Two Strings Meeting in Paris
Kessel's chord-melody guitar and Grappelli's gliding violin trade lines with an ease that feels effortless.
Michel Gaudry's bass sits underneath this session like a floor the two leads can rely on, and it is worth starting there, because the album's easy swing depends on his steady, unshowy pulse. Stéphane Grappelli had spent decades with Django Reinhardt in the Quintette du Hot Club de France, so he knew exactly how to sing over a rhythm section that wasn't pushing too hard. Gaudry gives him that room.
Barney Kessel, by contrast, was an American guitarist with a clean, round tone and a gift for harmony, and on this record he plays with the lightness of someone enjoying a conversation rather than leading a contest. The pairing works because neither player overwhelms the other. Grappelli's bowed phrasing is warm and slightly vibrato-heavy, while Kessel answers with tight, chordal comping and short melodic lines. The interplay is conversational rather than competitive.
If you already know Grappelli's work with Reinhardt, this is a different kind of record: less gypsy fire, more polished mainstream swing. It is a pleasant place to hear two veterans of very different traditions meet on friendly ground, and a good entry point if you want Grappelli away from the Quintette's intensity.
Who's playing
Where next?
More by Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel, Volume 3: "To Swing or Not to Swing" 1955
Barney Kessel, Volume 1: Easy Like 1956
Some Like It Hot 1959
Feeling Free 1969
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
