This is a great CD. One major weakness in amazon,s jazz
listings is failure to give personnel on other CDs. I
got another Le Grand CD that did not list players and got
an easy listening CD that had nothing to do with jazz.

Beware

My vinyl copy of Legrand Jazz bought in 1961 is a much worn and treasured audio treat. The availability of the same on CD was a great relief. In the 50 years I have been seriously listening to music I keep returning to this brilliant and unique collection. There is just nothing else like it for comparison. The tune selection covers the spectrum of jazz styles from Fats Waller to John Lewis. The muscians were all obviously selected for their individualistic solo styles and yet they blend into wonderful ensembles thanks to Legrand's quirky and surprising arrangments. The arrangements are complex but direct and the musicians' enthusiasm for the material is obvious...nobody was sleep-walking at these sessions. Some of the combinations are genius. Nuages has a trombone choir with one of Ben Webster's breathy solos. Django has Miles in front of vibes and a harp. This is serious music that shows the possibilities of jazz in the right hands.

This is my favorite jazz record from the 1950s. Legrand's orchestrations have a subtle mixture of romantic understantement and Stravinskian modernity that is absolutely fantastic; they truly add some incredible complexity to what the soloists are doing without in any way hampering them, in fact, they inspire them to new heights of expressive purity.

Legrand is famous for his 'romantic' jazz-influenced soundtracks for "The Thomas Crown Affair," "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and other flicks, which can often get too schmaltzy and nauseating. On Legrand Jazz, however, he tried to make his ultimate artistic statement without any commercial compromise, and man did it work! Everything is just right and there isn't a touch of mawkishness anywhere---just sophisticated, transcendent music. All the tracks are super-sublime and fancy-fine, and the more you listen to them the better they get.

Each of these three 1958 dates featured a different band: a 10 piece, an 11, and 15. The players? Ben Webster, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Phil Woods, Hank Jones, Jimmy Cleveland, Art Farmer, Ernie Royal, Donald Byrd, Herbie Mann, Eddie Costa, Paul Chambers, just to name a few of the more famous honchos. There are plenty of solos but they weave themselves in and out of the arrangements in a way that synergizes the music and lifts it to a higher plane. Especially choice among a record full of choice solos are Ben Webster's super-creamy lines on "Blue and Sentimental," and, of course, Miles Davis' immortal poetry on "Round Midnight," "Django" and "Jitterbug Waltz."

The "editorial review" shown above is inexplicably mismatched and half of it has nothing to do with "LeGrand Jazz"! The first "listener review" is the correct one. This classic session is from circa1958--not the generation afterward. Very swinging; inspired arranging. The finest jazz musicians on the scene (in a significant year for memorable jazz records)--you'll hear them on this session! Michel from early in his career. Short tracks are the only drawback; musically, it wails. This music was first released on vinyl LP, long before the digital era. That may explain the typically brief length of the pieces.

The "editorial review" shown above is inexplicably mismatched and more than half of it has nothing to do with "LeGrand Jazz"! The first "listener review" is the correct one. This classic session is from circa1958--not the generation afterward. Very swinging; inspired arranging. The finest jazz musicians on the scene (in a very significant year for jazz records)--you'll hear them on this session! Michel from early in his career.