Classics
2005
The Chronological 1952-1953
About This Album
In addition to the friendliest photograph of Bill Coleman ever published, this fourth installment in the Classics Coleman chronology presents material performed live in Paris, France. The first 11 tracks were recorded on October 18, 1952, with Coleman as MC in front of a wildly appreciative audience at the Salle Pleyel, 252 Rue de Faubourg St-Honore. The opening number is an extended duet on "Out of Nowhere" played by pianist Randy Downes and bassist Alvin "Buddy" Banks. A brief crowd-pleasing take of "The Sheik" consists mostly of Zutty Singleton beating the hell out of a cymbal. Guy Lafitte is heard on clarinet and tenor sax (very nicely handled on "Ghost of a Chance") and Dicky Wells blows his trombone with either laconic eccentricity or a boisterous if somewhat dog-eared abandon. Coleman, as always, sounds like a trumpeter who was inspired by Louis Armstrong and gradually developed his own sound without ever deviating very far from the Armstrong influence. "Knuckle Head," composed by Coleman and Wells, is a solid example of what in 1945 was often referred to as "rebop." Coleman uses a mute most beautifully on Duke Ellington's "Solitude" and Lafitte demonstrates a Barney Bigard-like approach to the clarinet.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13)

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