After checking airline delays and departures all week, we were relieved that our flight had not been canceled. The week-long air-space closure opened up again just in time. We had an easy 45 minute flight and then navigated through the RER system to arrive in Orsay, about 30 minutes outside of Paris to meet the friend we would be staying with for the weekend. Then into Paris for the evening for a little walking and a Django Reinhardt tribute at
Caveau de la Huchette. (In authentic Django style, the guitarist was missing a finger).
The music was excellent and atmosphere ecstatic with talented jazz dancers and toe-tapping old-timers. It was and unforgettable evening and possibly the coolest place I've ever been. One of the night's highlights was Embraceable You sung by a fabulous gentleman who could have been around back in the early jazz days. (You can listen to Billie Holiday's version
here.)
Descending and the room before getting started.
A little bit of the extensive history of the Caveau de la Huchette (excerpts from their history page):
"Long before 1551, the building bearing the N°5 on rue de la Huchette was the meeting place of both the Rosicrucians and the Templers, and in 1772 was transformed into a secret lodge. One approached it by way of rue de la Parcheminerie, rue de l’Hotel-Dieu and Petit-pont. This lodge was composent of two basement rooms one on top of the other, which served as meeting rooms. From that location two secret subterranean passages branched out, one loading to Châtelet, the other under the cloister of Saint-Séverin .
In 1789 and all during the revolutionnary period, this building know as Caveau de la Terreur housed the Club des Cordeliers and des Montagnards. In the upper room, transformed into a public-house, one drank, sang and argued about la liberté.
The principal members of the Conventions could be found there (Danton, Marat, Saint-Just and Robespierre), and numerous trials were conducted on the spot (followed by peremptory executions). You will find there one after another, the court room, the prison, the place of execution. In the lower room, there stills exists a very deep well, used to remove all evidence of the crimes committed there. These rooms are unquestionably authentic, historically accurate, and preserved in their original state.
Swing:
While Paris was celebrating its liberty once again after WWII, a new kind of music from over the Atlantic settled in around Saint-Germain des Près: Jazz invaded the cellars and hot spots of Paris. The GI’s brought in swing and be-bop, and dance exploded on the scene, dance floor acrobatics complementing frenzied rythms. Number 5 rue de la Huchette saw the opening of one of these small clubs, soon to become the temple of New-Orleans Jazz and be-bop in Paris. In fact, it was the first club in Paris where jazz was played.
From those days on, the Caveau de la Huchette has perpetuated the same rich tradition and a jazz band performs every evening for the pleasure of jazz lovers. Among them, too, excellent be-bop dancers are stills to be found.
Whether you are just a jazz-lovers, like to dance your socks off, or are a professional musician, the exceptional atmosphere of the club will remind you of the Cotton Club and the Savoy in their glory days. So, let yourself go… but be advised this club has a standard to live up to!"
