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"All
That Jazz" (Matchbox
Oct 2008 issue - www.matchboxmag.com
)
 Vanessa
Grall meets Ta Mère, the kings of swing making a crashing
noise on the live music circuit
Did you know ‘Jazz’ comes from the word orgasm?”
Benoit Viellefon, one quarter of live music’s most avant-garde
band, has made me blush already. I’m sitting
with the Frenchman and his fellow frontman, Sean MacGloin,
who has ordered a whisky on the rocks in my office building’s
cafeteria at three in the afternoon – he’s a New
Yorker from the Bronx, after all. Wun Chan Yen on
the bass and John McCarthy on the drums, not present, complete
the fourman band that is Ta Mère (French for
“your mother”).
Much like fashion does, Ta Mère is looking back in
time, bringing a 1920s Louis Armstrong energy to our generation.
Swing, jazz, folk, blues – these guys are going against
the establishment and getting back to the basics of good music.
The kind of music that we all tap our feet to and grab a dance
partner for. “People go mad for it, even if they’re
posh,” says Sean, who, quite endearingly, confesses
that “this is the band I’ve been looking for all
my life.” The band resembles a sort of swingers’
“rat pack”. Their style is 100 per cent tailored
– head to toe classic suits, with hats designed by Sean’s
personal friend Philip Treacy – with an unmistakable
swagger that is lacking in most modern acts of the industry.
So how does a live touring band stay alive in this climate?
“Great music has always been played during hard times.
During a recession, music is the one thing that uplifts people
and reminds them of the good times.” In fact, live gigs
are precisely what is paying the bills at the moment for Ta
Mère. With residencies in both corners of London –
Ginglik in the west (catch them on the 31 October, ginglik.co.uk)
and the Brickhouse on Brick Lane in the east – Ta Mère’s
following is growing fast. “It’s coming back in
style to bring your girl to a jazz café and order cognac,”
says Sean, formerly a music lawyer for the mainstream record
companies, many of which are wondering what to do with themselves
in the current digital music market.
" Swing, jazz, folk, blues–
These guys are going against the establishment and getting
back to basics of good music"
“We’re shooting bullets in the right place and
hitting the right target,” says feisty Frenchman Benoit.
Ta Mère has its own record label, run by Benoit since
1999. With JohnJohnRecords behind them, the group has full
artistic control and can do exactly what they like –
“hijacking jazz”. Benoit plans to have an album
available on iTunes by November of next year. But you can
tell that going digital is not priority for the live band.
Linking music with technology almost feels unnatural when
speaking with the musicians of Ta Mère. I fail to believe
that listening to them on your iPod would have the same effect
as witnessing the irresistible thumping of a live bass and
the excitement an entire audience jiving. “We play popular
music,” Benoit says confidently and casually.”
There is no argument here. Ta Mère is nostalgic, revolutionary,
romantic, certainly swinging and making a considerable amount
of noise.
Catch Ta Mère at The
Brickhouse and Ginglik.
See myspace.com/
tamerelondon for more details
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