At long last! In the image of all the great jazz stars with any self-respect, the band Louis Prima Forever has taken up some of the immaculate standards and popular songs (by Mariah Carey, George Michael)associated with the magic of Christmas. You can catch the scent of fir trees already, so watch out... because Louis Prima Forever doesn't totally belong to the "Xmas album" tradition that reeks of squeaky-clean tinsel. These guys are as hot as chestnuts and swing so hard that Santa Claus would slip a disc. In fact this record would shake any party to life and make your Christmas feel like New Year's Day!

The Presses Universitaires de France and Frémeaux & Associés offer this biography of Alcibiades, analyzed and explained by Jean-Manuel Roubineau, lecturer in ancient history and specialist in social history and the history of ancient sport. “The richest life that I know of to be lived among the living (…) is, all things considered, that of Alcibiades at my pleasure”. It is with these words that Montaigne presents Alcibiades, a colorful character, emblematic of ancient wars. A pupil of Socrates, endowed with an insolent beauty, renowned for his remarkable eloquence, he was accused of being involved in the religious scandals of his time. An intrepid soldier, a skillful, daring strategist, he enabled Athens to win some brilliant victories. Two-faced Janus, epic hero, endowed with the brilliance of genius, Alcibiades oscillated between two existences, one full of glory and recognition, and the other filled with betrayal, exile, poverty and hatred. . Jean-Manuel Roubineau introduces us to this extraordinary personality, whom the poet Lord Byron, captivated by the romantic personality of Alcibiades, places without hesitation at the top of the pantheon of illustrious Ancients.

As the publisher of the complete recordings of Django Reinhardt — the set is a work of reference with albums and booklets totaling 760 pages — Frémeaux & Associés today counts as one of the premier independent producers of gypsy jazz. This genre, as erudite and technical as it is generous and approachable, demonstrates the cultural and musicological richness of the gypsy contribution to western culture. Romane is one of their most eminent representatives and his compositions have become genuine standards. Frémeaux & Associés celebrates the work of this guitarist in a collection covering his entire career as a recording-artist, available to the public as a “Complete Works” set with Père & Fils as its twelfth volume.

How about getting to know Petit Scarabée? Surely you already have a lot in common! To begin with, he is the same age as you, he is very curious and observant, and he asks himself a lot of questions… And (like you, maybe?) Little Beetle finds that grown-ups are sometimes very complicated... It's as if they no longer know how to laugh and have fun! Always, they ask him to go faster, to change activity, to do this, to do that… He doesn’t even have time anymore… to take his time! However, when he was little, he loved watching the same toy for hours, a drop of water, a clock... He spent his day laughing and exploring everything! Sometimes, Petit Scarabée wonders: what if the big ones were on the wrong track? What if the secret was to grow up, but keeping the curious and open mind of a child? And you, what do you think? This release features 24 sequences for children from 5 to 11 years old to develop their senses, to learn to manage their emotions and express them, to discover themselves, to open up even more to others, and also to relax. The release also contains practical activities.

Her sweet voice in full control, Manu Le Prince remains one of the most wonderful jazz standard performers. A Latin jazz ambassador in France and the world, she is paying a tribute to Wayne Shorter, a sparkling tune composer and jazz figure. Adding lyrics to some of the greatest standards penned by the sax giant (who encouraged her), Le Prince keeps her North-South cross-disciplinary musical exploration going. She hand-picked a compelling team of top Cuban, French and Brazilian musicians who provided her with a sumptuous jewelry case. Manu Le Prince embodies what reminds us that “diva” (the name given to great female singers) comes from “divine”.

The original soundtrack from the musical “Belles de nuit” sends us back to 1946 and the twilight days of France’s notorious “houses of prostitution,” which had been tolerated but were now threatened with closure by the Marthe-Richard law. The songs here are poetic, and filled with tenderness and mischief in their portraits of the prostitutes, madams and pimps who made up this nocturnal underworld. Both words and music were written by the composer, actor, singer and director Jonathan Kerr, who also plays an inestimable role in the musical. This album is carried high by the writing and by these remarkable singers and musicians, all of which shows edible precision in the way the record mixes the authenticity of France’s “chanson” genre with swing jazz. It takes popular art to the stars.

Come, we have someone to introduce to you: Little Beetle. He is a child of your age, who is very nice. Very curious too! He learns something new every day by observing what is happening around him. But Lately, Little Beetle has been feeling a little stressed. He sometimes has trouble managing everything at once... So sometimes he can't take it anymore, and he explodes all of a sudden. It would change everything if he managed to manage his anger before it was too late! Little Beetle thinks there might be some tricks he needs to know to relax, learn to relieve the pressure, or even change his emotions... If he discovers any during his adventures, he promises, he'll share them with you ! Together you will discover how to recognize them, listen to them, transform them and soothe yourself...

