Stephane Grappelli is one of my favorite musicians in any style from any era, so this live recording of him performing with a top-notch jazz band was bound to be a winner. This record was among a number that producer Norman Granz made for Pablo at a jazz festival in Copenhagen in July 1979. One of the dates recorded and later released by Pablo was of Grappelli, guitarist Joe Pass and Danish bassist Neils-Henning Ørstad Pedersen; this one added Canadian pianist Peterson (who led a famous trio with Pass and Pedersen) and highly respected drummer Mickey Roker for a tour through some standards and one Peterson original.
They warm up with one of Grappelli’s signature tunes from his years with Django Reinhardt and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Reinhardt’s “Nuages.” Pass opens the piece with a nice solo section, but otherwise the accompaniment is light, allowing Grappelli to really shine. Peterson shows the influence of Art Tatum in his lyrical solo before turning it back over to Grappelli, who wraps it up with a cadenza-like final solo.
Grappelli and Peterson, who had met in a previous session in Paris in 1973, really “trade statements” as Granz said in the original liner notes, on Peterson’s “Skol Blues,” which ended the original LP release. Pedersen and Roker set up a groove that won’t quit on this one, which opens with a hot solo by the bassist and leads into a driving, swinging statement by Peterson, who struts his superb technique. Grappelli, who was pushing 70 at this point, ups the ante, as does Pass on his turn.
This record was my introduction to bass-playing prodigy Pedersen, who died tragically early at the age of 58 in 2005. He really pushes himself and his bandmates in his playing, both as the leader of the rhythm section and in his remarkable solos.
The program also includes the lovely Gershwin standard ballad “Someone to Watch Over Me” and a swinging blues “That’s All,” as well as the jaunty “Makin’ Whoopee” which was a standard when Grappelli and Reinhardt were playing the Paris bistros and dancehalls, and the lyrical but swinging “How About You?”
And this CD reissue adds three bonus tracks that live up to their billing. First is another of the violinist’s signature tunes, “Honeysuckle Rose,” followed by Ellington’s stately “Solitude.” Things really get kicked into high gear on the Gershwin classic “I Got Rhythm.” Peterson sets the rhythm with a stride-like intro, and then Grappelli takes the first chorus, his statement of the melody lightly floating over the driving rhythm of the piano, bass and drums. His first improvised chorus pushes Peterson to the heights when it’s his turn, and Pass takes it in all kinds of directions in his guitar solo section. (I wouldn’t have caught his fleeting reference to “Salt Peanuts” if Tad Hershorn hadn’t pointed it out in his updated liner notes.) And Pedersen’s bass solo shows him to have fingers as fleet and nimble as Pass’. It’s a stirring conclusion to an exciting album.
(Concord, 2013; original release Pablo, 1982)
