John Lewis & Sacha Distel - Afternoon in Paris (1958 Japanese Atlantic ATL-5013 Original LP, Mono)

Vinyl: NM
Sleeve: EX
Obi: None

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John Lewis & Sacha Distel - Afternoon in Paris | Vinyl LP - 1958 Japanese Atlantic ATL-5013 Original Mono Pressing (Victor Record Company Ltd.)

• Recorded in Paris on 4 and 7 December 1956; a co-led session by MJQ pianist John Lewis and French guitarist Sacha Distel
• The B-side is effectively the Modern Jazz Quartet minus Milt Jackson: Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, Kenny Clarke (the MJQ's original drummer, since replaced by Kay) on drums, extended into a quintet with Distel on guitar and Wilen on tenor
  
• 1958 original Japanese Atlantic pressing manufactured by Victor Record Company Ltd., mono, in flip-back cover

John Lewis was in Paris with the Modern Jazz Quartet in November and December 1956. While there, he recorded two sessions for the French label Disques Versailles with a small group built around Sacha Distel on guitar and Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone. Distel, then 22, was already a respected figure in French jazz circles. Wilen, born in Nice to a French mother and an American father, was 19. Within a year he would be playing on Miles Davis's Ascenseur pour l'échafaud soundtrack, alongside Pierre Michelot and Kenny Clarke — two of the same musicians who appear here. The album was recorded across two dates in December 1956, with different rhythm sections for each. Side A uses Connie Kay on drums and Michelot on bass; Side B uses Kenny Clarke and Percy Heath. Clarke, Kay, Heath and Lewis were, between them, the core of the Modern Jazz Quartet — Clarke having been the MJQ's original drummer before Connie Kay succeeded him in 1955.

The six tracks divide between jazz standards and one Lewis original. "I Cover the Waterfront," "Dear Old Stockholm," "All the Things You Are" and "Willow Weep for Me" are the standards; "Bags' Groove" is Milt Jackson's blues — the absent MJQ vibraphonist's most famous composition, played here without him. The title track, "Afternoon in Paris," is by Lewis. Wilen's solos throughout are relaxed and large-toned for a player his age; the American critical reception at the time noted the surprise of his playing on "Bags' Groove" in particular. The album was licensed by Atlantic for the American market in 1957, with cover design by Marvin Israel and liner notes by Ralph J. Gleason. This Japanese pressing (ATL-5013) was manufactured by Victor Record Company Ltd. in 1958, the year following the US release.