Improvisations Stéphane Grappelli

This is the first of Stephane Grappelli's sessions as a leader during the 1950s to be issued on CD, which is rather surprising given the availability of his work from the last two decades of his life. Grappelli is heard exclusively in a quartet with pianist Maurice Vander, bassist Pierre Michelot, and drummer Baptiste Reilles, except for two takes of "Someone to Watch Over Me," when Vander makes an ill-advised switch to harpsichord. The violinist is not nearly as aggressive as he would become in the decades to follow, seemingly concentrating more on achieving a beautiful tone than dazzling listeners with his considerable abilities as an improviser. Most of the material recorded during these three dates remained in his repertoire for the remainder of his career; with up-tempo selections like "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "'S Wonderful" getting the nod over most of the ballad interpretations…

Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his 80s.

This is the first of Stephane Grappelli's sessions as a leader during the 1950s to be issued on CD, which is rather surprising given the availability of his work from the last two decades of his life. Grappelli is heard exclusively in a quartet with pianist Maurice Vander, bassist Pierre Michelot, and drummer Baptiste Reilles, except for two takes of "Someone to Watch Over Me," when Vander makes an ill-advised switch to harpsichord….

"The man who was Django’s prestigious partner in the first, immortal Quintette du H.C.F. has made an appearance (on wax) for Barclay with a series of recordings in which you can rediscover his pretty sound and abundant, easy ideas; in a word, his style which, though with less of a bite than before, has lost none of its grace." Those were the first lines of the review that a certain Michel Delaroche (in fact Boris Vian) wrote for the November 1955 issue of Jazz Hot; the subject was this album, the first that Stéphane Grappelli ("Grappelly" at the time) had made on violin under his own name since he'd left England.
The violinist had celebrated his definitive return to France at the Club Saint-Germain on the night of April 25th 1954; he would appear there on and off for the next seven years…

Celebrated pianist Makoto Ozone and vibraphone maestro Gary Burton have collaborated on a number of occasions both live and in the studio. This concert from the Montreux Festival in 2002 is based around their album "Virtuosi", which combines classical music duets with jazz improvisations to stunning effect.