After his phenomenal success with
Django Reinhardt in the pre-war
Quintet of the Hot Club of France, violinist
Stéphane Grappelli's recording career was a bit erratic until interest revived in his music in the late 1960s. So these 1962 studio sessions, initially released by Atlantic as
Feeling + Finesse = Jazz are a rare opportunity to hear the master during this period in his career. Accompanied by guitarist
Pierre Cavalli, rhythm guitarist
Leo Petit, bassist
Guy Pedersen and drummer
Daniel Humair,
Grappelli draws primarily from his repertoire of standards and originals previously recorded with
Reinhardt.
Cavalli is a competent guitarist but hardly the imaginative improviser that could inspire
Grappelli to the heights of which he was capable. Unlike some of the other reissues of the original album, this Drive Archive, like an earlier self-titled Everest budget LP, includes two tracks recorded during the original sessions that were omitted. Unfortunately, the demise of Drive Archive makes this expanded reissue a little more difficult to acquire. Not one of
Stéphane Grappelli's best records within his vast discography, but his fans will want to search for this disc.