★Sam Records
Clark Terry And His Orchestra - Featuring Paul Gonsalves
2024 stock. Critics often complain that small-group sessions comprised of members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra are somewhat disappointing; this is definitely not the case with this session led by Clark Terry, recorded during a 1959 tour of Europe in the final month of the trumpeter’s almost eight-year tenure with the band. Fellow Ellington sidemen Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Woode, and Sam Woodyard are present, along with Raymond Fol at the piano. Terry was one of the most gifted trumpeters to grac…
Ron Jefferson Choir
This self-titled album is a testimony of the short lived-band led by New-York drummer Ron Jefferson during his stay in Paris in the mid-60s. After a first album under his name on Pacific Jazz in 1962, the founding member of The Jazz Modes and the Les McCann trio made the trip overseas.
Here, he made his living by playing with the popular pianists Errol Parker or Hazel Scott but his main drive was this trio that he formed with two other US expats, bassist Roland Haynes (the same musician who rec…
Live in Paris – The ORTF Recordings 1966/67 (3LP)
A never-before released Nathan Davis 1966/67 live recordings. Official release with the full permission and cooperation of the Nathan Davis Estate & INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel). "Style is not a given. Not many musicians reach the level of artistic personality where you can unmistakably recognize them. It takes character, roots, honesty, soulfulness. Nathan Davis had style. His tone on tenor was unique. So was his soprano sound and his distinctive approach to flute. His musical world…
Sahib Shihab And The Danish Radio Jazz Group
Sahib Shihab (Edmund Gregory) played with many of jazz’s finest musicians. Shortly after he became one of the first jazz players to change their names due to an Islamic conversion, he joined Thelonious Monk for his Blue Note sessions. He also played with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiforn and Quincy Jones. A unique musician, he was at home in every musical style, from the experimentalism of Thelonious Monk to the more direct hard bop of Art Blakey. Sahib Shihab’s distinctive sound was …
Paris ’76
A never-before released The Heath Brothers 1976 live recordings. First official release with the full permission and cooperation of the INA. Sam Records is proud to presents here a live recording the band gave in Paris at Studio 104, Maison de la Radio, on April 16, 1976. In addition to a superb version of ‘One for Juan’, the band perform two tracks from the ‘Marchin’ On! album, ‘Watergate Blues’ and a wonderful version of ‘Smilin’ Billy’.
“That was the first Heath Brothers album. Stanley Cowe…
Antibes '75
Two days after recording the first album ever issued on the Black Saint label, Billy Harper and his quintet were onstage at the Antibes Juan-Les-Pins jazz festival. Though Black Saint is a phenomenal album and is rightfully considered as one of the finest jazz releases of the period, Antibes ’75 shows that Billy and his men gathered momentum to push the boundaries of their studio effort even further. That night, surrounded by stars, pine woods and a captivated audience, the quintet delivered a …
Paris 58
A never-before released Donald Byrd & Bobby Jaspar 1958 studio recordings. First official release with the full permission and cooperation INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel). Available on vinyl only. No CD, No Digital is scheduled.In July 1958, Donald Byrd made a lengthy visit to Europe, not returning Stateside until December. He fronted a fine quintet that gave concert appearances at festivals held in many countries, Knokke-le-Zoute (Belgium), Cannes (France), Sweden, Norway, Germany – an…
Byrd In Paris (Volume 1)
*2022 stock. In process of stocking* Trumpeter Donald Byrd spent a few months in France in 1958, and a Paris concert resulted in two LPs' worth of material. Byrd's quintet at the time included Bobby Jaspar (on tenor and flute), pianist Walter Davis, Jr., bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Art Taylor. Byrd was just beginning to find his own sound in the late '50s and he is in excellent form on "Dear Old Stockholm," Sonny Rollins' "Paul's Pal," Jaspar's "Flute Blues," "Ray's Idea," and "The Blues W…
Parisian Thoroughfare (Byrd In Paris, Volume 2)
‘58 issue, the title carried by Jazz Hot magazine was: »Revelation at the Chat Qui Pêche. The spirit of jazz (which some thought was dying) is sparkling with life in the Donald Byrd Quintet.« And indeed, on its first appearance at the Cannes Festival in July (the Jazz Festival, not the other one), the Donald Byrd Quintet brought the house down. Its members were hardly the Who’s Who of jazz, however. People vaguely knew that the leader had replaced Kenny Dorham in the Jazz Messengers, that Doug W…
Jazz Sur Seine
A fantastic early recording from the great French tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen – best known as an artist who recorded famously in the soundtrack world of the French new wave, and with Art Blakey – but who's even more striking here on a rare small combo date from the 50s! The session's a monster – cut with rhythmic backing by Milt Jackson on piano (!?), Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – and two cuts feature additional percussion by Gana M'Bow, which gives the set a wonderful kick…
The Ronnell Bright Trio
*2022 stock. In process of stocking* One of the few albums ever cut as a leader by pianist Ronnell Bright – a player best known for his accompaniment behind famous vocalists, like Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson! This rare date was cut in Paris – at a time when Bright was visiting the city with Vaughan – and it's a stripped-down trio date with a nicely relaxed feel – one that has Bright really opening up on the keys, in ways you don't always hear on his material with singers. Other players in the…
Afternoon In Paris
*2022 stock. In process of stocking* 'It was in Paris that John Lewis co-led this 1956 date with Sacha Distel, a French guitarist who never became well-known in the U.S. but commanded a lot of respect in French jazz circles. The same can be said about the other French players employed on Afternoon in Paris -- neither tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen nor bassist Pierre Michelot were huge names in the U.S., although both were well-known in European jazz circles. With Lewis on piano, Distel on guitar…
Peace Treaty
*2022 stock. In process of stocking* “One of the first true moments of genius from saxophonist Nathan Davis – originally released in the mid 60s for the tiny SFP label – and a record that’s even rarer than his early classics for MPS! The sound here is similar to the MPS sides – a mixture of soul jazz and modal jazz – served up with a bit more freedoms than Davis might have gotten on the US scene, and featuring a lineup that includes Woody Shaw on trumpet, Jean-Louis Chautemps on baritone sax, Re…
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
*In process of stocking.* In 1957, Miles Davis is in Paris for an engagement at the ‘Club Saint-Germain’ and a wonderful concert at the Olympia Theatre. Once in Paris, Miles came into contact with many members of the modern existentialist cultural environment in the neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Près. These include the director Louis Malle who had just finished his first movie : ‘Ascenseur Pour L’échafaud’. Jean-Paul Rappeneau, a Jazz fan and Louis Malle’s assistant at the time, suggested as…
Un Témoin Dans la Ville
Barney Wilen's career took off in 1957. That year he won the Django Reinhardt Award and recorded the soundtrack to the film 'Ascenseur pour l'échafaud' with Miles Davis. In '59 he recorded the music for the film 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' with Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey, and then composed the music for the film 'Un témoin dans la ville' directed by Edouard Molinaro. For this nocturnal tour through Paris, Barney Wilen is surrounded by the musicians who have been accompanying him for several w…
Cannes '58
*tiny bump on corners, discounted copies* Donald Byrd’s residency in Paris in 1958 to study with composer Nadia Boulanger gave rise to one of the greatest bands of his career with Bobby Jaspar on tenor sax and flute, Walter Davis, Jr. on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Art Taylor on drums.Sam Records is proud to present this previously unreleased concert by the Donald Byrd/Bobby Jaspar Quintet recorded during the evening dedicated to ‘Modern Jazz’ during the 1st and only Cannes Jazz Festival on …