Jim Murple Memorial

Founded in Montreuil in 1996 around Romain Dallaine and Anne‑Marie « Nanou » Benoît, Jim Murple Memorial has since its beginnings developed an approach to ska, rocksteady and Jamaican rhythm and blues nourished by North American and Caribbean music from the 1940s and 1950s. The formation, conceived as a live-scene collective with a rhythm section, brass, keyboards and several voices depending on the period, begins by revisiting standards before gradually establishing its own repertoire, in English as well as in French. Jim Murple Memorial's discography spans over more than two decades with Jamaican Rhythm’n’Blues in 1998, The Story of Jim Murple Memorial in 1999, Play the Roots in 2001, Let’s Spend Some Love in 2003, Five’n’Yellow in 2005, Put Things Right! in 2007, In Search of a Lost Sound in 2010, Take Your Flight, Jim! in 2013, Stella Nova in 2017, 4 in 2020 and 14 Solutions in 2023. Jim Murple Memorial has also marked the French ska and reggae scene through regular live activity, including performances at Printemps de Bourges, Vieilles Charrues, Dour, Solidays or Élysée-Montmartre. Over time, the group has undergone several lineup changes, including the vocal handover between Nanou and the next generation of the Dallaine family, without changing the central balance of Jim Murple Memorial between vintage groove, vocal harmonies, warm brass and writing anchored in the classical forms of shuffle, blues and soul.