Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz 2X Vinyl LP IMP6030-45

Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz 2X Vinyl LP IMP6030-45

Legrand Jazz is the result of Legrand traveling to America and using his Columbia Records contract to enlist label mates (and soon to be legends) Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, Herbie Mann, Phil Woods, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Sheldon Powell, Teo Macero, Milt Hinton, Jimmy Cleveland, and others to record his fantastical reimagining of 11 jazz standards. Not merely content to lay down another Parisian hard-bop play-along, the 27 year old worked against type and expectations at every turn, creating a moody, idiosyncratic landscape for unusual call-and-response chase solos, washes of harp and vibes, and sultry horn canvases. Davis, Coltrane and the others manage to fall in with the diverse, mellow flow of Legrand's arrangements while keeping their unique musical voices.

Impex's pristine release was mastered by Chris Bellman on Bernie Grundman's All-Tube cutting lathe from a 2-track, all-analog mix down of the original studio work prints, made especially for Impex Records by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in New York. The results are revelatory. The large recording space is captured in every detail, while Davis' full force dynamic variations come through with incredible veracity. The gentle ebb-and-flow of Legrand's parts highlight microtonal fluctuations on every track. You are along for a magic carpet ride of large jazz ensemble recording when you drop the needle into these grooves.

Packaged in meticulously recreated outer jacket in a gatefold with an original photo montage inside honouring Michel Legrand's masterpiece of reinvention and focused fan-boy enthusiasm. This release will be individually numbered up to 3,000!

The sound of Impex's all-analog LP preserves the wide soundstage of late 1950's Columbia recordings while creating intimate spaces between players on the stage for maximum definition. On 33rpm, this rare, highly-praised recording had never sounded so good.

Tracklist