20th-century French musicians

Raymond Asso (2 June 1901 – 24 October 1968) was a French lyricist.

Jeanne Blanche Armande Loriod (13 July 1928 – 3 August 2001) was a French musician, regarded as the world's leading exponent of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument.Born in Houilles, Yvelines, she was the younger sister of Yvonne Loriod, the pianist and second wife of Olivier Messiaen. She performed all of Messiaen's works for ondes Martenot, most notably the Turangalîla-Symphonie, which she recorded six times. The work was not written for her, however, but for Ginette Martenot, the sister of its inventor Maurice.
Loriod's enormous repertoire included fourteen concertos, some three hundred works with concertante parts for ondes and another 250 chamber works. She also performed in numerous film soundtracks (including – perhaps most accessibly – the 1981 animated feature Heavy Metal), and published a definitive work on the instrument, the three-volume treatise Technique de l’onde electronique type Martenot (1987).
She suffered a stroke and drowned while swimming near Antibes on the French Riviera in August 2001.

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.

Richard Galliano (born 12 December 1950, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French accordionist of Italian heritage.

François-Alexandre Galepides (14 February 1929 in Paris – 25 March 1987 in Arpajon), known by the stage name Moustache, was a French actor and jazz drummer of Greek descent.

In 1948 he joined Lorient, the orchestra of Claude Luter, as a drummer, playing in clubs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. He also regularly accompanied Sidney Bechet in France.
From 1950, he led his own bands (Les sept complices and Les gros minets). With the group Moustache et ses Moustachus, from 1956, he recorded, as a drummer and singer, several rock'n'roll novelty songs (e.g. "Le Croque-Skull-Creux", on a text by Boris Vian).
In 1978, he formed the group Les petits Français (including Marcel Zanini, Michel Attenoux and François Guin), which recorded, among other things, jazz pieces by Georges Brassens.
In parallel, Moustache had a career as a restaurateur (the restaurant Moustache, Avenue Duquesne Paris), head of clubs (in the 1960s, The Bilboquet and in 1976, The Jazz Club at the Hotel Méridien Etoile), comic and actor.
He was a member of the Star Racing Team in motor racing, with other celebrities of the 1980s such actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Guy Marchand. He died in a car accident.

Alix Combelle (15 June 1912 – 26 February 1978) was a French swing saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader. He recorded often with Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France.

Jean-Louis Chautemps (6 August 1931 – 25 May 2022) was a French jazz saxophonist.

Thomas Pablo Croquet (born 21 November 1976), known as Thomas Mars, is a French musician and the lead singer of the French indie pop band Phoenix.

Pierre Léon Marie Fournier (24 June 1906 – 8 January 1986) was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists" on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound.

Roger Guérin (9 January 1926, Saarbrücken – 6 February 2010, Nîmes) was a French jazz trumpeter and singer.
Initially a violinist, Guérin studied trumpet and cornet at the Paris Conservatory and won a first prize there as a teenager.
He began working professionally in 1947, playing with Aimé Barelli, Django Reinhardt, Don Byas, Hubert Fol, James Moody, Benny Golson, Bernard Peiffer, Fats Sadi, Lucky Thompson, Kenny Clarke, Blossom Dearie, Martial Solal, Michel Legrand and André Hodeir.
Guérin played at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival with a youth ensemble, and played in Les Double Six in 1959, later returning to this group. He replaced Clark Terry in Quincy Jones's Big Band in 1960. He worked on the soundtrack to the film Paris Blues in 1961 with Duke Ellington. He worked extensively as a vocalist for Michel Legrand.
Guérin has over 150 album credits to his name. He won the Prix Django Reinhardt in 1959.