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Music

New Single! “Lion of the Blues” Honors Renowned Blues Historian Jacques Demêtre

NEW SINGLE FROM VALERIE GHENT "LION OF THE BLUES" - OUT NOW !   Lion of the Blues (Jacques Demêtre) by Valerie Ghent NYC recording artist Valerie Ghent

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History, Travel

Jacques Demêtre: discovering a blues historian in the family

Jacques Demêtre is one of France's noted historians of American blues and gospel music. For decades he wrote a column for the French magazine, Jazz Hot.

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Valerie Ghent

valerieghent
I am thrilled to share that our newest single, “ I am thrilled to share that our newest single, “Lion of the Blues” is on the ballot for the upcoming GRAMMY® award season! An uptempo Chicago blues shuffle, Lion of the Blues celebrates the extraordinary life of France’s beloved blues historian and my long-lost cousin, Jacques Demêtre. To my Recording Academy colleagues & voting members, thank you for your consideration! Lion of the Blues (Jacques Demêtre) - BEST AMERICAN ROOTS SONG - BEST AMERICAN ROOTS PERFORMANCE ➡️ Listening link: https://valghent.com/lion-of-the-blues-fyc/ (link in bio) Scroll through for FYC 🙏🏼🎶💕 Jacques’ lifelong passion for the blues brought him on a pioneering visit to Chicago, Detroit and New York in 1959 when he met blues greats including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Sammy Price and many more. One of the earliest to document blues musicians, recordings and songs, Jacques wrote blues articles, columns, liner notes and a now classic book on blues history. In 2010 Jacques and I discovered we were cousins and met in Paris for the first time, a meeting which has deeply influenced my life and music. Inspired by his life and passion for the blues, I started writing this song for Jacques, and was able to sing for him on the phone during lockdown before he passed away in 2020 at the age of 96. This year I released Lion of the Blues in Jacques’ honor, and in tribute to his remarkable life. I hope you enjoy it! Huge thanks to great musicians Pierre Sibille (piano, harmonica,organ), Jerome Buigues (guitar & mix), François Gomez (bass), Philippe Jardin (drums), Greg Calbi (mastering). And my love & gratitude to my dear cousin Jacques “Lion of the Blues” Demêtre (aka Dimitri Vicheney) for your love and passion for the blues!! #newsingle #grammys #songwriter #singer #blues #jacquesdemetre #lionoftheblues #valerieghent #pierresibille #jeromebuigues #gregcalbi #musician #musicislove @jeromebuigues @pierresibille
Happy Birthday Valerie Simpson! 🎂💕💫 join Happy Birthday Valerie Simpson! 🎂💕💫 join me in celebrating our beloved Valerie and all the joy, love and timeless music she and Nick Ashford have given to the world! ❤️🎶❤️ Love you always & forever Val! #valeriesimpson #ashfordandsimpson #twovaleries #motown
WOW! Great concert in Montfort, France! 🎶🇫🇷💕 After a day of clouds and rain the sun came out just in time for a sold-out night, and making this very much a concert in Provence the grape harvest had just started the night before our show. Lots to celebrate with Corsican food and wine flowing freely! Un grand merci to @cavescommandeur for inviting us back to their wonderful soirée musicale this summer🙏🏼💕 Thank you to everyone who sang and danced with us, and huge thanks to my great band @pierresibille @jeromebuigues @francoisgomez83 @briand_chris y’all brought the grooves & lifted us higher! Love & gratitude to all ❤❤ Music is LOVE! 📸: Bernard Bechet Wow ! Un super concert à Montfort ! Après une journée nuageuse et pluvieuse, le soleil est apparu juste à temps pour une soirée inoubliable, et pour donner à ce concert un air de Provence, les vendanges venaient de commencer la veille de notre spectacle. De quoi fêter ça avec de la nourriture Corse et du vin à flot ! Un grand merci aux Caves du Commandeur, Christine et Cédric pour nous avoir invités à leur merveilleuse soirée musicale cet été ! Merci à tous ceux qui ont chanté et dansé avec nous, ainsi qu’à mon super groupe Pierre Sibille, Jérôme Buigues, François Gomez et Christophe Briand, vous avez fait vibrer le public et nous avez portés plus haut ! Amour et gratitude à tous ❤❤ La musique, c’est l’AMOUR ! Photo: Bernard Bechet #concertphotography #valerieghent #franceconcert #cavesducommandeur #singersongwriterproducer #singer #happylady #musicislove
