The 2021 winners of the Jazz Victories were unveiled on October 5 at the headquarters of Sacem in Paris, during an evening marked by the screening of an excellent documentary directed by Damien Cabrespines and Magali Cesari. The film, which presents the entire winners of the Victories as well as some of the nominees, is broadcast this Friday, November 5 at 11:05 p.m. on France 5, and should then be available for several weeks on the france.tv platform.
Shot over two days last June at the Folies Bergère theater in Paris, the film of the Victoires du Jazz allows above all to discover the winners inhabited by their art. On the 2021 list of winners, there are saxophonist Pierrick Pédron (instrumental artist), Swedish singer – Parisian by adoption – Isabel Sörling (vocal artist), double bass player and singer Sélène Saint-Aimé (revelation), the Belmondo Quintet (group of the year), clarinetist and saxophonist Michel Portal (jazz album of the year with MP85), the voice and percussion group San Salvador (world music album with The Great Madness), without forgetting the pianist Alain Jean-Marie, distinguished by a Victoire d’honneur.
Two artists nominated in the Revelations category also participated in the documentary, the bandoneonist Louise Jallu, whose album in tribute to Astor Piazzolla (whose centenary was celebrated in 2021), marked the spirits, and the pianist Tony Paeleman who leads a brilliant career both as a sideman and a leader.
“Jazz, for me, is a form of great freedom”, launches Pierrick Pedron in the first minutes of the film. And the native of Saint-Brieuc to tell about his first missed meeting, in his youth, with the music of Charlie Parker, who will nevertheless become “the most important musician” of his life. Throughout the confidences, the artists tackle different themes that allow us to better understand their musical journey and this inner fire that they all possess.
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The artists evoke their discovery of jazz, their first musical shocks, their heroes and major influences (the opportunity to savor some beautiful archive images), their very personal history with their musical instrument – “It’s the trumpet that chose me”, remembers Stéphane Belmondo, while Sélène Saint-Aimé talks about his relationship “addiction” with his double bass – but also the stage, which represents “the real life” for Alain Jean-Marie, the taste for risk, improvisation which allows, for Michel Portal, to feel “more complete”, the career…
The film, which lasts 1h30, also allows us to find the eminent Archie Shepp, the most French of American saxophonists. Honorary President of the Victoires du jazz 2021, he will award a Victoire d’honneur to the famous Guadeloupe pianist Alain Jean-Marie on the occasion of a sequence both funny and really very touching … We will also see him sing, towards the end of the show, a beautiful ballad he wrote and composed, with singer Marion Rampal and pianist Pierre-François Blanchard.