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BIG JULLIEN & HIS ALL STAR – Riviera Sound No. 1
BIG-JULLIEN-HIS-ALL-STAR-Riviera-Sound-No1_A
BIG-JULLIEN-HIS-ALL-STAR-Riviera-Sound-No1_B
S 01
Track
Composer
Time
01
An Oscar For Eddy
Ivan Jullien
3:03
02
Wake The Monster
Ivan Jullien
2:28
03
Edith
Ivan Jullien
2:53
04
Crescendo
Charles Segal/R. Clarke
3:16
05
The Big Team
Michel Colombier
2:29
06
Pace
Michel Colombier
3:00
S 02
Track
Composer
Time
01
I Remember Otis
Michel Colombier
2:55
02
Talk
Michel Colombier
2:16
03
The Looser
Michel Colombier
2:52
04
Sonoro
Ivan Jullien
3:02
05
Time Square
Charles Mingus
3:21
06
Opening
Michel Colombier
2:46
Big Jullien & His All Star:
I.Jullien – Trumpet, E. Louiss – Organ, M. Vander or M. Colombier – Piano,
A. Arpino or P.-A. Dahan – Drums, F. Dariscuren – Bass Guitar, R. Jimenes or P. Vullaz or Oliver – Guitar
R. Guerin or M. Thomas or J. Baissat – Trumpet, C. Guizien or R. Katarzynsky – Trombone
J. Nourredine or P. Gossez or R. Garcia or G. Grenn – Saxophones, F. Miannay – Sound Engineer

Original UK Major Minor/ French Riviera album, reissued for the first time
Recorded 1970 at Studios Barclay, Avenue Hoche/ Paris
Engineered by Francis Miannay, remastered 2009 
with only a few original copies still known to exist. Comes with original album cover artwork, new liner notes and current memories of Ivan Jullien, remastered 2009.

Late 60s big band funk cuts galore! This LP gem is high in demand and fetches ridiculous prices at auctions. Two true masters of French jazz – Michel Colombier and Ivan Jullien - teamed up in 1970 with other well known musicians from the French scene to record this excellent album at the famous Barclay Studios in Paris. The music was composed and played by Colombier and Jullien together with an allstar ensemble of finest studio players. Famous drummer André Arpino can be heard aswell as hammond master Eddy Louiss, Maurice Vander on piano, Raymond Gimenez on electric guitar or Roger Guérin on trumpet. “Riviera Sound No.1” stands out as one of the perfect moments in French jazz funk, never reissued before and remaining on top of collector`s lists since years. There are not many facts to be found about this vinyl artefact, although nearly everybody of the featured musicians earned himself an excellent worldwide reputation.

The ten piece horn section delivers a great funky big band style from start to finish, very groovy and always with this special mediterranean Riviera vibe. Wicked jazz funk is mixed with soundtrack or drama library sounds, like “Opening”, that was also released on an impossible to find 45 single in the same year. “Crescendo” tears up every dancefloor, while “Talk” provides a monster open drum break at the beginning. Softer titles like “Edith” or “The Looser” draw their inspiration from cool jazz, modern jazz or pop music of the time. “I Remember Otis” is a soul and funk infused tribute to Otis Redding in a delicate Majestics or Mohawks style and the perfect groover “Wake The Monster” was re-recorded by Ivan Jullien later on for the always in demand Italian mod beat band “I Pyranas”.

Ivan Jullien studied architecture and worked as a memorial inspector before he was sent to the Indochina war between 1952 and 1954. Back in Paris, trumpet playing became his main profession within the Paris jazz and variety scene of the time. He was soon playing in famous orchestras, e.g. Jacques Hélian or Claude Bolling, before accompanying big names like Johnny Griffin, Lester Young, Benny Bailey, Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon or Maynard Ferguson in the orchestra of the famous Olympia. In 1964 he was playing, arranging and recording for the likes of Johnny Hallyday, Francoise Hardy, Sacha Distel, Claude Nougaro, Charles Aznavour or Charles Trenet. All in all he did write thousands of arrangements for countless well known names from France and also started to compose and arrange big soundtracks like Claude Lelouche`s “Un homme et une femme”.

“Big Jullien” also started to lecture music analysis and music arrangement in 1983 and organized several big bands between 1965 and 1983. In 1993 he arranged “Carmen Jazz” featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater for the Vienna Festival, followed by special jazz arrangements of French chansons for Michel Leeb, finally performed by the Count Basie Orchestra in 2001. He received the “Prix Django Reinhardt” in 1971 and was also awarded with the “Prix Boris Vian” for his jazz adaption of “Porgy & Bess” together with Eddy Louiss. In 2003 he also received a “Victoires de la Musique” for his lifetime work. Moreover the man is “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres”, still working strong and arranging for his own big band today.

Michel Colombier learned to play the piano at the age of six, discovered jazz by eleven and soon performed or wrote for small combos and big bands. Later on he was playing and conducting the widest range of sounds from chamber orchestra to jazz band before being hired as artistic director for Barclay Records. The man stands out as one of the most important French music personalities of the 20th century. He not only composed music for more than 100 movies but also arranged some of the well known sounds by Prince or the first English album by Charles Aznavour, produced by Quincy Jones for release in the US. On the jazz scene he did write for many big names like Branford Marsalis. His classical works include titles for the Kronos Quartet aswell as various ballet musics. He received the French movie award “César” twice. Michel Colombier passed away 2004 in Los Angeles.

From the memories of Ivan Jullien (from correspondence in July 2009):
It was my artistic director of Riviera – Léo Missir – who had the idea to establish and record “Big Jullien and his All Star”. During this period I wrote a lot of arrangements and played numerous sessions, notably with Michel Colombier as arranger. We were happy to live with the most beautiful job in the world. Michel and me had more or less the same musicians and we were calling us to know if the band would be free on this or that particular day. The basic trumpet section with Michel Colombier consisted of Maurice Thomas, Roger Guérin, Ferdinand Verstraete and Ivan Jullien.

Musicians like Maurice Vander, Eddy Louiss and many other excellent names from the “Big Jullien”-sessions used to work together with Michel or me quite often in studios, tv shows, and for concerts or other occasions. They were playing in many different combinations aswell but Michel and myself had priority because we always got a lot of work. The album “Riviera Sound No. 1” was produced in various steps at Barclay Studios. Some days the studio and the musicians were available at the same time for three or four hours and then we used to play and record. Francis Miannay was the best engineer of this famous Paris Studio. We worked together a lot, especially for my other album releases.

The name “Big Jullien” was an idea of Léo Missir, who was deeply impressed by my music and used to call me the best trumpet player in France. Some of the arrangements were especially written for this album while others have been included by coincidence. A tune written by Michel Colombier became the signature sound of a very popular tv show called “Dim-Dam-Dum”, while “An Oscar For Eddy” was written by myself for a movie soundtrack. The way of production was quite commercial but always with dignity. Finally the album got distributed and sold in very few amounts because the promotional budget was so low. It seemed that these albums with my name on top were only realized to thank me for my successful works with Barclay artists like Charles Aznavour or Eddy Mitchell.

By the way, I do not own a copy of “Riviera Sound No. 1”. The last time I have heard some of the tunes was in a railway station two or three years ago...

Big respect and thanks to Ivan Jullien. Producer for reissue and annotations:
Ekkehart Fleischhammer, original recordings mastered by Jury Lutz, reproduction of original cover by Patrick Haase (rab.bit), photo of Ivan Jullien courtesy of Ivan Jullien