Hugh Coltman

Henri Salvador had a rare gift for making music and smiles converse, the sophistication of jazz and the simplicity of a song you remember from the very first listen. A guitarist, singer, jazz musician and immense interpreter, he moved through the decades with a singular artistic freedom, leaving behind a body of work as elegant as it was popular.

Today, Hugh, Fanou, Philip, William and Stéphane pay tribute to this extraordinary artist by reinterpreting his world through their own sensibility.

Between jazz, swing, blues and French song, the project does not set out to reproduce Henri Salvador, but to keep his spirit alive: that of a musician who was curious, generous and deeply music-loving, who could move from a burst of laughter to a overwhelming emotion, from virtuoso guitar playing to a timeless melody.

The voice of Hugh Coltman, steeped in blues and jazz, brings a fresh colour to Salvador's songs. Fanou Torracinta, a guitarist with a luminous style deeply rooted in the jazz tradition, engages in dialogue with Philip Powell, William Brunard and Stéphane Huchard, forming an ensemble in which companionship and improvisation hold an essential place.

The repertoire draws on the many facets of Salvador's career: his great songs, of course, but also his love of jazz, swing and the guitar. A living, free and contemporary reinterpretation that allows familiar melodies to be rediscovered and new nuances to be revealed.

A tribute without nostalgia, held under the sign of the pleasure of playing, singing and sharing.

For at heart, paying tribute to Henri Salvador may well mean rediscovering what he knew so well how to pass on: a taste for music, freedom, elegance... and smiling.