St Germain

Coming 15 years after he dazzled the world with his jazz-house album Tourist, Ludovic Navarre returned to his St. Germain moniker with this self-titled 2015 effort, the self-titling being a signal that the project was reborn. It is, at least partially, as rare groove jazz has been replaced by music from Mali, West Africa, along with blues and funky jazz guitars from around the world. In the case of the highlight "Real Blues," it is a Lightnin' Hopkins sample that supplies the blues, while Navarre does his usual - and intoxicating - light house shuffle underneath. Many of the cuts here sound like an Amadou & Mariam release that's constantly segueing into a Naked Music 12" from the house label's heyday, save the dissonant "Hanky-Panky," which suggests that St. Germain, like the equally slow-moving Kraftwerk, has grown fond of layers upon layers…

When first released back in 2000, Tourist was a global success, selling over four million albums worldwide. It was Ludovic Navarre’s (aka. St Germain) third studio album which really transformed his career into superstardom; combining elements of house and nu jazz to produce an impeccable album to chill out to. The album continues to be hugely popular to this day, with the critically acclaimed Jorja Smith doing a cover of Rose rouge earlier this year.

St Germain is the stage name of Ludovic Navarre, a French musician. His style has been described as being a combination of house and nu jazz music.

Bobby Jaspar is in top form in this pair of sessions previously released in the 1980s on an Emarcy CD entitled Memory of Dick prior to its reappearance in 2001 as a part of Verve's ambitious Jazz in Paris series. The tenor saxophonist is joined by pianist René Urtreger, guitarist Sacha Distel, bassist Benoit Quersin, and drummer Jean-Louis Viale for this bop-oriented disc, which includes a sauntering take of Milt Jackson's "Bag's Groove," a revival of "Milestones" (an early gem by Miles Davis from his days with Charlie Parker), and a delightful romp through "You Stepped Out of a Dream." The Belgian leader puts his own stamp on a frenetic but brief arrangement of "A Night in Tunisia," but the most memorable track is "I'll Remember April," featuring his haunting flute in a captivating piano-less setting, which also has fine solos by Distel and Quersin. Jaspar's premature death in 1963 robbed the jazz world of a promising talent; this disc is among his best efforts as a leader.

Since the advent of acid jazz in the mid-'80s, the many electronic-jazz hybrids to come down the pipe have steadily grown more mature, closer to a balanced fusion that borrows the spontaneity and emphasis on group interaction of classic jazz while still emphasizing the groove and elastic sound of electronic music. For his second album, French producer Ludovic Navarre expanded the possibilities of his template for jazzy house by recruiting a sextet of musicians to solo over his earthy productions.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Café is a series of nu-jazz compilations distributed by Wagram Music. Its name evokes the cafés of the area in Paris associated with the existentialism movement.

Barney Wilen - More From Barney At The Club Saint-Germain (1959) {2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 323 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 165 Mb
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© 1959, 2014 RCA / Sony Music Japan | SICP 3979
Jazz / Bop / Post Bop / Saxophone

Reissue with latest 2014 DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A great little set – never issued before, but recorded at the same time as Wilen's classic 1959 album Barney, caught live at the Club St-Germain with a group that includes Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Paul Rovere on bass, and Daniel Humair on drums. Like the Barney album, these tracks are fantastic – some of the most open-ended playing that Wilen ever did in the 50s, and proof that his tenor work was some of the best jazz coming out of Europe in the postwar years! All tracks are long – and titles include "Reets & I", "The Best Things In Life Are Free", "All The Things You Are", "Round Midnight", and "Time On My Hands".

During the 1950s in Paris the traditional jazz cellars could call on American as well as French musicians and Classic Jazz at St Germain des Pres is a lively record of the music heard there. Clarinettist Albert Nicholas had grown up with Bechet in New Orleans and offered a more elegant, less forceful individualism within that city's reed-playing tradition. His eight tracks from 1954 comprise four in the New Orleans sextet format, two delightful ones with a trio and two welcome borrowings from the world of Ellingtonia. Trombonist Archey was a less sophisticated musician but had his own recognisable style and his six tracks with a band including Michel Attenoux (on Bechet-like soprano) and pianist Georges Arvanitas (at the beginning of his career) are full of enthusiastic vigour…