Étienne de La Boétie wrote the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude when he was only 18 years old. A great friend of Montaigne, he was a humanist and a precocious thinker. In this essay, La Boétie analyzes the reasons for the submission of the population and demonstrates that servitude is not forced but voluntary. Otherwise, how can we understand that a small number of individuals take power over a very large number and force them to obey slavishly? By questioning power and “tyrants”, the legitimacy of rulers, this text is surprisingly topical. La Boétie is today considered by many to be an intellectual precursor of civil disobedience. Daniel Mesguich lets us hear all the intelligence and strength of this founding text.

Jean-Michel Davis is one of those rare musicians whose artistic sincerity is matched only by his rich musical background. In This n’ That, the vibraphonist continues to explore the sound possibilities of his instrument. With his quintet (Julien Charlet, Raphaël Schwab, Frédéric Loiseau and Patrick Villanueva), he pays tribute to some of the most beautiful jazz standards and French chansons (Weill, Trenet, Gershwin, Gainsbourg), and presents us with several of his own noteworthy compositions. Not to mention, the vocals, admirably performed by Daniel Huck (who hasn’t lost a drop of his scatting pizazz in Feeling Good) and Juliette Pearl Davis (who brings a surprising freshness to this repertory). A high fidelity jazz, deliberately fifties, at the frontier of bop and cocktail music.

In this second volume of his homage “To Barney Wilen,” Jean-Michel Proust follows the sensibilities of the legendary saxophonist in an exploration of the great jazz songbook and the classics of Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, Vincent Youmans, Isham Jones and Django Reinhardt. Fronting a rhythm section that provides a setting that fits him like a glove, Jean- Michel Proust makes this opus a wonderful conclusion to his tribute to Wilen: his playing here combines zero gravity with a swing containing exquisite softness in every note.

Jean-Michel Proust is a household name in French jazz, not only because he was the voice of jazz on national radio (France Inter) and on the station TSF Jazz, but because he has also been a bandleader, producer, artistic director… and an accomplished saxophonist. This album is the first of two chapters that pay a delicate tribute to the spirit that moved Barney Wilen, one of the most sensitive tenors, whose versions of jazz classics took melody to the stars. This volume revisits standards by Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Henri Mancini, Tom Jobim and John Lewis, with the saxophone, accompanied by a sparkling rhythm section, continuing the search for that famous “blue note” in an incredibly rich palette of emotions.

On this recording Marcel Loeffler pays tribute to the legendary St-Germain des-Prés of the post-war years, when jazz and chanson together belonged in heaven. The material you can hear in this album is the best, with the great melodies of Brassens, Aznavour, Gainsbourg and Trenet brought alive by a famous accordionist whose light, powerful swing has earned him a reputation as a peerless musician. A genuine breath of fresh spring air that combines warm music and joie de vivre.

Film music soundtracks have established themselves over the years as major providers of popular tunes. But jazz is quite different, because it has always had an appetite for transforming standards into something of its own. The Swingin’ Affair quartet brings new colors to the famous melodies heard in films, adding unrivalled freshness with some sumptuous arrangements that draw on different palettes, including swing, cool jazz and bossa nova… Imagine Darth Vader playing in the Cotton Club with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra! The Swingin’ Affair quartet give a marvelous demonstration of how fertile our music heritage can be when it comes to being creative.

Gérard Pierron describes himself as someone carrying a text, and it’s true that nobody else can draw so much musicality from the words of a poet. Here we have twenty songs that are part of the aura surrounding his path as an artist. They contain everything, or almost: his collaboration with Allain Leprest ("Good-Bye Gagarine" is the first piece that Gérard Pierron composed with him), plus Céline Caussimon, and also musical settings for works written by Louis Brauquier and Raymond Queneau, or other poets who were previously unknown. These recordings prove just how much this material has benefited from his unique work, which shows sensitivity and an unequalled depth in its humanity.

Like millions of other monarch butterflies, La Petite Reine (the Little Queen) has just crossed an entire continent and overcome all sorts of obstacles to spend the winter here in the Sierra Chincua pine forest in Mexico. This long journey has raised many questions: now La Petite Reine wants to know everything! Written by Carole Tolila, a journalist and presenter of "Silence, �a pousse", La Petite Reine is an ode to nature and the fragile riches of our planet, and allows children aged 5 to 10 to better understand the various ecological issues that concern adults, and to discover the small steps and solutions to help them take action. Audiobook in French.