JAZZ and comics

Jazz and comic books : two major cultural actors of the 20^th  century and of this new century, that have both known an immediate hit with the public, while their recognition as honorable forms of artistic expressions was more complicated. This creation of a large exhibition of facsimiles of originals by comic book artists reveals, if need be, the variety of connections between the 9^th Art and jazz.

For a long time, the cartoonish representations of jazz and blues have nonetheless been rather bizarre. Drugs, alcohol, prostitution and smoky rooms too often prevailed over the very essence of music : which was a bit the case in cinema or literature. However, some great international masters of what we call today the 9^th Art (such as Robert Crumb, Guido Crépax, Cabu, Georges Wolinski, Harvey Kurtzman, Sergio Toppi, Joost Swarte, Juanjo Guarnido, José Muñoz, Jean Solé, Jordi Bernet,Jacques de Loustal, Baru, Edmond Baudoin, Philippe Dupuy/Charles Berberian, Blutch, Jacques Ferrandez or else mangaka Shinichi Ishizuk) have passionately sketched the great figures of this innovative musical movement : from Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Django Reinhardt, Thelonius Monk and many others.

Besides, the history of comic books is strewn with “swinging” images signed by perhaps less known but equally deserving illustrators : Mezzo, Hunt Emerson, Jean-Christophe Chauzy, Jean Vern, Louis Joos, Jean-Claude Claeys, Jean-Claude Götting, Serge Clerc, Joe G. Pinelli, Béja, Éric Warnauts, Ted Benoît, Ben Radis, François Avril, Jean-Christophe Chauzy, Marc Malès, Christian Cailleaux, Steve Cuzor, Stefano Casini, Jorge Gonzalez, Roger, André Taymans, Brüno, Aude Samana or else Franz Duchazeau. All have their own favorite icons; the be-bop period being of course largely favoured.

Moreover, there are countless record sleeves or Jazzman Magazine covers illuminated by the leading artists already mentioned : Crumb, Loustal and Ferrandez at the top of the list ! A remarkable collection entitled BD Jazz, concocted by BDMusic editions (formerly Nocturne), even proposed for many long years, between 2003 and 2016, a stunning hardback booklet including systematically two CDs and a short comic book : a feast for the eyes, as well as the ears !!!

From Gilles RATIER

Exhibition organized and designed by

Photo : Laurence Le Tiec

Pierre-Marie JAMMET
Designer

Oblique Art Production is a company specialized in the curatorship of comic strips exhibitions and in publishing.

Its manager, Pierre-Marie Jamet, born in 1958, the year of “Coke en Stock” by Hergé and “Sos Météores” by Edgar P. Jacobs, is a freelancer who has moved in the comic strips circles since the Seventies.

An enthusiast, he has co-created such reviews as PLG, Le Lézard and Bananas Comix, founded PMJ editions and also managed the Oblique Galery in Paris.

He is also a former member of the “Alternative Comic Books Prize” jury at the international Comics festival in Angoulême.

He lives in the district of La Défense.
He has produced a number of cultural exhibitions

Photo : Guillaume Berthier

Christophe VILAIN
Producer

Christophe sets foot in phylacteries over 20 years ago, when he creates, in the 2000s, the MOEBULLE festival dedicated to the 9TH art in Meaux (Seine et Marne).

For 3 years, meetings with authors, lectures, exhibitions, school events and charity auctions follow one another at a frantic pace.

Building on that experience and with the curiosity and concern to reflect on the transversalities between comic strips and the other arts, he takes the offshore wind to the Atlantic shores and creates, in 2005, the 96th Parallel gallery in Les Sables d’Olonne specialized in original drawings, silver photographs and contemporary art.

Back to Earth in 2008 where the adventure continues in the air or rather, on air. He becomes a designer and presenter, on the oldest community radio station of Loiret of which he becomes president in 2013 of a monthly program devoted to comics.

In 2015, he is caught up by the TV screen, and for 3 years he presents on Ouatch TV the only program devoted to comics, Line for Line ! Then after the channel shutdown, he continues the adventure with video clips on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/Traitpourtrait-bd) : 1,2,3 comics in bookshops, the treasures of comic strips or interviews of authors. At the same time, he produces exhibitions, teaches Art History, runs talks in trade shows or organizes comic books banquets and works freelance for Beaux Arts Magazine or Siné Mensuel.

He is also a member of the ACBD (Comic Strip Critics and Journalists Society) and a member of the Artémisia Society.

Gilles RATIER
Exhibition curator

While exercising his librarian job at the Limoges Francophone Multimedia Library, Gilles Ratier has developed, for more than 40 years, his passion for comics, writing in various regional newspapers or specialized reviews and drawing up numerous monographs (for Mosquito or BD Must editions), as well as presentation folders for the integrals of Dupuis, Dargaud, Le Coffre à BD or Fordis publishers. He has been involved in various reference works about the 9th art (e.g. BDM: Treasures of Comic Strip) and is also the senior editor and webmaster of the BDzoom.com website. He has written Before The Frame by PLG, then Sangam (the most comprehensive history of the 20th century francophone comic strip published so far, told by the scriptwriters) and the huge biography Jean-Michel Charlier tells you… by Castor Astral. For the ACBD (Comic Strip Critics and Journalists Society), where he was secretary-general for 20 years, he published, from 2000 to 2016, a report on the economic and editorial situation of comic strip that has been taken up by all the media.