Louis Vola

Louis Vola ( born July 6, 1902 in La Seyne -sur -Mer; † August 15, 1990 in Paris) was a French jazz bassist, accordionist and bandleader who played in the Quintette du Hot Club de France.

Life and work

Vola was born on the Riviera, the son of a shoemaker of Italian origin; he first played on the accordion his father and then learned other instruments. Visits to Bal Musettes aroused his enthusiasm for music and the desire to become a professional musician after he had briefly attempted to become a baker. Vola learned then double bass and played dance music.

Already in the spring of 1931 Vola played with an orchestra at the Lido of Toulon, the Django Reinhardt and Roger Chaput belonged. In June 1931 came at the Grand Theatre of Toulon recordings of Volas group ( Carinosa ) on which Django Reinhardt was heard as a soloist. Then played Volas orchestra in Cannes to occur from December 1931 Paris Boîte à Matelots. Vola played in 1932 with his band Vola et ses gars in the Paris Club Embassy, 1933 at the Casino de Paris. In 1932 he worked together with Reinhardt in the film music of Henri Diamant - Berger's film Clair de lune with From 1933 to 1937 he led an orchestra, which from 1934 onwards in addition to Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli and Alix Combelle belonged. In this large- format volume Reinhardt and Grappelli began to form with Chaput and Vola a tape in the tape during appearances at the tea dance at the Paris Hotel Claridge.

In 1934 was Vola founding member of the Quintette du Hot Club de France. He is regarded as one of "the undisputed most important figures of the French jazz scene " for Reinhardt, and together with Emil Savitry as his early mentor ( even before Charles Delaunay took over this task ). Vola played regularly until 1938 with the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Then Vola took no longer officially with Django Reinhardt, but played with him at a concert in Brussels.

1934/35 entered the Vola Orchestra with Django Reinhardt, Ales Renard, Roger Chaput and Jacque Mont Brown, in 1936 at a concert of the Hot Club de France and the magazine Jazz Hot, and in 1938 at the Paris Olympia. Until 1938, he participated as bassist for recordings of Django Reinhardt, until he was replaced by Emmanuel Soudieux.

In addition, Vola played in the 30s with Jean Sablon, Michel Warlop, Willie Lewis, Ray Ventura, Duke Ellington and acted as a session musician, the singer Charles Trenet, Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Yves Montand. From 1938 he played in the orchestra of Ray Ventura, where he was better paid, and worked on his film Tourbillon de Paris ( 1939) with. As a sideman played Louis Vola from 1938 also in recordings by Philippe Brun and Alix Combelle.

With other members of the Ventura Orchestra, he fled to the occupation of France to South America, where he lived for the next eight years. In Buenos Aires he had to take (Louis Vola Del Quinteto Del Hot Club De Francia ) in April 1944 opportunity under his own name. After his return to Paris he fell in the face of musical changes into oblivion. After the failed attempt to operate in a Nice Restaurant, Vola had a commitment to the club Shéhérazade, where he performed both as a bassist and as a pianist and drummer the remaining years of his music career. End of the 50 years he retired to Cachan, where he died in August 1990, after he had once again occurred in 1978 with Svend Asmussen and Boulou Elios Ferré and at the Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois -sur -Seine.

In Memory Louis Vola remains primarily as a discoverer and an early promoter of Django Reinhardt; later, he is said to have acted as a "catalyst" between Reinhardt and Grappelli. He made ​​the most of his musical possibilities and was regarded as a competent session musician who recorded with many lesser-known musicians.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Django Reinhardt: Swing from Paris ( ASV, 1935-39 )