GEORGES ARVANITAS TRIO – In Concert (Futura Rec. – GER 11 / LP-1970)

Label: Futura Records – GER 11

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: France / Released: 1970

Style: Contemporary Jazz

Recorded live at the Centre culturel américain on November 25, 1969 (tracks: A2, B1) and on January 27, 1970 (tracks: A1, B2).

Layout – Gilles Coussine

Photography By – Christian Fauchard, Eléonore Bakhtadzé

Recorded By – Roger Delongeas

Liner Notes – Georges Arvanitas

Producer – Gérard Terrones

Matrix / Runout (Side A Etched Runout): Fut. 2007 A MP

Matrix / Runout (Side B Etched Runout): Fut. 2007 B MP

side A

A1 - Sixième Sens   (G. Arvanitas) ..................................................................... 11:30

A2 - Colchique Dans Les Prés   (Arranged By – G. Arvanitas) .......................... 11:32

side B

B1 - Ah ! Le Chat   (G. Arvanitas) ........................................................................ 7:40

B2 - Indian   (C. Saudrais, G. Arvanitas) ............................................................ 16:30

Personnel:

Georges Arvanitas – piano

Jacky Samson – bass

Charles Saudrais – drums, percussion

The best album by this extraordinary piano/bass/drums trio from France - THIS is the record I play when I want to hear a dynamic, subtle and inspired jazz trio.

"Ah ! Le Chat" (a wordplay on Charlie Parker's "Aleucha", of which this is a new arrangement - and a hidden reference to Le Chat Qui Pêche, a tiny jazz club in Paris where the Arvanitas Trio had a permanent residency, and where one could hear french musicians like Christian Vander (jamming with various alumni from the US jazz scene..) and "Colchiques dans les Prés" (a french traditional nursery rhyme turned into a beautiful, smoking jazz piece) are the best moments of this outstanding set, which was assembled using pieces from 2 dates recorded at the Centre Culturel Américain de Paris in Nov. 1969 and Jan. 1970 - the first of which was interrupted due to EDF (Electricité de France) being on strike. (I am not making this up, it's in the liner notes written by Arvanitas himself..).

Strikes, demonstrations, riots, the Futura label.. French way of life ! ....... :-)

One of Europe's most consistent and versatile musicians, Georges Arvanitas has been active since the early '50s. He's worked with traditional, swing, and bebop musicans, accommodating the demands of the many expatriate Americans who've come to Paris. Though far from being an innovator or daring soloist, Arvanitas is a capable pianist, knowledgeable of bebop fundamentals and able to work effectively in many situations, from recordings to concerts to jam sessions. Arvanitas worked with traditional jazz groups in Marseilles in the '40s, then moved to Paris in the early '50s. He played with Jimmy Archey, Bill Coleman, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Donald Byrd and several others in the '50s and '60s. He was later resident pianist at the Blue Note and formed his own group. Arvanitas played with Buck Clayton, Don Byas and Sonny Criss in the early '60s. He visited New York in 1964 and 1965, working with Ted Curson and Yusef Lateef. He paid a return visit in 1966. Arvanitas's trio with Jacky Sampson and Charles Saudrais worked with several major musicians in the late '60s and early '70s, among them Art Farmer and Dexter Gordon, Buddy Tate and Bill Coleman, Slide Hampton, Anita O' Day, and Curson. Arvanitas played with Robin Kenyatta in 1972, toured Japan with Michel Legrand and worked in Italy with Criss and Stitt. He later worked with Pepper Adams, Curson, Dizzy Gillespie and James Moody in the '80s. He's recorded for Columbia and Saravah among others as a leader, and for Spotlite, Futura and Impro as a session musician.....

E n j o y !!!

If you find it, buy this album!