A hat, mustaches, round glasses, Marcel Zanini had "class" as Philippe Lavil sang.
The musician, a great figure in French jazz, who became famous with the unstoppable hit "
Tu Vous Vais ou Tu Pas
", also performed a year later by Brigitte Bardot, then a star among the stars, died on Wednesday at the age of 99. we learned from his family.
He died in hospital in Paris, his son, writer Marc-Édouard Nabe (pseudonym of Alain Zannini) told AFP.
Marcel Zanini, born Zannini in Istanbul on September 7, 1923, comes from a Franco-Italian father and a Greek mother from Asia Minor, who had left Turkey for Marseilles in 1930. He himself found his way in the clarinet and saxophone, and was swept away by the post-war jazz explosion in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris.
Watch the videoZanini sings You want or you don't want in a Saint-Germain cellar accompanied by Ahmet Gülbay
Zanini sings
You want or you don't want
He left for New York in 1954, where for four years he saw the biggest names in music of the time: Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and others.
Despite the recognition he has obtained in the jazz world, the general public retains more the facetious figure, with bob, mustache and big glasses, of a variety singer.
His 1969 hit, "
Do you want or don't you want
", is a quickly conceived adaptation of a hit by the Brazilian Wilson Simonal, "
Nem vem que não tem
".
Having become rich and famous, and even a film actor, he will remain faithful to his first love, jazz.
He performed on stage in various formations until the end of the 2010s, including with his writer son.
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You want or you don't want