Paris Session: Solal Brings Americans Home
A pianist on his home turf, surrounded by American horns, playing with the ease of musicians who understood each other immediately.
Martial Solal recorded Réunion a Paris in his native city with a pickup band of American jazz musicians passing through Europe. The session brought together Allen Eager on tenor saxophone, Jimmy Deuchar on trumpet, Billy Byers on trombone, Kenny Clarke on drums, and Benoît Quersin on bass—a natural ensemble despite the lack of prior collaboration. For Solal, this was home territory, literally and musically. He had developed into a formidable pianist by 1956, with real command of both bebop idiom and his own compositional voice, and the presence of skilled American players gave him the chance to lead without pretense.
The album finds Solal neither deferring to his guests nor overshadowing them. His touch is direct and swinging, often stepping back to let Eager and Deuchar state themes before diving into conversational solos. The rhythm section—Clarke and Quersin—locks in with the ease of people who spoke the same language, even if half the band had just arrived. There's an unhurried quality to these performances, no sense of a rushed or provisional session. These are working musicians making the most of studio time.
Réunion a Paris sits early in Solal's recorded legacy, before he became widely documented internationally. It matters partly as evidence: proof that he was already a developed voice, able to hold his own with serious American players and lead a date with real musicality. It's also simply a clean, swinging record—no grand ambitions, just solid bebop and standards played with intelligence and swing. Solal would become far more prolific and adventurous later, but this session shows why he warranted attention from the start.
Who's playing
Benoît Quersindouble bass
Martial Solalpiano
Allen Eagertenor saxophone
Jimmy Deuchartrumpet
Billy Byerstrombone
Kenny Clarkedrums
