Sunset was the first jazz club to open on the now famous Rue des Lombards in May of 1983.[1] Originally there was no club at the Sunset rather it was a restaurant that upon request from many musicians and customers had its basement bar converted to a jazz club to fill the popular demand for jazz in 1980s Paris.[2] The arched ceilings of the cellar proved to be an ideal environment both in aesthetic and acoustics for the creation of a popular jazz club.[3] When the club first opened in 1983 it catered to the ever popular and growing jazz fusion of the time hosting some of the biggest names in jazz at the time.[4] By 1989 the programming at Sunset was in need of an update to stay modern so Jean Marie Balzano took over and began scheduling a broader range of jazz musicians to appeal to an international audience.[5] This shift turned Sunset into a hotspot for American musicians touring Europe increasing the prestige of the establishment.[6] Sunset was becoming one of Europe's best known location for jazz music.[7] In 1993 the programming changed once again, with Stephen Porter taking over and opening the doors to all musicians local or foreign making Sunset a club for all Jazz, where some of the greatest performers of today began.[8] For example Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock were known to frequent the club in the late 80s.[9] Sunset quickly became a key location in many of Paris's jazz festivals including the Festival of Vocal Jazz, American Jazz Festival, and the JVC Jazz Festival since 1999.[10] In 2001 Sunside opened where the restaurant used to be and the two clubs united as Sunset/Sunside.[11] Sunset focuses on electric jazz and world music while Sunside focuses on acoustic jazz.[12] Today Sunset/Sunside is one of three jazz clubs in the Rue de Lombards each of which is among the best known jazz clubs in Paris.[13]

In the postwar period jazz had established itself in Paris as a truly French institution in which the Parisians could express political and ideological statements. This sentiment continued into the latter half of the 20^th century and into the 21^st. Jazz was a unique case of an ethnic music becoming widely accepted and adopted by white culture.[14] A music that gained its strength and footing during wartime has managed to find a way to survive in the hearts and minds of people across the world and continues to flourish. Jazz had established itself as a venue for the upholding of African American culture in a widely accessible format that people could partake in through different avenues.[15] Whether you were listening to jazz on the radio, in a club, or were performing it jazz was revolutionizing people through consciousness, values, aesthetics and actions.[16] In its origins jazz was never about looking to the past it was about the present or looking to the future.[17] In the latter half of the 20^th century the popularity of jazz opened the door for other African American music such as calypso, samba, reggae, and salsa which established themselves as popular forms of music although never as dominant as jazz.[18] Jazz in the 70s, 80s, and 90s was fueled by the absorption and assimilation of differences which allowed it to transcend ideological constructions and embrace any racial imagination.[19] Jazz came from a culture of being oppressed and rose as a voice for all those that were oppressed by any means.[20] The latter half of the 20^th century saw jazz become a unique form of classical music that owed its roots to Africa rather than Europe.[21] For the first time the music of a formerly enslaved people had become a rare and valuable art form that was appreciate and embraced by the people that had enslaved its creators.[22] Jazz was a way for people of all different, age, ethnic, and national groups to come together and have their voices be heard by the world. As Chinese American Saxophonist Fred Wei-han Ho puts it, "It is the music that embodies and expresses the contradiction of the century, fundamentally rooted to the world's division between oppressor, imperialist nations and the liberation struggle of the oppressed nations and nationalities."[23] This growing sentiment that jazz was a way to come together as an oppressed peoples and voice yourself could be seen across the jazz clubs of Paris and for certain in Sunset/Sunside one of Paris's most prominent clubs of the modern period.

