Selection 1: Spracklin’
. . .
Selection 2: Papiermento
. . .
Track List
A1 Moving Out 2’48
A2 Brainstorm 4’40
A3 Lloyd’s Brother’s Tune 5’21
A4 Crystal Ball 7’51
A5 Spracklin 3’23
B1 Up In Alsace 4’33
B2 Dink 4’12
B3 Blue Hubert 5’11
B4 The Office 4’21
B5 Papiermento 5’00
B6 Snakes 2’56
Artists: Barney Wilen Quintet
Hubert Fol, alto saxophone; Lloyd Thompson, bass; Al Levitt, drums; Nico Bunink, piano; Barney Wilen, tenor saxophone (age 20); recorded in 1957 in Paris, France. At the time, Wilen was under contract to the French label Vogue, and there are scant details of the session.
Bio Highlights
Allée Barney Wilen, in front of the Musée Matisse. Parc Cimiez olive grove, Nice Fr.
Wilen was a citizen of my favourite French city, Nice, where the walkways of Parc des Arenès du Cimiez, the Belle Epoque quarter – original site of the annual Nice Jazz Festival and Winter haunt of Queen Victoria – are dedicated to jazz musicians: Allée Miles Davis, Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Allée Barney Wilen.
“When Miles Davis heard Barney Wilen for the first time during a jam session at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris, he exclaimed (expletives probably deleted): “This is the best (insert expletive) tenor saxophone I’ve heard in Europe … much better than many current stars in the States.” “
Miles chose Wilen for his soundtrack to the film Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud – Lift to the Scaffold ( Louis Malle, 1958), and subsequently Wilen joind Monk on the soundtrack to Les Liaisons Dangereuses ( Roger Vadim, 1960) -note the French 10″ bande original includes only tracks put down with Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Wilen also appears on another French film noir, Un Temoin Dans La Ville – A Witness in the Town.
Ah, film noir, life in black and white: passion, infidelity, revenge, murder, and taxis…
No mention of Monk in the Original Soundtrack edition of Les Liasons Dangereuses, but a hotchpotch of three different Blakey line-ups. I’m surprised the credits do not include numerous law firms jousting over the rights. Barney pictured on the back.
Barney Wilen was not quite 21 years old when he recorded with three veterans of MJQ Modern Jazz Quartet (Jazz Sur Seine, Philips1958). Surprisingly mature and self-assured, he interprets several Django Reinhardt compositions, along with a few by his French contemporaries and a pair of his own works. It is not so much “French Jazz” as “Americans in Paris” – generally a good thing, particularly when driving Sherman tanks.
Wilen later became interested in rock, and ethnic fusion, drifting away from the jazz scene, only to return in the ’90s, in his final years, passing in 1996.
Music
Jazz swing voice, formidable technique, Wilen’s flowing melodic lines and fresh lyrical tone is a delight. The music is very American-European hybrid, uplifting, and it does indeed swing.
Vinyl: 2024 reissue
Repressing of the previous Sam Records 2018 edition of J1239 Barney Wilen Quintet, Guilde Du Jazz (1957); pressed by Schallplattenfabrik Pallas GmbH – 25545; lacquer cut by Benjamin Joubert. SAM had access to a copy tape of the original recording.
The SAM reissue shows some limitations of the original recording technology but it is very acceptable listening, and despite Sam man Fred’s hopefully brief incapacity due to urgent heart surgery, the album managed to make its way through manufacture and release.
Liner Notes in French, what else? It’s France. They are funny about protecting their language – from English. Bien sur ,”Jazz Hot”
Insert:
Double insert black and white print using an original photo of Young Barney from the session, by JC Bernath.
Collector’s Corner
Original Barney Wilen Quintet, Guilde du Jazz, 1957
One original which is not on my wants list, the Discogs entry shows another victim of The Curse of Sellotape – the only product in the record collecting inventory that is actually more evil than The Evil Silver Disc.
Illustrated an English tin, in France probably Le ruban auto-adhésif en cellulose
I once actually had a record cover gratuitously edged on three sides with black mesh duct tape, which I ripped off, on account of the cover looked better ripped bare than duct-edged. Sellotape was a more common repair for side seam splits. If you are lucky, after fifty years it merely falls of leaving a nasty yellow residue. On laminated covers Sellotape can often be removed completely but on plain board, basically you are snookered.
