R-26 (salon)

English: R-Two-Six or French: R-vingt-six) was an artistic salon regularly held at the private residence of socialites Madeleine, Marie-Jacques and Robert Perrier at 26 Rue Norvins in the Montmartre district of Paris.

In 1929, haute couture textile supplier Robert Perrier was residing with his wife, Madeleine, and daughter, Marie-Jacques, in a spacious loft apartment overlooking the Moulin de la Galette in the Montmartre district of Paris.

[1] The address, located at 26 Rue Norvins, was popular among artists, shared with Marcel Aymé and Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, and counting Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Gen Paul and Tristan Tzara among the immediate neighbors.

[7] In his memoir My Violin As My Only Baggage, Grappelli wrote: Then there was Robert and Madeleine Perrier…These naturalized Montmartrois residing on the Rue Norvins entertained many: writers, musicians, painters and poets alike gathered at their home.

[9] Speaking of Reinhardt at R-26, Tranchant wrote in his memoir The Big Wheel: Between Django and me there was but one common denominator: music, that which was found, far from the theater's preoccupations, at the fabled salon of Madeleine and Robert Perrier, an ideal refuge at which to kick up one's heels.

[12] Throughout the next decade, many new artists presented their talents at R-26, from Henri Salvador to Yves Klein to Mary Lou Williams, a pianist for whom Robert Perrier wrote the celebrated melody "I Made You Love Paris".

Pierre Dudan's song "Clopin-clopant", an old staple of the R-26 repertory,[17] found initial fame when orchestrated by Bruno Coquatrix and recorded by several of the salon's members, including Josephine Baker, Stéphane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt and Henri Salvador.

The tribute song "R. vingt-six", written by Reinhardt and Grappelli, has since been covered by numerous musicians paying homage to the R-26 salon, including Tim Kliphuis, Fapy Lafertin, Paulus Schäfer and the Rosenberg Trio.