1973 · Album
Jealousy: Hits of the Thirties
Recorded 1959 · Philips · Produced by Unknown
Alan Clare's Piano Anchors Grappelli's Thirties
Clare's piano work gives these standards the harmonic weight they need to breathe.
What makes Jealousy: Hits of the Thirties work is Alan Clare's piano. Grappelli's violin gets top billing—that's how these things go—but Clare is doing the real architectural work here. He's not comping behind the leader; he's building the foundation that lets Grappelli's improvisations have somewhere solid to land. These are standards from a decade Grappelli knew well, songs he'd played countless times before, and what keeps them from feeling like nostalgia is Clare's touch at the keys. He's crisp and economical, never crowding the space, but present enough that you feel the harmonic grid beneath every phrase.
Grappelli himself plays with the ease of someone revisiting old friends. His tone is warm and direct—no showboating, no need for it. The rhythm section, with Lennie Bush on bass and Tony Crombie on drums, keeps things moving without pushing. This is a confident session from musicians who understood this material inside out. The album sits somewhere between a straight jazz recital and a kind of refined nostalgia, but the distinction hardly matters when the playing is this assured.
It's not the most celebrated Grappelli recording, and it doesn't need to be. This is a solid middle-period record, comfortable in its own skin, the work of players who had nothing left to prove and so could afford to play without strain. If you want Grappelli at his most inventive, look elsewhere. But if you want to hear how he handled the standards in a setting where every player knew exactly what they were doing, this one delivers.
Who's playing
Lennie Bushbass
Ken Baldockbass
Alan Clarepiano
Chris Karandrums
Tony Crombiedrums
Stéphane Grappelliviolin
Yehudi Menuhinviolin
Where next?
More by Stéphane Grappelli
All 33 albums →
