From These Green Heights

After his phenomenal success with Django Reinhardt in the pre-war Quintet of the Hot Club of France, violinist Stephane 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…

The strings vibrate gently. Accurate tone, unconditionally clear. And quietly. The longest ngers of jazz seem to dance weightlessly along the wooden bridge; yearning, ligree and elegant. No one else sounds like Ron Carter. His double bass often produces a crisp groove like an electric bass, yet it is always clearly de nable as the sound of a classical music instrument. Then the sound under the scorpion-like hands irresistibly swells. Payton Crossley gently caresses the cymbal, and Jimmy Green, the „new member“ on the tenor saxophone as well as pianist Renee Rosnes push the chorus onto the nely crocheted rhythm cover. “With us, nobody knows exactly what happens when,” Carter praised the Foursight Quartet‘s unique selling point. “This is precisely why every concert is a real challenge. We almost always play 35 to 40 minutes without a stop at the beginning. No breaks, just slight changes that show the beginning of a new song.

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.