Jacques Vassal

Jacques Vassal (born 13 February 1947) is a French journalist and writer specializing in music, particularly French chanson, blues, and American folk music.

Biography

Born in 1947, Jacques Vassal became interested in music, listening to Georges Brassens. As a teenager, he developed a passion for the blues and later for American folk music. After his secondary education at the Lycée Charlemagne, Vassal earned a bachelor's degree in English. With a "Certificate of American Civilization" in hand, he studied Russian language and civilization at the École des langues orientales. Vassal visited Morocco in 1964, the United States in 1966 and 1968, the USSR in 1967, and finally Quebec in 1969, where he pursued his research on traditional and contemporary music. In 1968, he took part in organizing Tom Paxton's first concert in France. From May to July 1970, he presented a history of American folk music on the Campus show on Europe 1.

Recognized as a specialist in French chanson, popular music, blues, and American folk music, Vassal contributed to Rock & Folk from 1967 to 1985, where he hosted the column Les fous du folk for nearly 15 years. He worked for Paroles et Musique during the 1980s before contributing to Politis and Chorus in the 2000s. He also regularly visited the American Center, then located on Boulevard Raspail in Paris, where Lionel Rocheman organized an open mic night that helped create French folk music.

He wrote on folk music, as well as biographies of Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, and Léo Ferré (all three of whom he had met). He also wrote about American singers (including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Woody Guthrie), whose works he also translated into French.

Vassal is also a passionate enthusiast of car racing, and he contributed in the 2000s to the magazines Auto-Passion, Automobile Historique, and later Rétroviseur. and co-authored with Pierre Ménard in the series Les légendes de la Formule 1 published by Chronosports.

Biographies and Articles

• Folksong : une histoire de la musique populaire aux États-Unis, Albin Michel, Paris, 1971, 348 pages.
  • Revised and expanded editions subtitled Racines et branches de la musique folk aux États-Unis, Albin Michel, 1977 and 1984
  • Published in English (translated by Paul Barnett) under the title Electric Children: Roots and Branches of Modern Folkrock, Taplinger Pub Co, 1976
• La Nouvelle Chanson bretonne, Albin Michel/Rock & Folk, 1973
  • Revised and expanded edition under the title La Chanson bretonne, 1980
• Leonard Cohen, Albin Michel/Rock & Folk, 1975
• Français, si vous chantiez. À la patrie, la chanson reconnaissante, Albin Michel/Rock & Folk, 1976
• Jacques Higelin, Albin Michel/Rock & Folk, 1985
• Jacques Brel 2, De l'Olympia aux Marquises, le Club des stars : Seghers, 1988
• Jean Clouzet (update of the 1964 edition), Jacques Brel 1, De Bruxelles à Amsterdam, le Club des stars : Seghers, 1988
• Georges Brassens ou la Chanson d'abord, Albin Michel, 1991; reissued by Le Livre de poche, No. 9621, 1991
• Chanteurs à l'affiche : 100 artistes en scène, Albin Michel, 1996
• Preface for Anne Sylvestre, Sur mon chemin de mots, EPM/Le Castor astral, 1998, 2003
• Léo Ferré : l'enfant millénaire, Ed. Hors collection, 2003
• Jacques Brel : vivre debout, Ed. Hors collection, 2003
• Brassens, le regard de Gibraltar (with Pierre Onténiente), Fayard, Éditions du verbe (Chorus), 2006
• With Étienne Bours, Le Sens du son : musiques traditionnelles et expression populaire, Fayard, 2007
• Brassens, homme libre, Le Cherche midi, 2011
• With Jean-Dominique Brière, Leonard Cohen par lui-même, Le Cherche midi, 2014

Translations

• Woody Guthrie, En route pour la gloire : autobiographie, Albin Michel, 1973, 1991, 10/18, 1994, 2012
• John Howlett, James Dean, Albin Michel/Rock & Folk, 1975.
• Woody Guthrie, Cette machine tue les fascistes, Albin Michel, 1978
• Alan Lomax, Le Pays où naquit le blues, Les Fondeurs de briques, 2012
• Leonard Cohen, Le Livre du désir : Book of longing, Le Cherche midi, 2008, 2011