The likelihood of finding a French 1957 vinyl in playable condition must be somewhere close to zero. Most I have seen look like a skating rink, and sound worse than they look. I bought a 10″ vintage copy of Ascenseur pour L’échafaud in a Nice street market primarily for the cover, for wall decor – the record plays with continuous crackle and a hint of music, but it does look good on the wall.
To play, there is always the excellent Miles Davis Jazz Track album (which I must get around to posting!)
LJC
LondonJazzCollector 
“Ascenceur pour l’ échafaud” is also reissued by SAM, on a 10″ facsimile reissue. New & without scratches.
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In reply to Anonymous – reposted to circumvent the dreaded WordPress “drainpipe”
Wow, a rabbit-hole!
“Monk had been offered the opportunity to record in France, the soundtrack to Roger Vadim’s film, Les Liasons Dangereuses. Both Vadim and jazz promoter Marcel Romano were fans of Monk, and wanted him to record new music to complement the avant theme of this movie. Monk’s misfortunes (loss of Cabaret Card, drug charges) caused him to be unable to fulfill the trip, nor record new compositions. Fortunately, a recording date was set in New York on July 27 at the Nola Studios, and his latest quartet of Charlie Rouse, Sam Jones, and Art Taylor entered the studio for a single days session. Romano, at the time was the manager of twenty-two-year-old French tenor sensation, Barney Wilen, who was added to the date as the second horn. Six of Monk’s compositions were recorded as well as the gospel hymn, “We’ll Understand It Better By and By.” Included were the rarely recorded “Light Blue” as well as the solo blues improvisation, “Six in One.”
Nearly three hours were recorded including shortened versions, incomplete takes, breakdowns, and rehearsals. Upon completion it took major editing to condense 30 minutes for scene selection and opening credits for the 111-minute completed film. [Monk never got credit on the original LP release of this soundtrack (or probably in the film either) – Ed.]
Zev Feldman first heard about the seven taped reels from the archives of Marcel Romano when he was visiting Paris in December 2014. He “received a very charming introductory email out of the blue from the head of Sam Records, Mr. Fred Thomas explaining that he and his friend, Mr. Francois Le Xuan of Saga Jazz had located master tapes of a previously unissued studio session of Thelonious Monk made in 1959 by French producer Marcel Romano.”
Full story here:
https://www.audaud.com/thelonious-monk-les-liasons-dangereuses-1960-sam-records-saga-two-vinyls/
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In the early Seventies my brother in law gave me some of his LPs. All were well cared for mid-Sixties issues that included some Blue Notes; Maiden Voyage, The Sidewinder, etc. But I took to the Les Liasons Dangereuses soundtrack (on US Fontana) far more than those two classics. The Latin percussion – who was it I wondered. The hard hitting Blakey, the danceability of the up tunes and the sheer romantic beauty of Prelude In Blue is what did it. But til now I never knew much about the Barney Wilen. Thanks.
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“Wilen joined Blakey and Monk on the soundtrack to Les Liaisons Dangereuses “
Monk? I thought it was Bobby Timmons and Duke Jordan.
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Oops … OK, I didn’t know the Monk tracks were eventually issued on CD.
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Text copied without checking, as said, from the CD. The 10″ vinyl version of Liasons Dangereuse is indeed Blakey, Timmons and company.I have added a picture to the post of the Monk CD
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The Monk recordings were first released on vinyl also by SAM
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Obligatory reference: https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/50s-record-clubs-jazztone/
I take it that this is a case of original material being issued on Jazztone/Guilde, rather than reissued material?
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I have no special knowledge of sources for this recording, but I think it was originally a Paris studio session recorded for the French offshoot of Jazztone, Guilde du Jazz. At the time, 1957, no-one outside of France would have known of Barney Wilen, I guess it was a first issue for domestic consumption, didn’t sell many copies, hence it is very rare in its original form. Fred at SAM is meticulous about quality sources, but has declared (on the SAM website) the source for the SAM reissue as a copy tape of the original recording (updated).
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Fred’s website says the following on the source used for this pressing: Re-mastered from a copy of Master Tapes.
I own both the reissue and the original. lets start off by mentioning that the recording quality isn’t all that great.. it certainly isn’t bad, just typical mid 50s French recording quality (hope someone knows what I mean) the original sounds just a hair better, perhaps because the tapes have aged a bit over the years. but this is a beautiful reissue nonetheless. finding a clean original of this is close to impossible and not to mention quite costly. so while the original might sound just a hair better it is (in my opinion) not worth the time and the money over this fine reissue.
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This remaster might sound fair enough, I should say:
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