Serge Bichon

You're Under Arrest, Gainsbourg's final album, was another collaboration with American Billy Rush in New Jersey.

Following on the enormous success of Tzadik's Burt Bacharach collection, this second installment of Tzadik's Great Jewish Music series focuses on the songs of French composer Serge Gainsbourg. A superstar since the 1950's in his native France, Gainsbourg is barely known here in the United States - a condition this special tribute to his genius hopes in some way to remedy. In addition to Tzadik regulars, Tzadik is proud to be able to include tracks by Cibo Matto, Elysian Fields, Kramer, Franz Treichler (of the Young Gods), Blonde Redhead and many, many others. 21 tracks by 21 artists - over 74 minutes of music, all on one dynamic disc. This is an unusual project that you will play again and again, discovering new delights with each listen.

This mammoth five-disc set is a wide-ranging overview of Serge Gainsbourg's career as a songwriter, composer, and arranger. It also showcases his ability to make actual singers out of actresses and models – there are a few duets here with Brigitte Bardot, and others. Those who are encountering Gainsbourg for the first time will no doubt be intimidated by this set, it is a lovely package that moves basically in chronological order; but the three-disc De Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre set is more focused and a lot more affordable.

Serge Reggiani is a French chanson legend who first rose to fame as a singer in the 1960s after already having established himself as an actor in the cinema decades earlier. Born on May 2, 1922, in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he moved to France with his family at age eight. In the 1940s he established himself as an actor in the French cinema, most notably appearing in the Marcel Carné film Les Portes de la Nuit (1946) in addition to many others. He remained active in the cinema from the 1940s until the end of the century, acting in over 80 films total.