JazzduMétro is a media project and streetwear brand founded by Marvin Parks. "Métro Equals People"
11/07/2025
🇨🇵 Mon amie , Irène, est récemment diplômée de l'école de design parisienne Penninghen. Six artistes des RATP Musiciens du Métro (dont Sumana, Thays et Romain Jurmande) et moi-même avons participé à son projet de fin d'études, Accords de Métro. Elle nous a interviewés et a inclus nos citations dans un livre qu'elle a conçu, et a présenté des extraits de notre enregistrement.
Merci et n'oubliez pas « Métro Equals People », mais aussi « Métro Equals Community ».
🇬🇧🇺🇸 My friend Irene recently graduated from The parisian design school Penninghen. I, along with 6 RATP Musiciens du Métro artists(including Sumana, Thays, and Romain Jurmande), were included in her final project Accords de Métro. She interviewed us and included our quotes in a book she designed and featured clips of our recording in her presentation.
Merci and remember "Métro Equals People" but also "Métro Equals Community".
27/06/2025
17/06/2025
Note: This is a 60 minute show.
The man known to most Parisians as the voice that greets them daily at métro stations Gambetta, La Motte-Picquet Grenelle, Lamarck-Caulincourt, Madeleine, and Place d'Italie métro stations as the founder of JazzduMétro Media, will perform a one-hour special solo show on Sunday, June 29 at 6pm at The Frog and Underground, 176 rue Montmartre Paris 75002
Marvin Parks, has been fixture on Paris' English speaking comedy scene since he made his debut in 2017 on The New York Comedy Night, hosted by Sebastian Marx. Since then, he has been featured on The Green Mic Comedy Show, which he sometimes serves as its host and shows like Comedy Lab Paris, Blast-Off Comedy, Mic In Progress, and The Paristocrates.
2018 saw the creation of The Marvin Parks Show which is the first Anglophone comedy show in Paris to feature a line-up of standup comedians with the inclusion of a live jazz band.
An accomplished jazz musician, Marvin Parks is featured on six albums, including his debut album on Schema Records released in 2017 and his current offering 'Mixtape: Marvin Parks Live at Sunside, etc.' He has perfomed in festivals in Europe and some of Paris' most well-known jazz spaces like Sunset-Sunside, Bab-i-lo, and 38Riv. It was at 38Riv where Marvin Parks performed his first show 'Marvin Parks: American Jazz Singer' from 2015 to 2017. It's the show that precipitated his foray into comedy.
On Sunday June 29, the first ever Green Mic Special will be presented by Tarik TK and his Green Mic Comedy Productions and Parks' JazzduMétro Media.
Parks will perform songs from his albums and his latest release "Public Safety Message(The Pickpockets Song)", plus he will perform some stand-up material.
This show will be performed in English and starts PROMPTLY at 6pm ending at 7pm.
The Green Mic Comedy Show will follow. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. See less
An American jazz singer and comedian offers swinging jazz — and hugs — to dogs in the Paris underground
28/05/2025
Public Safety Message
(The Pickpockets Song)
Recorded April 24, 2025 at Madeleine métro station, Paris, France "Public Safety Message(The Pickpockets Song)" Music and Lyrics: Marvin Parks Videographer: ...
11/05/2025
🇬🇧🇺🇲 Recorded April 24, 2025 at Madeleine métro station, Paris, France
"Public Safety Message(The Pickpockets Song)" Music and Lyrics: Marvin Parks
Videographer: Paul Cuiller
Sound: Raphael Grzybowski and Marcelo C. Diaz
🇲🇫 Enregistré le 24 avril 2025 à la station de métro Madeleine, Paris, France
"Public Safety Message(The Pickpockets Song)" Musique et paroles : Marvin Parks
Vidéaste : Paul Cuiller
Son : Raphael Grzybowski et Marcelo C. Diaz
09/05/2025
I have supporters/followers from China. This came from a Chinese graphic design student named Irene who is studying here in Paris.
Those pants... 🤣 x1000
04/05/2025
Jeudi 24 avril 2025. J'ai collaboré avec trois étudiants de l'école d'audiovisuel EICAR pour réaliser le clip de « Public Safety Message (The Pickpockets Song) ». Je l'ai interprété en direct à la station de métro Madeleine.
J'ai également réalisé un autre court message d'intérêt public et une version de la chanson où les paroles servent de support à un financement participatif.
D'ici la fin de la semaine prochaine, les supports JazzduMétro Media et un exemplaire de mon album vinyle double LP seront parvenus à National Public Radio, et un colis similaire sera expédié au Baltimore Sun, qui arrivera à leurs bureaux lundi prochain, voire avant.
01/05/2025
Quand les rêves se réalisent et que les objectifs sont atteints :
Je tiens à remercier Mademoiselle Audrey Aubou, une maman du quartier qui me croise à la station de métro La Motte-Picquet–Grenelle, de m’avoir aidé à organiser ce concert pour la Journée Internationale du Jazz à l’école de son fils, l’École La Canopée dans le 10e arrondissement.
