Isabelle Leymarie is a French musicologist, writer, pianist, filmmaker, translator and photographer.
Early life
As a young child, Isabelle Leymarie developed a passion for African-American music (and also Broadway tunes and the French, Spanish and Russian composers of the late 19th and early 20th century). At the age of 4 she began to study classical music privately, and then at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève (Switzerland). She obtained a degree in sociology from the Sorbonne and studied ethnomusicology at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris. After studies for a doctorate at the Institute of International Studies in Geneva, she graduated from Columbia University with a PhD in ethnomusicology.[1]
Career
In 1968, Isabelle Leymarie worked in the African Department of the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, the Music Department of the Musée de l'Homme and at Ocora (a record label specialized in ethnic music and belonging to Radio France). In 1969, at the Panafrican Arts Festival, in Algiers, she escorted a Yoruba delegation of artists and scholars. She also taught at the American College in Leysin (Switzerland).
Beginning in 1970, she studied in New York at the Jazzmobile, Jazz Interactions and Muse workshops; with Barry Harris; with Charlie Palmieri at The City College of New York; and privately. She wrote film treatments for Sam Shaw (producer of John Cassavetes and photographer of Marilyn Monroe) and wrote several screenplays, among them "Malva", which was to be made by Gordon Parks Jr. before his untimely death. She was New York correspondent for the National French Radio jazz program "Black and Blue".[2] She taught at the College For Human Services, John Jay College, Herbert Lehman College, The New School for Social Research, Cooper Union, Boricua College, the Conservatory of São Miguel (Azores, Portugal), the Jazz Department of Livingston College and Yale.[3][4] She was music curator of El Museo del Barrio, in New York, consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), escort-interpreter for the State Department, and consultant for various films and television programs. In 1973 she lived in Senegal, doing field work on the griots and their music.[5]
As a pianist she performed in particular with the Cotton Club Orchestra (Harlem), Melba Liston (New York), Cab Calloway's bass player Jimmy Garret (Japan), Clifford Thornton (Switzerland), as well as with her own groups. She also worked with Latin bands, and sat in with the Machito orchestra at Livingston College[6]
Elle, Jeune Afrique, Magazine de l'ORTF, Ethnomusicology, Routes, Jazz Spotlite News, Nuestro, Canales, La Tribune de Genève, Arts et Vie, Jazz and Keyboard Workshop, Vogue, Africa, Latin American Music Review, Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles, Courrier de l'Unesco,[9] Les Lettres Françaises, Le Monde d'Hermès, Percussions, L'autre Afrique, Le Monde de la musique, Jazz Magazine, Les Cahiers du Jazz, Le Courrier, New West Indian Guide, One More Time, and other publications.
Isabelle Leymarie has written liner notes for several record labels.[10]
Cuba: This Moment, Exactly So. San Rafael: Insight Editions. 2015. ISBN9781608876747.
La Suisse est un village. Vevey: Les Éditions de l’Aire. 2016. ISBN9782940586424.
Le Monde est un village. Vevey: Les Éditions de l’Aire. 2016. ISBN9782940586431.
Naissances. Éditions de l’Aire. 2018. ISBN9782940586912. (in French)
Pour Michel Moret. Vevey: Les Amis de l’Aire. 2018.
Bibliography
La salsa et le Latin Jazz. Paris: PUF. 1993. ISBN2130453171. (published in French and Turkish)
Du tango au reggae: musiques noires d'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes. Paris: Flammarion. 1996. ISBN2742708359. (in French)
Musiques caraïbes. Paris: Actes Sud. 1996. ISBN2352841623. (in French)
La musique sud-américaine : Rythmes et danses d'un continent. Collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 317) (in French). Paris: Éditions Gallimard. 1997. ISBN978-2-07-053391-6.
Cuban Fire – Musiques populaires d’expression cubaine (in French). Paris: Outre Mesure. 1997. ISBN2907891154.
La música latinoamericana, ritmos y danzas de un continente. Collection «Biblioteca de bolsillo CLAVES» (nº 2) (in Spanish). Barcelona: Ediciones B. 1997. ISBN8440677057.
Ritmi sudamericani: dal tango al samba-reggae. Collection «Universale Electa/Gallimard» (nº 101) (in Italian). Milan/Turin: Electa/Gallimard. 1997. ISBN8844501252.
Latin Jazz. Madrid: Vade Retro. 1998. ISBN2909828654. (published in French)
Músicas del Caribe. Madrid: Akal. 1998. ISBN8440677057. (published in Spanish and French)
Cuba: La Musique des dieux. Paris: Éditions du Layeur. 1998. ISBN2911468163. (in French)
Les griots wolofs du Sénégal. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose. 1999. ISBN2706813571. (in French)
Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz (in French). New York: Continuum. 2002. ISBN0826455867. (published in English, French and Spanish)
Jazz Latino (in Spanish and French). Barcelona: Robinbook. 2005. ISBN8496222276.
Del tango al reggae: Músicas negras de América Latina y del Caribe (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza. 2015. ISBN978-8416272747.
Jazz Piano: Yesterday and Today. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. 2015. ISBN978-1515263685.
Picasso And All That Jazz: A Memoir. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. 2016. ISBN978-1530847921.
Picasso, le Jazz et autres Instants de Vie (in French). Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. 2016. ISBN978-1533590350.
Du tango au reggae: musiques noires d'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes (in French) (revised and augmented ed.). Paris: Éditions du Jasmin. 2016. ISBN9782352841623.
Trésors de la Littérature Suisse (in French). Éditions de l’Aire. 2016. ISBN9782940537648.
From The Tango To Reggae: Black and Creole Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. 2017. ISBN978-1981413102.
Piano Jazz, une histoire (in French). Paris: Éditions du Jasmin. 2018. ISBN978-2352841784.
Barn Yarns. Bloomington: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. 2018. ISBN978-1727839975.
Piano Jazz (in Spanish). Barcelona: Ma Non Troppo, Redbook Ediciones. 2019. ISBN9788412081244.
Lafcadio Hearn: La passion de l'ailleurs (in French). Éditions du Jasmin. 2020. ISBN9782352842316.
Antonio Carlos Jobim (in French). Éditions du Jasmin. 2020. ISBN9782352842330.
Calembourdes et Calembedaines (in French). The Book Edition. 2021. ISBN9782957887408.