If Count Basie came from Red Bank, New Jersey, maybe band leader, pianist, conductor and arranger Jacques Denjean came from the Rive Rouge, as his band sure sounds a lot like it drank from the Basie waters.
This collection of Denjean’s orchestra contains mostly originals, but the team that includes French all-stars like Gilles Thibaut-Ivan Jullien/tp, Claude Gousset/tb, Dominqiue Chanson-Gerard Badini/ts, Georges Arvanitas/p, Pierre Cullaz/g, Michel Gaudry/b and Philippe Combelle/dr has a blue and Kansas Citified feel throughout these sessions from the late 50s and early 60s. Thibaut’s tone is reminiscent of Louis Armstrong on the sweet “Sablons” and “April In Paris” with Denjean’s piano giving an economical swing that will fool most people on a “Blindfold Test”.
Then, you’ve got Dominque Chanson sounding like the second coming of Lockjaw Davis with an equally Texas tenor sounding Badini on “The Champ” and “Tenor Contest”, with the horns swaggering on an ultra tasty take of “Walkin” The horns get Rat Packy in “Blue Moon” and swing with ease on “The Nearness of You” and a bouncing “The Huckle-Buck”. Kansas City swing in Givenchy!