This is the tale of two significant albums that are not mentioned enough and were recorded one year apart and in Paris. “Lester Young in Paris” was recorded in 1959 and Miles “Live in Paris” was done in 1960. The Lester young album is very significant in a very sad manner because it was his very last recording as you can see on the date it was completed here in this discography of the album. He died hours after arriving back to New York from Paris on March 15 (at the age of 49) and as mentioned here on his Wikipedia page, he was drinking heavy and hardly eating during the recording sessions. Nevertheless, his performance on this album was above average (as always). this is a great opportunity to own a piece of history but most importantly, a great gesture of honoring a man who literally captured the hearts of every listener with his saxophone. There will never be another Lester Young!
Miles “Live in Paris” album was recorded a few years after the famous 1958 Newport session, was simply overlooked and not to mention, a great opportunity to hear Miles alongside Sonny Stitt! So it is actually, a compilation 4-cd album of two separate recordings. To learn more about the Miles with Coltrane in Paris (on CD’s 1 and 2, March 21st) the readers here should take a look at this excellent post by Marc Myers on his blog Jazz Wax. If you are only interested in the Miles with Sonny Stitt (October 11th) then you can get it here. These are two great recordings that again, every Jazz collector should own. ENJOY!
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