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Digipack-CD & Limited Vinyl-LP out now:
Killer tunes from Paris
recorded 1970 at Barclay Studios - a top
rare and highly sought after French mod funk masterpiece with
great breaks and fuzz sounds throughout. The music was composed and played by
jazz legends Ivan Jullien and Michel Colombier, featuring Eddy
Louiss, Maurice Vander and many other big names from the French
scene. Exclusive 1:1 reissue of the disappeared Riviera album
recordings, originally released on vinyl LP in France and the UK, with only a
few original copies still known to exist. Comes with original album
cover artwork, new liner notes and current memories of Ivan Jullien,
remastered 2009.
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Late
60s big band funk cuts galore! This LP gem is high in demand and
fetches ridiculous prices at auctions. Two true masters of French
jazz – Michel Colombier and Ivan Jullien - teamed up in 1970 with
other well known musicians from the French scene to
record this excellent album at the famous Barclay Studios in Paris.
The music was composed and played by Colombier and Jullien together
with an allstar ensemble of finest studio players. Famous drummer
André Arpino can be heard aswell as hammond master Eddy Louiss,
Maurice Vander on piano, Raymond Gimenez on electric guitar or Roger
Guérin on trumpet. “Riviera Sound No.1” stands out as one of the
perfect moments in French jazz funk, never reissued before and
remaining on top of collector..s lists since years. There are not many
facts to be found about this vinyl artefact, although nearly
everybody of the featured musicians earned himself an excellent
worldwide reputation.
The
ten piece horn section delivers a great funky big band style from
start to finish, very groovy and always with this special
mediterranean Riviera vibe. Wicked jazz funk is mixed with soundtrack
or drama library sounds, like “Opening”, that was also released
on an impossible to find 45 single in the same year. “Crescendo”
tears up every dancefloor, while “Talk” provides a monster open
drum break at the beginning. Softer titles like “Edith” or “The
Looser” draw their inspiration from cool jazz, modern jazz or pop
music of the time. “I Remember Otis” is a soul and funk infused
tribute to Otis Redding in a delicate Majestics or Mohawks style and
the perfect groover “Wake The Monster” was re-recorded by Ivan
Jullien later on for the always in demand Italian mod beat band “I
Pyranas”.
Ivan
Jullien
studied architecture and worked as a memorial inspector before he was
sent to the Indochina war between 1952 and 1954. Back in Paris,
trumpet playing became his main profession within the Paris jazz and
variety scene of the time. He was soon playing in famous orchestras,
e.g. Jacques Hélian or Claude Bolling, before accompanying big names
like Johnny Griffin, Lester Young, Benny Bailey, Bud Powell, Dexter
Gordon or Maynard Ferguson in the orchestra of the famous Olympia. In
1964 he was playing, arranging and recording for the likes of Johnny
Hallyday, Francoise Hardy, Sacha Distel, Claude Nougaro, Charles
Aznavour or Charles Trenet. All in all he did write thousands of
arrangements for countless well known names from France and also
started to compose and arrange big soundtracks like Claude Lelouche..s
“Un homme et une femme”.
“Big
Jullien” also started to lecture music analysis and music
arrangement in 1983 and organized several big bands between 1965 and
1983. In 1993 he arranged “Carmen Jazz” featuring Dee Dee
Bridgewater for the Vienna Festival, followed by special jazz
arrangements of French chansons for Michel Leeb, finally performed by
the Count Basie Orchestra in 2001. He received the “Prix Django
Reinhardt” in 1971 and was also awarded with the “Prix Boris
Vian” for his jazz adaption of “Porgy & Bess” together with
Eddy Louiss. In 2003 he also received a “Victoires de la Musique”
for his lifetime work. Moreover the man is “Chevalier des Arts et
des Lettres”, still working strong and arranging for his own big
band today.
Michel
Colombier
learned to play the piano at the age of six, discovered jazz by
eleven and soon performed or wrote for small combos and big bands.
Later on he was playing and conducting the widest range of sounds
from chamber orchestra to jazz band before being hired as artistic
director for Barclay Records. The man stands out as one of the most
important French music personalities of the twenteeth
century. He not only composed music for more than 100 movies but also
arranged some of the well known sounds by Prince or the first English
album by Charles Aznavour, produced by Quincy Jones for release in
the US. On the jazz scene he did write for many big names like
Branford Marsalis. His classical works include titles for the Kronos
Quartet aswell as various ballet musics. He received the French movie
award “César” twice. Michel Colombier passed away 2004 in Los
Angeles.
From
the memories of Ivan Jullien
(from
correspondence in July 2009):
It
was my artistic director of Riviera – Léo Missir – who had the
idea to establish and record “Big Jullien and his All Star”.
During this period I wrote a lot of arrangements and played numerous
sessions, notably with Michel Colombier as arranger. We were happy to
live with the most beautiful job in the world. Michel and me had more
or less the same musicians and we were calling us to know if the band
would be free on this or that particular day. The basic trumpet
section with Michel Colombier consisted of Maurice Thomas, Roger
Guérin, Ferdinand Verstraete and Ivan Jullien.
Musicians
like Maurice Vander, Eddy Louiss and many other excellent names from
the “Big Jullien”-sessions used to work together with Michel or
me quite often in studios, tv shows, and for concerts or other
occasions. They were playing in many different combinations aswell
but Michel and myself had priority because we always got a lot of
work. The album “Riviera Sound No. 1” was produced in various
steps at Barclay Studios. Some days the studio and the musicians were
available at the same time for three or four hours and then we used
to play and record. Francis Miannay was the best engineer of this
famous Paris Studio. We worked together a lot, especially for my
other album releases.
The
name “Big Jullien” was an idea of Léo Missir, who was deeply
impressed by my music and used to call me the best trumpet player in
France. Some of the arrangements were especially written for this
album while others have been included by coincidence. A tune written
by Michel Colombier became the signature sound of a very popular tv
show called “Dim-Dam-Dum”, while “An Oscar For Eddy” was
written by myself for a movie soundtrack. The way of production was
quite commercial but always with dignity. Finally the album got
distributed and sold in very few amounts because the promotional
budget was so low. It seemed that these albums with my name on top
were only realized to thank me for my successful works with Barclay
artists like Charles Aznavour or Eddy Mitchell.
By
the way, I do not own a copy of “Riviera Sound No. 1”. The last
time I have heard some of the tunes was in a railway station two or
three years ago...