Sacha Distel Best of

John Lewis & Sacha Distel - Afternoon In Paris (1956) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27164}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 228 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1956, 2012 Warner Japan / Atlantic / Rhino | WPCR-27164
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Piano / Guitar

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. We would gladly trade every other John Lewis album for a copy of this album – because the album's a treasure all the way through – and a really unique set, with a really unique feel! The session features Lewis' piano in the company of a hip French group that includes Sasha Distel on guitar, Pierre Michelot on bass, and the great Barney Wilen on tenor – all great players who bring out a whole new side of Lewis' genius! Wilen's solos alone are worth the price of the album – deeply soulful, with a resonant tone that's some of his greatest on record – and an easy illustration of why he was one of the few European players of the postwar years to get big notice on this side of the Atlantic.

Leave it to the French to show their cosmopolitan side with this wide-ranging five CDs that often resembles a whirlwind package tour of Paris. All in all, it's a spectacularly fun, occasionally chuckle-inducing collection.

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.