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Killer jazzy grooves from the French jazz house scene – and hands down one of our favorite albums of the 00s! St Germain take a Blue Note 70s sound as their base – with lots of sweet Hammond riffs, mellow Fender Rhodes licks, funky flute lines, and spacey percussion – then they add in some tight soulful house rhythms, with a very deep deep deep groove! The result is some of the best jazzy house of their time – and the record is the kind of album designed to put Blue Note back on the map as one of the most groove-committed jazz majors in the world. Killer stuff all around – and with the tracks "So Flute", "Montego Bay Spleen", "Latin Note", "Rose Rouge", "La Goutte D'Or", "Pont Des Arts", "Sure Thing", and "What Do You Think About . . ."

Killer jazzy grooves from the French jazz house scene – and hands down one of our favorite albums of the 00s! St Germain take a Blue Note 70s sound as their base – with lots of sweet Hammond riffs, mellow Fender Rhodes licks, funky flute lines, and spacey percussion – then they add in some tight soulful house rhythms, with a very deep deep deep groove! The result is some of the best jazzy house of their time – and the record is the kind of album designed to put Blue Note back on the map as one of the most groove-committed jazz majors in the world. Killer stuff all around – and with the tracks "So Flute", "Montego Bay Spleen", "Latin Note", "Rose Rouge", "La Goutte D'Or", "Pont Des Arts", "Sure Thing", and "What Do You Think About . . ."

Although Belgian in origin, tenorist Bobby Jaspar was a key part of the French jazz scene of the postwar years – and his playing on records like this also made him one of the standout jazz talents in Europe in the 50s! The set features extremely rare material by Jaspar – cut for Barclay Records in 1955, and featuring a quintet with Rene Utreger on piano and Sacha Distel on guitar. Distel is especially wonderful, and even though he later went on to become a teen heartthrob pop singer in France, he's an excellent guitarist with an edgey string-heavy tone that really makes the recording stand out from some of Jaspar's other sides. That, and the fact that Jaspar's playing tenor on all tracks but one (he often plays mostly flute on some albums), makes the record one of his best from the time – and titles include "Minor Drops", "Bag's Groove", "Memory Of Dick", "Night In Tunisia", and "I'll Remember April".

Two sets of French modern jazz from the postwar years! First up is pianist Bernard Peiffer, leading a hip sextet that includes horn players Roger Guerin, and Bobby Jaspar – through a set of tightly arranged tracks that are sort of a mix of west coast cool jazz and Swedish postwar modern. Francy Boland arranged the 8 tunes – and tracks include "Strip Tease", "Paris Je T'Aime . . . D'Amour", "Who Is Me", and "Frozen Feet". The next 8 tunes are by a group led by trombonist Bernard Zacharias – done with a looser more swinging feel. His group also features Roger Guerin on trumpet, plus tenor sax, piano, bass clarinet, and French horn. Buddy Banks handled the arrangements – and titles include "Transcendentology", "The Man I Love", "Summertime", "My Man's Gone Now", and "It Ain't Necessarily So".

One of the grooviest albums ever from organist Rhoda Scott – a hip, double-length set recorded at the Club Saint Germain in Paris – often with a good deal of funk in the mix! Rhoda's working here in a slightly expanded version of her usual format – her own Hammond organ in the lead, plus drums from Cees Kranenburg and tenor sax from Leo Johnson – the last of which makes for a wonderful addition to the groove! Most tracks are quite long, and build with a good sense of energy – almost jamming at times, with the drums used much more heavily than on other Scott albums. And Johnson's sax is great too – bringing in a sharper edge that really deepens the soul, and helps show a side of Rhoda that wasn't always caught on record at the time. Titles include a killer 18-minute version of War's "Slipping Into Darkness", a funky take on "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)", and the originals "Espoir", "Floor Lip", "Le Saint Germain", and "Nyugi-Nyugi".