Over the course of this tour, three distinct periods in the history of jazz in Paris have been revealed. The first period encompasses the early years of jazz's introduction to Paris and its slow but steady establishment as a pastime in the interwar years. This was when jazz clubs first spread across the city and made entertainment and music more accessible to a greater population of Paris bringing it out of the traditionally artistic neighborhoods. The second period takes place during the Second World War when jazz became a tool to fight the oppressive forces of the Nazi occupation of France. Jazz became a way for those without power to take a stand and fight against a system that they had little control over. Jazz was a shining beacon that stood against everything fascism stood for. The third period occurred in the postwar years when Jazz found its calling as a form of entertainment and culture that brought people together of all different classes and ethnics. From these three periods, we can learn that the advancement of jazz not only in Paris but the world is tied directly with the era of the World Wars. Without WWI jazz would not have been brought over to France by African American troops where it gained traction as a pastime among the European nations. In addition, without the more relaxed ethnic tensions in Paris African American jazz musicians would not have found Paris the ideal location for their art, making Paris a capital of Jazz in the world. Furthermore, without its use as a tool for opposition in WWII jazz may not have continued to be a popular art form in Paris after the war when it shifted to being an outlet for all people that were oppressed. This was incredibly important as the Parisians fought for social, political, and economic changes and looked toward the future. Jazz reveals itself to be not only a form of music by a tool for the social movements. The bond between the two is traceable right back to Jazz's origins in Paris.

[1] "Le Club." Sunset Sunside Jazz Club. Accessed March 20, 2019.

[2] "Le Club."

[3] "Le Club."

[4] "Le Club."

[5] "Le Club."

[6] "Le Club."

[7] "The Sunset / Sunside Club Paris." Jazz in Europe. Accessed March 20, 2019.

[8] "Le Club."

[9] Fawcett, Karen. "Paris Right Bank Jazz Clubs: New Morning, Sunside-Sunset, Duc Des Lombards and Etoile Jazz." Bonjour Paris. December 02, 2011. Accessed March 20, 2019.

[10] "Le Club."

[11] "Le Club."

[12] "Le Club."

[13] Jones, Gareth. "Top 10 Paris Jazz Clubs – Chosen by Musicians and Experts." The Guardian. January 17, 2017. Accessed March 20, 2019.

[14] Ho, Fred Wei-han. "What Makes "Jazz" the Revolutionary Music of the 20th Century, and Will It Be Revolutionary for the 21st Century?" African American Review 29, no. 2 (1995): 284.

[15] DeVeaux, Scott. "Constructing the Jazz Tradition: Jazz Historiography." Black American Literature Forum 25, no. 3 (1991): 552.

[16] Ho, 290.

[17] Ho, 285.

[18] Martin, Denis-Constant. "Can Jazz Be Rid of the Racial Imagination? Creolization, Racial Discourses, and Semiology of Music." Black Music Research Journal 28, no. 2 (2008): 105.

[19] Martin, 120.

[20] Martin, 107.

[21] DeVeaux, 526.

[22] DeVeaux, 526.

[23] Ho, 284.

DeVeaux, Scott. "Constructing the Jazz Tradition: Jazz Historiography." Black American Literature Forum 25, no. 3 (1991): 525-60. doi:10.2307/3041812. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3041812.

Fawcett, Karen. "Paris Right Bank Jazz Clubs: New Morning, Sunside-Sunset, Duc Des Lombards and Etoile Jazz." Bonjour Paris. December 02, 2011. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://bonjourparis.com/archives/paris-jazz-clubs-new-morning-sunset-lombards/.

Ho, Fred Wei-han. "What Makes "Jazz" the Revolutionary Music of the 20th Century, and Will It Be Revolutionary for the 21st Century?" African American Review 29, no. 2 (1995): 283-90. doi:10.2307/3042307. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3042307.

Jones, Gareth. "Top 10 Paris Jazz Clubs – Chosen by Musicians and Experts." The Guardian. January 17, 2017. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jan/17/top-10-paris-jazz-clubs-chosen-by-musicians-experts.

"Le Club." Sunset Sunside Jazz Club. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://www.sunset-sunside.com/club/histoire.

Martin, Denis-Constant. "Can Jazz Be Rid of the Racial Imagination? Creolization, Racial Discourses, and Semiology of Music." Black Music Research Journal 28, no. 2 (2008): 105-23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25433808.

"The Sunset / Sunside Club Paris." Jazz in Europe. Accessed March 20, 2019. https://jazzineurope.mfmmedia.nl/2013/02/the-sunset-sunside-club-paris/.