Michel Warlop

Michel Maurice Armand Warlop (23 January 1911 – 6 March 1947) was a French classical and jazz violinist professionally active from 1929 to 1947.

Michel Warlop (Michou to his friends) was a child prodigy and won every award and prize that existed for the violin in France before attaining the age of 18. Warlop started his musical studies with his mother, a music professor, and entered the Conservatory of Douai, the second oldest in France, at age six. There he was a student of Victor Gallois who had won the Prize of Rome for composition in 1905. At age seven, he played his first public concert accompanied by his mother on piano in Douai. At age eight in 1919 he played his first concert in Paris, to benefit victims of WW1. He transferred to the Conservatory of Lille around the age of 10 and started his studies at the Conservatory of Paris (university level) at age 13.

After making a name for himself in classical music he changed over to jazz around 1929 and started recording in 1930. He played with all the greats in France in the 1930s and 1940s; Django Reinhardt, Alix Combelle, Louis Vola, Stéphane Grappelli, Roger Grasset, Noël Chiboust, Pierre Allier, André Ekyan, Guy Pacquinet, Max Geldray, Alex Renard, the Ferret brothers, Phillipe Brun, Georges Jacquement-Brown, Louis Richardet, Grégor and others. He also played with a number of visiting American musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Garland Wilson, Eddie South, Charlie Lewis, Josephine Baker plus many others that appeared or lived in Paris during the interwar years. He led his own band for most of this time and was very much in demand as an accompanist for many of the most popular singers of the day such as Maurice Chevalier, Danielle Darrieux, Johnny Hess, Josette Daydé, Pierre Dac, Georges Guétary, Tino Rossi, André Claveau, Elyane Célis, Léo Marjane, Lucienne Boyer, Mireille, Charles Trénet, Édith Piaf, Lucienne Delyle, Jean Tranchant, Pierre Mingand and Irène de Trébert. During this time he made a number of recordings for Disques Swing (Swing Records), the world's first label dedicated only to jazz which was started in Paris by Charles Delaunay in 1937. He also recorded for a number of other companies, especially when playing for Raymond Legrand (Columbia) and while backing up popular vocalists. In addition, his orchestra recorded eight tunes for the chain of dancing schools called SEDOEM. These discs were never sold to the public but a few collectors have managed to find one or more of them.

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