Wahooo! My new single ‘Lion of the Blues’ is o Wahooo! My new single ‘Lion of the Blues’ is out today! An uptempo Chicago blues celebrating the extraordinary life of beloved blues historian and my long-lost cousin, Jacques Demêtre ❤️🎶❤️ Born in Paris, France in 1924, Jacques Demêtre was one of the first historians of the blues, traveling to Chicago, Detroit & New York in 1959 when he met blues greats including Muddy Waters, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Sammy Price, writing for Jazz Hot for more than 20 years & for Soul Bag magazine, penning liner notes for countless blues collections & wrote the bi-lingual book, “Voyage au pays du blues (Voyage to the Land of the Blues)” - today a treasure. In 2010 Jacques and I discovered that we were cousins - we had no idea we were related until we met! - when Jacques was 86. It felt like destiny! Over the next 10 years i visited Jacques in Paris as often as I could, listening to blues albums together, we spent hours together listening to old blues records from the 20’s, 30’s & 40’s. Jacques encouraged me to expand my blues repertoire, gave me stacks of blues CD’s, suggested artists to listen to and even songs he thought I should sing. Every time I visited Jacques asked, “when will you record a blues album?” In February 2020 I went to Paris for Jacques 96th birthday & to sing at a concert which he attended. Inspired by his life & generosity in sharing his vast knowledge of the blues I started writing this song for him. We recorded in the south of France with the great rock-solid musicians I’ve toured with for over 10 years: @pierresibille - harp, piano, B3 @jeromebuigues - guitar, mix @philippe_jardin_drummer - drums François Gomez - bass & yours truly on vocals And now it’s yours to enjoy! ➡️ link to listen in bio 🎶 I am grateful to Nicolas Teurnier & @soul_bag_mag for the cover photo with Jacques happily embraced by Muddy Waters, Otis Spann & Willy Smith in Chicago in 1959. This is for you my dear cousin 💕🎶 Jacques lives on forever more - he’s Lion of the Blues ! ❤️❤️ #jacquesdemetre #blueshistory #soulbag #jazzhot #lionoftheblues #voyageaupaysdublues #valerieghent
My father, Emmanuel Ghent, would be 100 years youn My father, Emmanuel Ghent, would be 100 years young today. Happy Birthday Pops! I’ve been thinking of my dad a lot in recent months, listening to his music, reading his works, looking at concert programs & reviews from the 60s & 70s. After a friend texted me from the MacDowell Colony finding my father’s music there - my dad was at MacDowell exactly 60 years ago - I started to feel he wanted to speak with me. And perhaps I wanted to speak with him! I remembered an interview we did in 1988 - although my dad passed away in 2003, I haven’t felt ready to listen to it again. This week in his honor, I took a deep breath & opened it up in ProTools after all these long years. Hearing my father’s voice for the first time in decades, his phrases, the cadence of his speech, when his voice softened, when it brightened, hearing again the slight Canadian accent that he still had even then, brought tears to my eyes, warmth to my heart & a knowingness that he is still here somehow, somewhere, even if just in my memory & on this recording that we made almost 40 years ago. They say people live on in those who love them, it must be true because today I feel his presence today more strongly than ever before. In the interview Dad talks about electronic music he composed in the 1960s-70s, his