On a chanté, on a dansé, et j’ai initié les enfants au Blues : je leur ai demandé des mots, puis on a composé ensemble un morceau de Blues intitulé « Cours, Tomate ! » [LONGUE HISTOIRE], ainsi qu’un autre Blues sur Bob Dylan et Michael Jackson en train de dîner ensemble.
Les enfants avaient entre 3 et 11 ans. C’est un élève de 11 ans qui a proposé Bob Dylan. Allez comprendre. Genre : « Quoi ? » 🤔🙄😐😏
Et pendant les questions-réponses, on m’a demandé :
« Comment on fait de la musique ? » Tellement mignon.
Un enfant de 4 ans m’a demandé : « Est-ce que tu as déjà chanté dans une cathédrale ? »
On m’a aussi demandé si Rosa Parks faisait partie de ma famille. 😊🙃
Et : « Pourquoi tu ne chantes pas du rock’n’roll ? »
Quand j’ai demandé à la classe de citer des endroits où l’on peut écouter de la musique, un enfant — peut-être 5 ou 6 ans — a répondu : « Un bar. » J’ai dit : « Un bar ?! » J’ai un peu joué avec ça.
Et j’ai beaucoup dansé... moi. 🤭 J’ai aussi enseigné les notions de dynamique et de rythme. On a scandé ensemble : « Rythme. Rythme. Rythme. »
Les musiciens — Hillel Salem, Jeremy Hinnekens, Gabriel Pierre et Tom Peyron — étaient incroyables. Merci mille fois.
C’était un vrai moment de bonheur.
Donc, encore une fois, JazzduMétro ce n’est pas ce qui se passe dans le métro. C’est ce que mes rencontres quotidiennes avec les gens m’inspirent à créer.
Quelle marque. Quelle belle journée pour célébrer la tradition de la musique américaine.
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JazzduMétro™ is the personal brand of Paris-based American jazz singer and comedian Marvin Parks created in 2017. The brand was inspired by his engagement with commuters as a participant of the RATP Musiciens du Métro program.
Métro=People.
JazzduMétro™ is not an actual organization or group and is not RATP Musiciens du Métro nor is it an agency of or in direct affiliation of RATP. RATP Musiciens du Métro was founded in 1997 as a collaboration between Métro Espace Accords and RATP and is currently made up of 300+ amateur and professional musicians who participate on an audition basis. JazzduMétro™ was created by Marvin Parks as a means to promote his artistic interests, which include Jazz music, comedy, media and design. Marvin Parks, himself, has been a participant in RATP Musiciens du Métro since October, 2016.
The JazzduMétro™ logo was designed by Marvin Parks and references specific points of jazz history. "Jazz" was created by black American musicians and introduced to Europe in 1918. "duMétro"(which is obviously French) speaks to Parks' personal story of being a jazz musician in the Paris subway. It is always spelled >>JazzduMétro
It is mistakenly believed often that he "started out" or had been "discovered" singing in the métro parisien. However, Parks' beginnings as a jazz performer began in 1992 in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland after winning a Gold Medal in NAACP ACT-SO Competition with his performance of the Nat 'King' Cole classic "Nature Boy", and notably as well, becoming the only male singer to be named a finalist three times in Baltimore's Billie Holiday Vocal Competition[2001*2nd place; 2002; 2006*3rd place]. He has also performed with The Morgan State University Choir and is an alum of Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead Residency Program at Washington DC’s The Kennedy Center[2002].
Parks was using his presence in the Paris métro as means to engage with the métro’s daily commuters as way to build an audience for his recurring show “Marvin Parks: American Jazz Singer”. The show ran from 2015 to 2017 at Cave du 38 Riv. When Parks saw people from the métro in his audiences, he decided to create a brand that would represent a similar engagement between the jazz and comedy scenes and the public and that would lead them to attend jazz and comedy performances in the city of Paris. The idea is to brand himself was also inspired by New York City's iconic street performer, The Naked Cowboy.
Marvin Parks began singing in the métro parisien following the loss of his bank card at an ATM shortly after his arrival to Paris in 2013 from New York City-where he had been living for six years. He continues to sing in the métro to introduce himself and to maintain a community presence, while simultaneously performing in jazz clubs(which he has often sold out), on the English-speaking comedy scene(he currently co-hosts a standup comedy open mic), has done voice-over work for Schwartz Spice Company, Badoit, and RATP, and has even appeared on French television('L'emission d'Antoine'; Canal+; 19 February 2016). Parks also has an IMDb credit under his belt, having performed a voice over role in the 2017 independent short ‘At Vincent’s’(2017) directed by Anthony Salvatori. He is often asked to perform for weddings and other events by commuters who pass him at stations La Motte-Picquet Grenelle and Madeleine and has begun an engagement with local businesses who are following him on social media.
**Watch 'Marvin Parks: American Jazz Singer JazzduMétro'(1:39) and 'JazzduMétro Pickpockets PSA' on YouTube(:16).
