Active from 1928 to the mid-1960s, the Ray Ventura et Ses Collégiens orchestra imported jazz to France, subtly combining it with chanson, thanks to its songwriters, composers, orchestrators, musicians and singers, who brought us standards such as "Tout va très bien madame la marquise" and "Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux? Born in Paris on April 16, 1908, pianist Raymond Ventura was twenty years old when he founded an orchestra to introduce jazz, as practiced in the United States, to France. What began as a repertoire of mimed songs in sketch form evolved into a more sophisticated style with the arrival the following year of composers Paul Misraki and Loulou Gasté, as well as pioneering musicians such as singer and percussionist Grégoire "Coco" Aslan, drummer Alix Combelle, trumpeter Philippe Brun and trombonist Guy Paquinet. After debuting at the Casino de Deauville, the band was invited to play on a cruise to New York, where Ray Ventura met Paul Whiteman. On his return, he recorded several sides for the Odeon label and performed successively at Salle Gaveau (1931), Théâtre de l'Empire, Bobino, Olympia and Casino de Paris. In 1934, arranger and orchestrator Raymond Legrand (father of Michel Legrand) joined the band, along with trombonist André Cauzard and lyricist André Hornez. This was the era of popular hits such as "Tout va très bien madame la marquise", "Quand un vicomte rencontre un autre vicomte" (1935), "Ça vaut mieux que d'attraper la scarlatine" (1936) and "Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour être heureux?" (1938), released by Pathé. In 1938, singer André Dassary joins the group for a few songs. Ray Ventura's orchestra was soon emulated, and before the Second World War, formations by Fred Adison, Jo Bouillon and Jacques Hélian flourished, while Raymond Legrand left to create his own. Incorporated in 1939, Ray Ventura, of Sephardic Jewish origin, took refuge in the unoccupied zone and reassembled his orchestra for tours of Switzerland. He left France in 1941 and, accompanied by new guitarist Henri Salvador and Aslan, Misraki and double bassist Louis Vola, headed for South America to play and record, notably in Brazil and Argentina. The local music influenced the orchestra, which, on its return to France after the Liberation, scored new hits with "Maria de Bahia" (1947) and "À la mi-août " (1949), featuring his nephew, the young guitarist Sacha Distel. Now a film producer with the Hoche company he had founded in 1947 with Bruno Coquatrix, Ray Ventura appeared with his band in the films Nous irons à Paris (1950) and Nous irons à Monte-Carlo (1951). This new activity kept him busy, sometimes to the detriment of the orchestra, whose touring schedule was slowing down as the wave of big bands and swing gave way to smaller bebop formations. Along with Coquatric, Ventura was behind the creation of the Versailles label, which produced a number of jazz releases, including the soundtrack to the film Et Dieu créa la femme (1956), which revealed Brigitte Bardot. Disappearing in the early 1960s, between the end of the "rive gauche" spirit that saw him as a precursor of jazz in chanson and the rise of yé-yé stars and the first rock bands, the orchestra put an end to four decades of activity. Retired in Palma de Majorca, Spain, Ray Ventura died on March 30, 1979 at the age of 70.