collaborations w/ Bob Moog, Max Matthews, Mimi Garrard & James Seawright, his fascination with multi-tempi music & inventing the “coordinome” to synchronize musicians playing in different tempi. Listening it’s as if he is here again! and to hear my young self asking questions in a voice I barely recognize as my own makes me laugh aloud. Thank you Dad for everything you instilled in me and so generously gave to so many others, your creativity & innovations, your clarity and deep wisdom, your irreverence & love of word play, your curiosity & inventiveness, your constant exploration of ways of being, seeking new approaches to music, psychoanalysis, composition, computer programming, woodworking, your devotion to new ideas, new music, new discoveries, and most of all your love, resonate more deeply than ever before. I love you. Happy 100th birthday! #emmanuelghent #electronicmusicpioneer
Happy heavenly Birthday to my dear cousin Dimitri Happy heavenly Birthday to my dear cousin Dimitri ! Also known as blues historian and writer Jacques Demêtre, Dimitri lived in Paris and would be 101 years young today. Meeting him in 2010 literally changed my life, I traveled to see him as often as I could. I’ve written a blues song in his honor which we recorded in France & will be releasing soon! Love and miss you always ❤️❤️ dear cousin - your passion for the blues lives on!! 🎂🎶💙#jacquesdemetre #dimitrivicheney #happyheavenlybirthday #blueshistorian #blueswriter #soulbag #jazzhot #parisblues @soul_bag_mag
Hey y’all! Thrilled to let you know I’m featur Hey y’all! Thrilled to let you know I’m featured on a new single by Italian rap/hip-hop artist Bumo, a song we wrote called “NCPT”, and it’s out TODAY! 🎶🎤🇮🇹🔥 Che bello! 3 years ago @bumo_1 and I released our first single, “Online”. It was a great success and he graciously asked if I’d collaborate on another song with him. NCPT releases today on Bumo’s newest album, “Giano”, and available world-wide on Believe Music Italia. Am super excited about NCPT and can’t wait for you to hear! 🎶 ➡️ Link in bio   “NCPT” stands for ‘non c’è piu tempo’ (“there’s no more time” or “it’s too late”) and as in our first single, Bumo raps in Italian and I sing in English. Bumo hails from Genoa, in Liguria, and although I’m a New Yorker I recorded my vocal in France with @jeromebuigues, so our song has a real Euro-NYC vibe. & seriously, check out Bumo’s new album- he’s super talented and the album is great 🔥🔥 Enjoy! La musica è amore! @bumo_1 @believemusicitalia #bumo #valerieghent #giano #ncpt #noncepiutempo #italianrap #dowhatyoulove #newmusicfriday #singersongwriter
First photos from Montfort! Merci @lamethodesylvie First photos from Montfort! Merci @lamethodesylvie, Claudia & my love Tom for the pics! Music is love! ❤️🎶❤️ The groove was on 🔥🔥🔥 thanks to my amazing band - équipe au top @pierresibille, @jeromebuigues, Francois Gomez & Philippe Jardin, we were invited to debut a first-ever, brand new summer soirée at beautiful winery @cavescommandeur and WOW it was phenomenal! The rosé was flowing, Corsican & Italian food aplenty, and the sold-out crowd ready to dance with us! And it’s so moving to me, when we play somewhere new where many people are hearing our original music for the first time - when everyone starts singing along to Love Enough for a Lifetime or dancing to Wheels on a Train it’s so joyful! I’m moved to tears! Gratitude on high, thank you thank you for such a wonderful evening of music and love 🙏🏼❤️🙏🏼 #pierresibille #jeromebuigues #francoisgomez #philippejardin #valerieghent #equipeautop #musicislove #singersongwriter #happylady #nofilter #cavesducommandeur
South of France - ready to Groove! Join us July 24 South of France - ready to Groove! Join us July 24 in Montfort! 🎶🎤🎸 #liveconcert #singersongwriter #blues #soul #montfortsurargens @pierresibille @jeromebuigues @montfortsurargens #francoisgomez #philippejardin #valerieghent
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