Art Blakey Jazz Messengers' Unreleased Paris Concerts Arrive on Blue Moon Over Paris

Elemental Music is releasing Blue Moon Over Paris: ORTF Recordings 1963–1968, a deluxe 180-gram double LP that presents two previously unreleased complete Paris concerts by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. According to the label and to Rough Trade's Record Store Day listing, the limited Black Friday edition arrives in participating stores on Friday, Nov. 27, with remaining stock due online the following day. The Dutch jazz portal jazz.nl highlighted the set on Nov. 3; a deluxe CD version is also announced.

The first concert was recorded at L'Olympia Theatre in Paris on April 25, 1963. That Messengers lineup featured Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Cedar Walton on piano and Reggie Workman on bass, with Blakey on drums. Elemental's tracklist for the Olympia set includes "Moon River," "Buhaina's Delight," "That Old Feeling," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and a long "Caravan."

Five years later, on Nov. 6, 1968, Blakey brought a different edition of the band to the Salle Pleyel: Bill Hardman on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, Billy Harper on tenor saxophone, Ronnie Matthews on piano and Lawrence Evans on bass. That program includes Priester's "Blues for Eros," "Slide No.1," "You Don't Know What Love Is," Bobby Timmons's "Moanin'," "Blue Moon" and "The Theme."

The original ORTF tapes were preserved at France's INA archive. The release was produced for issue by Zev Feldman, with executive producers Jordi Soley and Carlos Agustín Calembert; Ian Debeerst handled INA high-resolution digitization, restoration and mastering, and Matthew Lutthans mastered the LP at The Mastering Lab. A 12-page booklet includes photographs, liner notes by Bob Blumenthal and testimonies from Billy Harper, Julian Priester, Cindy Blackman Santana and Takashi Blakey, according to Elemental.

jazz.nl notes that the same 1963 Messengers had played The Hague's Kurzaal on March 30, about three weeks before the Olympia date now issued. All tracks on the set are previously unheard, Rough Trade states.