Photograph by Mark Gilliland
If the fire ever goes out in the marriage of Gomez and Morticia Addams, they should simply show up at a concert performance of Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris. Everybody knows Gomez is turned on by the French language, and that's pretty much all Parker sings in this group.
"I started out singing in German," Parker explains. "I learned 'La Vie en Rose' in a version by Marlene Dietrich. The first time I did it was just syllabically, by listening to it. Then later I had French friends help me, and I studied it. I think I'm paying even more attention to the words because I have to work so hard—it isn't my main language."
Parker, a classically trained saxophone, flute and woodwinds player, started Poor People as a duo with Donita Bauer in the late 1980s, playing and singing the songs of such French icons as Édith Piaf (the originator of "La Vie en Rose"), Charles Aznavour and Michel Legrand. The name came from the American mistranslation of a French song made popular by Les Baxter in 1956. Eventually, Bauer decided to move on to other musical pursuits, and Parker slowly assembled the ensemble she fronts now.
Mike Carosello, long familiar to local jazz fans, was first on board. "I was looking for somebody," Parker said, "who could both read and do the very sentimental French songs, and play some nice jazz like on a Michel Legrand tune, who was involved with more than playing the notes on paper."
Carosello, for his part, was an eager student of this new material. "It was an easy challenge at the time, in the sense that Donita was there and I was an understudy. I learned quite a bit from her, because I knew she had this experience with Elsie over the years."
Soon, there were more than just two Poor People, as drummer Alan Schilling joined the group. Schilling had known Parker from classical ensembles. But the group hit its stride when Wayne Coniglio became the bass player about five years ago. "Wayne, aside from being a fabulous musician, on bass and trombone, and having all the life experiences he had, is also a brilliant arranger," said Carosello. "He's taken all of our music and given it a real clarity."
Coniglio began playing instruments in grade school and has played trombone or bass in symphonies, not to mention stints in both the Ray Charles and Toshiko Akiyoshi bands. "I started off listening to Scott Joplin when I was about 6," he said. "Then I started listening to big-band music. And in high school, when I smoked a lot of dope, I listened to a lot of Zappa and Coltrane, back and forth, and Hendrix. And I liked Def Leppard. I've been there and done that. I played with Ray in the Kremlin two nights in a row with the Russian National Symphony around us. I said, 'OK, this is pretty good.'"
These four musicians have recently released a strong CD, Je T'aime Encore (the third Poor People album, but the first with this group), and have plans to start adding some original material to their sets over the next year. The French classics will always be at the core of their sound, however.
"I'd like it to be that people who don't understand a word of French can enjoy it," said Parker, "and be transported to a different place where it's a language of love, and there aren't any problems and it's just a beautiful place. It's a land of love and mystery and beautiful sounds."
Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris perform Saturday, July 12, at the Chaumette Winery in Coffman, Mo., from 1 to 4 p.m. and Wednesday, July 23, from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. at the Missouri Botanical Garden, as part of the Whitaker Music Festival.
For more info, go to thepoorpeopleofparis.com.
