Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz / hybrid SACD

2017 reissue

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

Features: • Super Audio CD • SACD Stereo SACD Layer • This Hybrid SACD contains an HDCD encoded Stereo CD layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players • Analog mix-down transfer of the original 1958 work tapes by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios, New York, NY • Mastered By Chris Bellman & Bob Donnelly at Bernie Grundman Mastering • DSD authoring by Gus Skinas at Super Audio Center • Deluxe 24-page full-color textured/matte-finish booklet

Remastered by Chris Bellman & Bob Donnelly at Bernie Grundman Mastering from the Original Analog Stereo Masters for the First Time.

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

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

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

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