Jean Sablon - C'est si bon' (1934-1950)

An individual stylist as instantly recognisable as Piaf or Chevalier, Jean Sablon was the first European cabaret artist to use a microphone in his stage act and in this respect he has been viewed by some critics as a forerunner of the rock era. An internationally acclaimed vocalist, who had a recognisable influence on Sacha Distel and Charles Aznavour, Sablon filtered the traditional chansonnette through jazz, swing and the mike into a new hybrid. For the purposes of publicity he was dubbed variously 'The French Crosby' and 'The Latin Lover' and while these names were by no means unfounded they paint only a partial picture, for Jean was a crooner with a difference, one who encapsulated the popular sentiment of an era. His was a specifically French sentiment but, as with Piaf it was by extension, with specific songs of the La chanson des rues variety, a sophisticated romanticising of Parisian street-life made available to the entire world through the medium of the gramophone.