Les Double Six (also known as the Double Six of Paris) was a French vocal jazz group established in 1959 by Mimi Perrin. The group established an international reputation in the early 1960s. The name of the group was an allusion to the fact that the sextet used double-tracking techniques to enhance and "fatten" the sound, very much like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys did in the recording studio. The membership of the group varied from recording to recording. The six members would all sing once to a recording track, then sing the exact duplicate performance again to a second track, "doubling" each individual vocal part.
Singing in French, they performed jazz standards, particularly themes by Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie, adding the poetic or humorous lyrics written by the imaginative Perrin.
Inspired by several American groups, the singers vocalized in the manner of instruments, reconstructing brilliant improvisations of saxophones, trumpets or trombones.
The group was not long-lasting. Because of Perrin's health problems (she had contracted tuberculosis in 1949), Les Double Six dissolved in 1966. They recorded four albums between 1959 and 1964. Many members of the group went on to join the Swingle Singers, which notably reproduced the works of Bach in the jazz vocal style.
The Double Six were nominated for Best Vocal Group Performance at the 1965 Grammy Awards for their LP The Double Six of Paris Sing Ray Charles, but were beaten by The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night". [1]
(changing according to session, but generally in sextets)
All songs written by Quincy Jones, except "Doodlin'" written by Horace Silver. The US-release on Capitol Records in 1961 was entitled The Double Six of Paris.
The first two albums were reissued together in 1999 on RCA Victor International as Les Double Six with an additional previously unreleased bonus track.
The Swingles are a vocal group formed in 1974 in England by Ward Swingle. The group replaced Swingle's earlier "Swingle Singers", formed in 1962 in Paris, France, with Anne Germain, Claude Germain, Jeanette Baucomont, Christiane Legrand, Claudine Meunier, Jean-Claude Briodin, and Jean Cussac.
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.
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Jeannine "Mimi" Perrin was a French jazz pianist and singer, and translator.
Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris is a 1963 studio album collaboration between Dizzy Gillespie and Les Double Six, also known as the Double Six of Paris, a French vocal group who sings in vocalese to songs associated with Dizzy Gillespie. Gillespie, pianist Bud Powell, and a rhythm section accompany; two of the songs feature his quintet, with James Moody. It was reissued on CD in 1989.
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