Michel Legrand Legrand Jazz on 180g 33RPM LP from Impex: Mastered by Chris Bellman and Bob Donnelly on Bernie Grundman Mastering's All-Tube Cutting System, Pressed at RTI

Academy and Grammy Award-winning composer/arranger Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Summer of '42, The Thomas Crown Affair) was not a household name in America in 1958, but he was renowned among musicians and a life-long fanatic of American jazz and its players. Legrand Jazz is the result of Legrand traveling to America and using his Columbia Records contract to enlist label mates (and soon to be legends) Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, Herbie Mann, Phil Woods, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Sheldon Powell, Teo Macero, Milt Hinton, Jimmy Cleveland, and others to record his fantastical reimagining of 11 jazz standards.

Not merely content to lay down another Parisian hard-bop play-along, the 27 year old worked against type and expectations at every turn, creating a moody, idiosyncratic landscape for unusual call-and-response chase solos, washes of harp and vibes, and sultry horn canvases. Davis, Coltrane and the others manage to fall in with the diverse, mellow flow of Legrand's arrangements while keeping their unique musical voices.

Impex Records' 180g 33RPM LP is mastered by Chris Bellman on Bernie Grundman's all-tube cutting lathe from a 2-track, all-analog mix down of the original studio work prints, made especially for Impex by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in New York. The large recording space is captured in every detail, while Davis' full force dynamic variations come through with incredible veracity. You are along for a magic carpet ride of large jazz ensemble recording when you drop the needle into these grooves.

Impex has packaged the meticulously recreated outer jacket in a gatefold with an original photo montage inside honoring Michel Legrand's masterpiece of reinvention and sublime fan-boy enthusiasm.

"The new Impex vinyl reissue, which used an all-analog chain, offers a wide, full soundstage. Detailed and warm, the LP has an in-the-room presence with lots of air. If texture and timbre appeal to you, this is a must-hear audiophile reissue."
—Jeff Wilson, The Absolute Sound

"I have a clean, original 6-Eye pressing that this superbly pressed reissue betters in every way. This will make both your stereo and your heart sing."
—Michael Fremer, Analog Planet

"The music is luscious and this just may be one of the best-sounding records you'll ever hear."
—Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News

Features:
• 180g vinyl pressing from Impex Records
• Mastered by Chris Bellman and Bob Donnelly on Bernie Grundman Mastering's all-tube cutting system
• Analog mix-down transfer of the original 1958 work tapes by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in New York
• Plated and pressed at RTI
• Gatefold jacket housed inside a resealable, protective plastic sleeve