A Short History of The Hot Club of France During WWII
Melissa Jones
Today, May 8, 2020 marks the seventy fifth anniversary of Victory in Europe and the Allies defeat of Nazi Germany. The Hot Club of France, headquartered in Paris, had become a rendezvous for British Intelligence (SOE) and French Resistors. Many Hot Clubbers were involved (see previous essay).
The activities of the Hot Club, mostly through the efforts of Charles Delaunay, attempted to continue Jazz listening and activities for the duration of the war. Their efforts were sometimes successful, sometimes not, but all were initiated under a cloud of secrecy and continual fear.
Author and researcher Anne Legrand provides a timeline of Hot Club activities including the months surrounding VE Day. The following listing provides select Hot Club/Jazz events. Most importantly, we salute the Hot Club of France!
1945
February: Eddie and Nicole Barclay incorporate the label "Blue Star" records, which would become a competitor of "Swing Records."
At the onset of the war, Pearl Cornioley, a childhood friend of Charles Delaunay, is in London. She volunteers for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and on Sept. 23-24, 1943, seated in a Halifax bomber and by the light of the moon, parachutes in occupied France. Eventually making her way to Paris, she and Charles Delaunay, to their complete astonishment, meet. This would be a fortuitous moment.
Reine Bureau, wife of Jacques, knowing the German establishment is prone to corruption, offers a payment of 50,000 francs, for Jacques' transfer to a less harsh prison detail. To obtain the money, Reine contacts Charles Delaunay for help who, in turn, contacts Pearl Cornioley. Pearl's connections in London prove fruitful and the requisition is approved. Jacques Bureau is sent to another prison for the duration of the war.
April 1: Jacques Bureau, founder of the HCofF, is released from Braunschweig prison.
May 7: Agnes Ripaud, Hot Clubber and Resistance member, is released from Zwodau Camp.
May 8: Pearl Cornioley spends her final days of the war in the Gatines Forest, eventually returning to England with her husband (also a Resistance member) in the fall of 1944.
June 14-17: Jive's A Poppin' with John Lewis and Kenny Clarke is presented at Theatre de la Madeleine.
Following the war and according to Bureau, Hot Clubbers would meet but rarely discuss the past and Resistance activities. One day and to Bureau's astonishment, Delaunay returned from a back room at Hot Club headquarters carrying several Sten machine guns. During the war, the weapons had been smuggled into Hot Club headquarters in pieces, then reassembled after hours. Bureau states, "It was a shock. The last of the war."
The remainder of the year sees Jazz activities taking precedence. Delaunay will look toward a future trip to to the US, BeBop, a reunion with Walter Schaap, initiation of the New Hot Discography and future concerts in France.