Benny Carter: Further Definitions (Acoustic Sounds) (180 g) (LP)

After World War I, Paris emerged as one of the thriving centers of European jazz, attracting many American jazz stars from across the “Atlantic.” During a legendary, exuberantly swinging session in the city on the Seine in April 1937, multi-instrumentalist Benny Carter and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins joined forces with five top-tier French musicians—including guitarist Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli on piano —as well as another compatriot, drummer Tommy Benford. It was precisely this atmosphere that Benny Carter evoked with astonishing authenticity 24 years later on the album “Further Definitions.” To that end, he assembled an eight-piece band with the same instrumentation—though this time an all-American one—in which the magnificent Coleman Hawkins once again took part. With “Honeysuckle Rose” and “Crazy Rhythm,” the program also included two songs that had been big hits in 1937. “Further Definitions” is pure, swinging pleasure and an album that every jazz fan—whether traditionalist, modernist, or avant-gardist—should definitely add to their collection. Verve Acoustic Sounds Series: mastered entirely analog from the original tapes by Matthew Lutthans, QPR pressing (180 g), sturdy tip-on gatefold sleeve (Stoughton Printing), padded inner sleeve.