Aux Trois Mailletz, Latin Quarter cabaret since 1948

Aux Trois Mailletz, a cellar club on rue Galande in the Latin Quarter, became a cabaret in 1948, when the actress Denise Calvet took it over. It occupies 13th-century vaulted cellars, where a ‘caveau-musée des Trois Maillez’ was already open in the early 1930s.

From the early 1950s, traditional jazz moved in: Billie Holiday, Bill Coleman, Mezz Mezzrow, Stéphane Grappelli and Stuff Smith all played here, and Memphis Slim led the evenings in the cellar in the early 1960s. Chanson had its place too, with Léo Ferré, Catherine Sauvage, Jean-Roger Caussimon and Nina Simone.

In 1978 Jacques Boni took over and opened the cellar to Franco-American variety without lowering the musical standard. Piano bar, then restaurant, then cabaret, it has launched young artists; Dany Brillant took his first steps as a singer here. In 2020 Invader installed a mosaic of Nina Simone, ‘It’s a new world, it’s a new life…’.

At 56 rue Galande, a short walk from Saint-Michel, the house still welcomes its audience beneath the medieval vaults: dinner served at the table, then revues of singers and dancers from around the world. Bechet, Gillespie and Armstrong played here, and the cellars keep their memory.