French jazz double-bassists

Louis_Vola

Louis Vola (La Seyne-sur-Mer, France, 6 July 1902 – 15 August 1990, Paris) was a French double-bassist known for his work with the Quintette du Hot Club de France. He is the godfather of guitarist Francois Vola.
As well as the Hot Club de France, Vola played bass for Ray Ventura, Duke Ellington and singer Charles Trenet. He was also an accomplished accordionist.
In 1934 he was a founding member of the Quintette du Hot Club de France. In a 1976 interview, Vola recalled that he discovered Joseph and Django Reinhardt playing guitars together on a beach at Toulon. Vola invited them to play with his band. Violinist Stéphane Grappelli and guitarist Roger Chaput were members of Vola's jazz ensemble. Vola later left the Quintette but eventually rejoined.

Henri_Texier

Henri Texier (born 27 January 1945) is a French jazz double bassist.At the age of sixteen, fascinated by the double bass, Texier became a self-taught bassist, crediting Wilbur Ware most as an influence. He formed his first group with Georges Locatelli, Alain Tabar-Nouval, Jean-Max Albert, and Klaus Hagel, inspired by the music of Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman. In spite of an almost absence of recorded documents this group represents one of the first expressions of free jazz in France (1965).From 1968 to 1972, Texier was a member of Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine, along with George Gruntz, Gordon Beck and Daniel Humair. Throughout the 1970s, Texier remained active in Europe on the jazz scene, performing with musicians such as John Abercrombie and Didier Lockwood, among others. In 1982, he formed a quartet with Louis Sclavis. With the trio Romano-Sclavis-Texier, he collaborated in three albums having for theme Africa as seen by the photographer Guy Le Querrec: Carnet de routes, Suite africaine and African Flashback.