"Warm, Marcel, warm up!" With the death of Marcel Azzola, at the age of 91, disappears a very great "Monsieur" of the accordion, which gave in France a new breath to the instrument by taking it to jazz. "His heart was released" Monday morning at his home in Villennes-sur-Seine in the Yvelines, said Lina Bossati, his companion stage and heart.
Vesoul. Many people who know without knowing this genie of the accordion thanks to the music of Jacques Tati films and the song Vesoul Jacques Brel. Marcel Azzola entered the legend on the ground with his breathtaking accordion chorus on this title, in 1968, and the famous "Chauffe Marcel, chauffeur!" that Jacques Brel then launched, overflowing, during the recording (1min36). In addition to this piece of bravery, the musician also helped to advance the accordion from a technical point of view and gave it a new breath by "daring jazz", in the words of Philippe Krümm, head of the Accordion magazine Accordionists .
His heirs venerate him: "He has always been a focus," says Richard Galliano. "Marcel is an emblematic figure for my generation," said Francis Varis. His play in nuances, "in which we will never find a trace of vulgarity" (dixit Francis Varis) and his phrasing "with a very particular dynamic, very bebop" (Richard Galliano) forced admiration.
Fréhel in radio-hook. Born July 10, 1927 in the twentieth arrondissement of Paris, Italian immigrant parents settled in Pantin, the little "Marcello" was sensitized very early to music. After the violin, his father, mason and amateur musician, directs him to the accordion. Attilio Bonhommi, his second teacher, inoculated him with the love of this instrument. After his first contest in 1937, he accompanies the following year the debutted realist singer Fréhel during a radio-hook.
His career is launched. Since the 1940s, while improving with Medard Ferrero, "He Professore", he has walked his piano with braces everywhere, from breweries to dancings, studios in Six Days cyclist to Vel'd'Hiv, tours with Yves Montand adventures in jazz, duets in big orchestras. His classical culture, his ability to decipher, made him in the late 40s a highly sought after studio accordionist. In 1949, he participated in the recording of "Under the Heaven of Paris" Edith Piaf. Then came Gilbert Bécaud, Barbara, Boris Vian, Mouloudji, Juliette Greco ... He also rubbed shoulders with the musette kings: Gus Viseur, and especially Tony Murena.
Registration of the accordion to the CNSM. His technique has also allowed him to slip easily into the world of jazz, alongside Stéphane Grappelli, Dany Doriz or Toot Thielemans, and to be a player in the rapprochement between jazz and musette in the 80s. Orsay School of Music for twenty years, he has been campaigning since the 70s, with his colleagues Joe Rossi, Joss Baselli and André Astier, for the recognition of the accordion. Result of this relentlessness: the inscription of this instrument to the CNSM (National Higher Council of Music) of Paris in 2002.
This high-class musician was paired with a charming man, praised for his kindness and modesty. "He has always had respect for people," says Philippe Krümm. Statuished in the Grévin Museum from 1969 to 1981, proposed for the Legion of Honor he had refused, Marcel Azzola suffered for a long time from Dupuytren's disease in his right hand. The evil having increased, its activity had been considerably reduced in recent years. He spent most of his time in the manor house of Villennes-sur-Seine, which he shared with Lina Bossatti, pianist and talented violinist.