Michel Legrand – Legrand Jazz (Impex 180g Vinyl LP)

Michael Fremer’s 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning – Rated 21/100!

In 1958, a young, successful French composer-arranger with a major infatuation on American jazz, worked his way to New York and convinced the very best players of the time to record an album of largely jazz standards. Michel Legrand would go on to win numerous prizes and accolades (3 Oscars, 5 Grammies, 2 Palmes D’or, etc.), but little of what followed matched the sheer brilliance of Legrand Jazz.

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Ben Webster, Phil Woods and practically every other session man in town signed up for sessions with Legrand to record his idiosyncratic arrangements of standards (“Django”, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, “Night in Tunisia”, etc.). Instead of regurgitating then current bop styles, he reinvented the very nature of orchestral jazz band repertoire to make a unique and forward-looking statement on the genre.

The sound of Impex’s all-analog LP preserves the wide soundstage of late 50’s Columbia recordings while creating intimate spaces between players on the stage for maximum definition. This rare, highly-praised recording has never sounded as good as it does now. Go big with Legrand Jazz.

Legrand Jazz was greeted by an enthusiastic review in the magazine Down Beat. Dom Cerulli awarded it five stars out of a possible five.

The meticulously recreated outer jacket is packaged in a gatefold with an original photo montage inside honoring Michel Legrand’s masterpiece of reinvention and sublime fan-boy enthusiasm.

“The music is luscious and this just may be one of the best-sounding records you’ll ever hear.” – Ken Kessler, www.hifinews.co.uk, Rated 95/100 Sound Quality!

“The result is superior in every way to an original, and the stereo is so good that the oft-stated preference for mono jazz titles fades away. Is this the best sounding jazz orchestral recording of all times? I know of none that is better recorded. From the magic of Ben Webster’s mellifluous sounding horn on ‘Blue and Sentimental’ to the four trumpets blasting out ‘Stompin’ At The Savoy’, played loud and without distortion, this is pure audio musical catnip. Absolutely gorgeous.” – HiFi+, 10/10 Recording, 10/10 Music

“The new Impex vinyl reissue, which used an all-analog chain, offers a wide, full soundstage. Detailed and warm, the LP has an in-the-room presence with lots of air. If texture and timbre appeal to you, this is a must-hear audiophile reissue.” – Jeff Wilson, The Absolute Sound

Musicians:
Michel Legrand, conductor, arranger (All songs)

For “The Jitterbug Waltz,” “Django,” “Wild Man Blues” & “‘Round Midnight” Recorded June 25, 1958 (New York City)
Herbie Mann, flute
Betty Glamann, harp
Barry Calbraith, guitar
Miles Davis, trumpet
John Coltrane, tenor sax
Phil Woods, alto sax
Jerome Richardson, baritone sax, bass clarinet
Eddie Costa, vibes
Bill Evans, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Kenny Dennis, drums

For “Nuages,” “Blue And Sentimental,” “Rosetta” & “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” Recorded June 27, 1958 (New York City)
Ben Webster, tenor sax
Herbie Mann, flute
Frank Rehak, trombone
Billy Byers, trombone
Jimmy Cleveland, trombone
Eddie Bert, trombone
Major Holly, bass, tuba
Don Lamond, drums
Hank Jones, piano
George Duvivier, bass

For “Night In Tunisia,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy” & “In A Mist” Recorded June 30, 1958 (New York City)
Ernie Royal, trumpet
Art Farmer, trumpet
Donald Byrd, trumpet
Joe Wilder, trumpet
Frank Rehak, trombone
Jimmy Cleveland, trombone
Gene Quill, alto sax
Phil Woods, alto sax
Seldon Powell, tenor sax
Teo Macero, baritone sax
James Buffington, French horn
Don Elliot, vibes
Milt Hinton, bass
Osie Johnson, drums
Nat Pierce, piano

Selections:
Side 1:
1. The Jitterbug Waltz (Fats Waller)
2. Nuages (Django Reinhardt)
3. Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie)
4. Blue And Sentimental (Count Basie)
5. Stompin’ At The Savoy (Benny Goodman)
6. Django (John Lewis)
Side 2:
1. Wild Man Blues (Jelly Roll Morton)
2. Rosetta (Earl Hines)
3. ‘Round Midnight (Thelonious Monk)
4. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (Duke Ellington)
5. In A Mist (Bix Beiderbecke)