log in or subscribe to France-Amérique. by “It was the freedom of being in France and being treated like a human being.”, A number of African-American musicians settled in Paris, but Davis decided to return home. She was Miles Davis’s lover, Orson Welles’s drinking partner and Jean-Paul Sartre’s muse. It was the beginning of a passionate love affair that would last until the end of Miles’s life. “I had never seen such a beautiful man, and I haven’t seen one since.”, Juliette Gréco and Miles Davis at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, May 1949. The tale of the affair is a sad one: Miles Davis was Black, and Juliette Gréco was white. But it was before Gréco’s rise as a chanteuse that she and Miles met after his performance with the Dameron group at the Salle Pleyel. Never mind that he was married and had already fathered a child at the age of 17. Miles called later in tears, saying that he never wanted to be with her in America again because of what happened. The answer is: Miles Davis, the great jazz composer and trumpeter. The pair would stroll along the Seine, hand in hand, stopping for a kiss. Bis zur letzten Begegnung, die ebenfalls der "Guardian" geschildert hat. Když přijel jazzový velikán Miles Davis v roce 1949 poprvé do Francie, nezamiloval se jen do samotné země galského kohouta, ale i do jedné Francouzky. Paris intellectuals were hugely fond of the new post-war bebop style and treated jazz musicians with the utmost respect and admiration. LIFESTYLE Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild “He knew I would be unhappy, and that I would be treated like a common whore in America.”, OP-ED Une Just a Tiny Little Beast Seeing she was French, he immediately warmed up to her and spoke to her at length about his love for Juliette Gréco. Jean-Paul Sartre, the great French intellectual and existentialist philosopher, once asked Miles (he was a fan of both Gréco and Miles) why he didn’t marry her, to which Miles replied that he loved Gréco too much to make her unhappy. Jazz Legend John McLaughlin’s Musical Magic, Tom Schnabel shares Rhythm Planet's election special, Aneesh Chaganty and Kiera Allen on Hulu’s ‘Run’, Morning Becomes Eclectic's playlist, November 27, 2020. THE WORDSMITH Synonymes et faux-semblants Juliette Gréco et Miles Davis, un amour "brûlant" mais "fugitif" à cause du racisme "Il savait que le noir et le blanc n’allaient pas ensemble. This was the first time Miles Davis had left the United States, and played the Pleyel concert hall with pianist Tadd Dameron’s quintet. It represented a freedom that nevertheless required technical virtuosity. In einem bestimmten Moment hörte sie plötzlich hinter sich Miles' berühmtes, dämonisch keckerndes Lachen. A young Miles Davis went to Paris in 1949 with the Tadd Dameron group and fell in love with two women: La Belle France and Juliette Greco. With her captivating allure and love of existential poetry, Gréco played muse to many, including philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and poet Jacques Prévert—both of whom wrote for her to put to song, photographers Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson, among others. ECONOMY American Lobster Farmers Off the Hook An unthinkable idyll in the United States, where interracial relationships were forbidden. Davis continued with his life in the US, but he and Gréco kept in touch and had a couple of chances to meet throughout the next decade, once in New York in 1954, and again in Paris in 1956, where they revived their romance for a while. No food was delivered for almost two hours, until the waiter finally slammed their plates down on the table. In the week he would have turned 80, she celebrates their love affair. INTERIOR DESIGNER Pierre Yovanovitch INTERVIEW Mériam Korichi on Bullshit This was the first time Miles Davis had left the United States, and played. She remarked, “Between Miles and me there was a great love affair, the kind you’d want everybody to experience.”. The maitre’d made no attempts to hide his disapproval. © 2020 KCRW All Rights Reserved. Unable to afford a ticket to the show, she was brought backstage by friend and wife of French trumpeter and novelist, Boris Vian. Help support the DJs, journalists, and staff of the station you love. Miles Davis, escaping the US and its racism, fell madly in love with Greco in Paris, where he was welcomed like Paul Robeson was welcomed in London and where jazz was very much the accompaniment to existentialist philosophy. Made in L.A. Streaming music, news & culture from KCRW Santa Monica, Live streaming music, news & culture from KCRW Santa Monica. © Jean-Philippe Charbonnier/Gamma-Rapho, The lovers lived together at the La Louisiane hotel in the 6th arrondissement. We are member-supported, so your donation is critical to KCRW's music programming, news reporting, and cultural coverage. Did you enjoy this piece? A young, left bank bohemian beauty and aspiring actress, she had survived the war after being arrested and detained at age 16 by the gestapo because her mother had been a résistante. They met in 1949, when racism in the US was even more appalling than it is now. After his Grande Medaille de Vermeille award, Davis played at the 10 th annual Paris festival of Jazz. Miles came from a solid, well-to-do family, attended The Juilliard School, and was a hip, sophisticated jazz musician. Juliette Gréco was 22, the muse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, when she set eyes on the trumpetist, the up-and-coming “Picasso of jazz.” In May 1949, the International Jazz Festival was reborn in Paris and the biggest American names in bebop had made a special effort to attend. “It was the freedom of being in France and being treated like a human being.”, African-American Legacy in the City of Lights, Black Lives Matter in Paris: An American Movement in France. History bore out Miles’s attitude toward the racism prevalent in America correctly. The French drew parallels between their homegrown existentialism and American bebop jazz, with its looser syncopation and the artistic freedom it encouraged. LANGAGE Translating Trump: Mission Impossible? To be able to access this guide, BOOKS Julia Kerninon “I had never felt that way in my life,” he wrote in his autobiography. Juliette Gréco, Miles Davis : les amants interdits Camille Andrade 14 février 2019 Artistes Dans le Saint-Germain-des-Prés bouillonnant de l’après-guerre, Juliette Gréco et le trompettiste Miles Davis vécurent une histoire d’amour furtive, passionnée, mais malheureusement impossible. Hey! The fabulous French chanteuse who once dated Miles Davis and Quincy Jones at the same time, died today aged 93. Diese Begegnung fand kurz vor Miles Davis' Tod im Jahr 1991 statt, als er Juliette Gréco zu Hause besuchte. Recalling the incident in an article penned for The Guardian, Gréco said, “I suddenly understood that I’d made a terrible mistake, from which came a strange feeling of humiliation that I’ll never forget.