Martial Solal - Solo Piano: Unreleased 1966 Los Angeles Session · Volume 1

EU Import

In June 1966, invited by the shrewd American producer and author Ross Russell, Martial Solal traveled to Los Angeles to record these forgotten and unreleased solo piano sessions. Russell, who had launched the legendary label Dial Records back in 1946 to record Charlie Parker, had spent several years away from the jazz scene after shutting Dial down in 1949. When he decided to return to the jazz record business, he organized a series of recordings at Glendale’s Whitney Studio, which had a wonderful Steinway.Unfortunately, Russell’s new project didn’t come to fruition, and so Solal’s recordings never saw the light.

Now we can finally hear them in two CD volumes. They show Martial Solal at his best, his incontestable talent, dazzling virtuosity and invention, but also his good taste and sense of humor in the execution. The originality of his conception, paired with his elegant control and technique, put him on a par with the great American pianists.