Ray Ventura

Biography

Raymond Ventura was a French jazz pianist and bandleader who helped popularize jazz in France in the 1930s. In 1925, he joined the Collegiate Five, which later became a dance orchestra, and led the band to popularity in both South America and France. His band's 1936 song "Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise" reflected France's perceived obliviousness to the approaching war. Ventura's nephew was singer Sacha Distel.