Big Jullien & His All Star - 'Riviera Sound No. 1 (Re-Issue) OUT NOW!!

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