobody loves nobody

[Rappel]
Manureva
Inadvertently (Chamfort alone in piano-voice for this new song)

Alain Chamfort in concert “Symphonique Dandy”
Friday June 3, 2022: Vannes, Scènes du Golfe, with the Orchester national de Bretagne
Saturday July 9: Mâcon, Esplanade Lamartine
Saturday 17 December: Bressuire, Bocapole
(NB: the date of June 2 in Rennes is cancelled)


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