French club in LA incorporates jazz motifs

On every second Saturday of the month, Los Angeles’ Chinatown draws Francophile clubgoers to the otherwise quiet area. Nestled between Chinese restaurants with lanterns strung up overhead, the Grand Star Jazz Club is home to Décadanse Soirée French Pop Night, one of many DJ residencies hosted by the venue. For those who love French artists of the 1960s such as Sylvie Vartan and Brigitte Bardot, Décadanse promises a good time and more, showcasing genres like yé-yé, surf rock and swing.

The Grand Star, which has been family-owned since 1946, can be found in the Old Chinatown Plaza, a stone’s throw away from the famous Chung King Road art walk. The club has an upstairs floor available for personal event bookings like birthday parties, but the downstairs dive-style bar complete with a light-up perspex dance floor is where hip locals flock to. The DJ nights at this venue span a range of niche genres like afrobeat, Motown and jazz implied by its very name, but French pop proves to be a standout amid the L.A. dance scene.

The Décadanse circuit, whose namesake is the Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin song of the same name, has been around since 2011 and housed at the Grand Star since November 2014. The events feature DJs who are masters of their craft, evidenced by their personal record collections toted onstage in personalized boxes. Indeed, the warm crackling of the vinyl makes for a retro tonal overlay that complements the music well.

“This is one of the few places you can hear exclusively vinyl sets being played in L.A., especially when it comes to French music,” said Jessica Hardy, who goes by the moniker DJ Fifi Laroux.

Her history of DJing with Décadanse is just a single facet of her musical career: When she’s not spinning records for an ecstatic crowd, she hosts radio shows The Friday Soirée on UC Irvine’s college station, KUCI and Le Show on Pomona College’s own KSPC. Aptly titled, her shows specialize in French music, a genre that strays from her usual preference for funk and soul.

“When I first started my radio shows, I was worried that the genre and theme would be too specific for a wider audience,” Hardy said. “I was actually surprised by the popularity of French music, especially in this city.”

While French themes are often overlooked in an Anglophile context, Hardy is right in that Angelenos seek out foreign media in order to tap into their unique sense of cosmopolitanism. Mark Wright, another ’80s and synthpop-geared Décadanse jockey also known as DJ Pierrot — a nod to the 1965 Jean-Luc Godard film Pierrot le Fou — owns Vidéotheque in South Pasadena, a video store that curates international, indie and cult titles as well as music, clothing and film posters. Wright and other Décadanse DJs often collaborate with the film screening series Cinéfamily and even the cultural branch of the French embassy.

While the L.A. entertainment scene may be rife with French-inspired outings, Hardy and the other DJs sometimes run into pitfalls when combing through record shops to put together quality setlists.

“It’s quite difficult finding French records aside from popular surface-level artists like Serge Gainsbourg in the States. If you really want the deep cuts, it’s just easier to bring them from France,” said Hardy, who tries to regularly spend time in Paris and in the Alps.

The Grand Star’s French club night is a welcome getaway for Angelenos looking for a break from the EDM-centric music scene, as attendees can appreciate the authenticity of the analog format and the personal connection with the hand-picked songs.

“The music we play is lighthearted, fun, and feel-good, and can appeal to people who are into collecting records and the typical vintage sound,” Hardy said.

While the genre may seem esoteric to some, make no mistake: Hardy and the other DJs play along with the crowd, maintaining a sense of humor.

“Towards the end of the night when things get a little more crazy, I might lay down a Stromae record or something more modern from my collection,” Hardy said.

The Grand Star also hosts a British-themed DJ night called Club Underground every Friday, which is organized by Lawrence Gjurgevich of similar Décadanse fame.

Editor’s Note: Due to an online publishing error, a previous version of this post contained a misspelling in the headline. The Daily Trojan regrets the error.