Grappelli Best

Stephane Grappelli may have given up standing during concerts late in life as a concession to his health, but at the age of 82, he still swung like mad with the best of them, as heard in this 1990 concert recorded in Tokyo. Accompanied by guitarist Marc Fosset and bassist Jean-Philippe Viret, with the addition of accordion player Marcel Azzola on a few selections, the violinist devotes a good part of his show to the expected standards from the 1930s and 1940s. Highlights include a swinging "Just One of Those Things," a delightful "Honeysuckle Rose" and a loping "Ol' Man River," the latter which adds ripples supplied by Azzola's accordion, until the dam breaks and the second half of the song comes on like a spring flood…

Stephane Grappelli - Live 1992 (2002) {Dreyfus Jazz FDM 37006-2}
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© 1992, 2002 Birdology / Dreyfus Jazz | FDM 37006-2
Jazz / Continental Jazz / Violin

Stéphane Grappelli was still golden in his later years, and the proof is contained on this delightful concert performance, documented in the spring of 1992 at La Salle De Spectacles in Colombes, France. Teamed with twin electric or acoustic guitarists Marc Fosset and Philip Catherine alongside the virtuoso bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Grappelli has a group that can easily inspire him to play his best.

These are the main ingredients of a perfectly-made CD for your listening pleasure: mix violins, piano, bass and drums together, combine two terrific violinists, season with the best melodies in the 20s, 30s and 40s from Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart. Add the musical talents of Nelson Riddle, Max Harris, Martin Taylor, Eddie Tripp, Alan Clare and the rest of the studio musicians. Now all you have to do is to sit back, relax and savor these stunning melodies coming from your CD player. Listen to it in full-volume and fill your music room with the sheer beauty of these classics. A musical treat!

Oscar Peterson + Stephane Grappelli - Skol (1979) {OJC Remasters Complete Series rel 2013, item 31of33}
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© 1979, 2013 Pablo / Concord | 40th Anniversary of Pablo Records | 0888072346178
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz

Concord Music Group will release five new titles in its Original Jazz Classics Remasters series on September 17, 2013. Enhanced by 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, bonus tracks (some previously unreleased), and new liner notes to provide historical context to the originally released material, the series celebrates the 40th anniversary of Pablo Records, the prolific Beverly Hills-based label that showcased some of the most influential jazz artists and recordings of the 1970s and '80s.

Stephane Grappelli - Le Toit de Paris (1969) {RCA Victor 74321887172 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 207 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 84 Mb
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© 1969, 2002 RCA Victor / Bluebird | 74321887172
Jazz / Continental Jazz / Violin

This is a welcome re-release for Grappelli fans, featuring the violinist in top form with a European rhythm section playing a mixture of standards,lesser known tunes and originals. The session took place in 1969 whilst Grappelli was semi - resident at The Paris Hilton ( from 1967 - 1972 ). At that time he was employed to play in the restaurant for the benefit of the diners.

It would seem a strange thing compiling the work of Charlie Haden's decade-long Quartet West Group onto a single disc. The reason isn't that they recorded so much material, but more because the material was themed record by record. Yet that is exactly why a compilation like this does work, because this group played music utilizing different aspects of the same theme: to evoke the spirits, ghosts and sprites of a Los Angeles that has moved off the screen of real life into the stuff of myth. That Haden and his group, which included drummer Larance Marable (who replaced Billy Higgins after the group's first, self-titled album in 1986), saxophonist Ernie Watts, and pianist Alan Broadbent could make it all sound so present and real, gives the impression that there was truth in the images. This is not only from a West Coast point of view (though there it is imbued more with the striking visual reveries to accompany the tunes) but also in the popular culture mythos in the collective American mind.

After his phenomenal success with Django Reinhardt in the pre-war Quintet of the Hot Club of France, violinist Stéphane Grappelli's recording career was a bit erratic until interest revived in his music in the late 1960s. So these 1962 studio sessions, initially released by Atlantic as Feeling + Finesse = Jazz are a rare opportunity to hear the master during this period in his career. Accompanied by guitarist Pierre Cavalli, rhythm guitarist Leo Petit, bassist Guy Pedersen and drummer Daniel Humair, Grappelli draws primarily from his repertoire of standards and originals previously recorded with Reinhardt.