Stan Getz - Live in Paris 1959 (Frémeaux)

[king ubu]

Much too cumbersome to try and find any general Stan Getz thread (I think there's none or it was closed - there's a multi-page-thread on "where's the Stan Getz thread", so there's that) ... either way, this came out as part of the on-going "Live in Paris" collection by Frémeaux.

Great series with releases by, among others, Duke Ellington, Les McCann, JATP, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Thelonious Monk etc. - there's also a website that includes a few additional, DL only items (Lou Bennett Trio w/Klook and guest Barney Wilen - how's that for cool?!):
http://www.live-in-paris.fr

Latest in the series is a generously filled disc by Stan Getz, recorded mostly (#1-9) on January 3, 1959 at the Olympia Theater in Paris, the rest (#10-12) originating from a radio studio session ("probably first week of January 1959"). The band may be the best Getz had during his extended European sojourn of that time (he got married in Sweden, among other things, releases from the period include "Stan Getz at Large", "In Sweden 1958-60", "Live in Zurich", "Stan Getz at Nalen", "Stan Getz at Nalen - Featuring Jan Johansson", and "Polish Radio Jazz Archives 01 - Stan Getz & Andrzej Trzawskowski Trio").

Stan Getz (ts), Jimmy Gourley (g), Martial Solal (p), Pierre Michelot (b), Kenny Clarke (d)

Solal gets several trio features, Gourley is providing some fine solos, so does the leader ... Klook, Michelot and Solal keep things very, very lively.

Sound is pretty okay, some phasing issues  on the cymbals here and there, but generally it's very listenable. And on top of all that, the French stage presenter announces "Miss Stan Getz" on tenor sax at the end of the opening "Cherokee" 

Repertoire is fairly standard, with Bop classics (Cherokee, 'Round Midnight, The Squirrel, Yardbird Suite) standards (All the Things You Are, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, Tenderly, Too Marvelous for Words, Over the Rainbow) and a few other classics (Lover Man, Topsy).

[jlhoots]

The MJQ issue is great!!

[king ubu]

Haven't listened to it yet ... but enjoy the Ray Charles and the Les McCann bigtime!

The Monk and Ellington seem to overlap (with the "Monk in France" and "Alhambra 1958" releases respectively, but info provided is slim ... on purpose surely, which is lousy for a generally serious label like Frémeaux ... but we know the record biz by now, don't we? They have other measurements of decency and thoroughness than honest people).

 

The Getz is quite good for sure though, a most welcome addition to the series!

Gourley btw is not present on the three studio tracks at the end (which make up around 21 of the 78/79 minutes). But I guess for me the best is how heavily featured Solal is throughout. He has several trio tracks in the concerts and his soloing and accompaniment are both highlights of the disc.

Getz on the other hand, around that time, is somehow not a real favourite. I dearly love his Roost sessions and other early leader stuff, I enjoy the band with Brookmeyer (and later for just a couple of cuts Fruscella), I love the West Coast sessions on Verve ... but late 50s/earliest 60s are a bit less favoured in my house and I guess that's the case here (but I took some of the mentioned 1958-60 recordings off the shelves to give them another spin soon - "at Large" on Storyville and the Dragon set). Later in the sixties, Getz has done stuff I love again, starting with some of the solos on the bossa albums, then "Focus" and "Mickey One" (not as ingenuously charted as "Focus", but listen to Getz ripping it up!), the band with Burton, the album with Corea, then the late 60s date with Stanley Cowell ... he was really exploring stuff then! Same later with Joanne Brackeen (the two Resonance discs are terrific!)

[brownie]

One highly recommended volume from that Fremeaux 'Live in Paris' series is the Kenny Clarke 'Jazz from Carnegie' which features Phineas Newborn in one of his best live appearances.  A regret: the Zoot Sims portion from that 'Carnegie' concert could not be traced for thé reissue.

[king ubu]

Interesting, thanks! Wasn't yet aware of that one!

But there's a companion release on Dutch Jazz Archive, incl. tracks with Sims:

https://www.jazzarchief.nl/en/product/lee-konitz-soot-sims/

I think some of this material was out on a vinyl bootleg I once was allowed to borrow from a friend's late dad ... very good to have some of it available in decent reissues!

 

--

The Horace Silver is nice, too, btw!

And so is the Basie (which duplicates most or all of the 2-disc-set that used to be on Trema/Laserlight)

And the Q, and the Nat Cole/Q,

[Brad]

I wasn't aware of this series, so many thanks to all.