The Café Society - Part 4 - Captain Mercier

Emma’s first jazz club experience at Le Baiser Salé, on jazz club row, rue des Lombards, near our new offices. She had been to arena shows, and has seen what it’s like to share Eric Clapton with 15 000 other fans and corporate guests. This was a much more intimate experience: 50 spectators and a 10-piece band.

Captain Mercier are made up of session musicians, studio sharks, who do about 20 gigs a year, more for fun than anything else. Their brand of funk sounds something like Bootsy Collins and Parliament. However 9 out of ten of them are white, and they are tight… Having discoverd them by accident, SylVie and I have now attended a half-dozen concerts, including the DVD recording.

Anyhow, Emma got to see them up close (having seen their DVD at home) talk to one of the two lead singers (the younger, good-looking one) and tell the bassist how much she enjoyed the soundtrack to Cabaret Paradis. If only it hadn’t been a school night...