A Hot Night in Paris
WEA 3984 27221-2
Total time: 71:00
Reviewed by Torstein Ellingsen

Phil Collins releasing a jazz recording with a big band? Is this a desperate Las Vegas- like project with an artist who's done almost everything in the business? Or is it, even worse, a copy of what drummers Charlie Watts and Ginger Baker already have done? Wrong! It's simply a pop-star playing jazz, because he think it's challenging and fun. This is NOT singing the old million dollar selling hits over and over again, it's about hard-core big band drumming, it's about making wonderful noise! Live!

'A Hot Night in Paris': • Sussudio [6:50] • That's All [5:31] • Invisible Touch [6:13] • Hold on my Heart [6:34] • Chips & Salsa [5:24] • I Don't Care Anymore [6:08] • Milestones [6:26] • Against All Odds [4:57] • Pick Up The Pieces [12:09] • Los Endos [10:03]

Collins first heard Buddy Rich leading his fantastic big band in 1966 (before Genesis and Brand X was formed). Later he was inspired by, among others, big band master Sonny Payne in Count Basie's burning ensemble. Ever since, Collins has had a secret dream of playing with his own 20 piece big band. Now the dream is reality and this fantastic musician is bringing jazz to a larger audience.

Phil Collins has done interesting work with stunning horn sections before, mainly on his solo recordings. The exceptional this time is the much larger format, the instrumental setting and the musical style. Playing in a big band is not only keeping time, it requires a lot from a drummer, and the standard is set by monsters like Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Jo Jones, Mel Lewis and Sonny Payne.

Collins is (to my big surprise) according to Down Beat a non-chart-reader. When rehearsing the arrangements he had to use the same method as old Buddy Rich did: First he sat down listening to what a fast reading "ghost drummer" read. Then he memorized all the kicks, fills and endings in the rather complex arrangements. In the end he played them a hundred times better than the other guy!

Besides having a incredible memory, giving him total control over the arrangements, Collins is leading the band with authority and humour. In 'That's All' he is kicking hard with the brass and is bashing in some nasty fills. In 'Sussudio' he is playing powerful "on-the-edge" triplets on bass drum and cymbals, and in 'I Don't Care Anymore' he is dropping bombs when needed! Most important: Collins sound like he is having big fun smashing his set of white Gretsch drums. (Gretsch are traditionally known for their open sound and are played by many jazz drummers.)

'A hot night in Paris' is a 71 minute live recording containing seven songs by Collins/Genesis, two standards and one original. The sound and production is brilliantly taken care off by Don Murray together with Daryl Stuermer and Phil Collins. John Clayton Jr. contributes with four arrangements, all of them absolute masterpieces, and the most interesting ones on the record. Two of them are in the hard-swinging Count Basie tradition ('That's All' and 'I Don't Care Anymore'), two in the more sophisticated Gil Evans style ('Hold on my Heart' and Miles Davis' 1958 up-tempo standard 'Milestones'). 'Hold on my Heart' is a breathtaking ballad with beautiful harmonies elegantly written out for the woodwinds. Harry Kim is soloing on flugelhorn and Collins plays brushes for the first time on record!? What more can you get?

Sammy Nestico have turned the hit 'Invisible Touch' upside down with charm, but the mood is disturbed by a rather corny blues introduction, with "long-time-straight-eight-note-rock-drummer" Collins not swinging too well playing his hi-hat. (Sorry Phil, I had to arrest you on some little jazz-nerd detail!)

Featured soloist on many of the tracks is Gerald Albright on alto saxophone. His own 'Chips & Salsa' is a groovy number, but too

Torstein Ellingsen writes for Jazznytt, Norway's leading jazz magazine, he is a big band drummer with the Sandvika Big Band. Torstein plays Gretsch drums.

close to what fusion group Spyro Gyra is doing. 'Against All Odds' is the record's most boring track, a ballad without surprises.

'Pick up the Pieces' successfully brings in funk guru George Duke and young madman James Carter. The first contributing with his characteristic fast piano lines, the later blowing an energetic freeform tenor solo, making the audience go crazy.

Worth the money alone is a fantastic ten minute version of the 1976 Genesis composition 'Los Endos'. It's kept in the same key and tempo as the original. Added to it is a groovy Chick Corea-like salsa interlude in the middle. Tony Banks' old lines on analogue synthesizers is orchestrated out for big band by Harry Kim. It's a brilliant idea and it's cleverly done. The band manage to keep the majestic and mysterious mood of this symphonic masterpiece. The concert reaches its final climax with the outro version of the 'Squonk' theme, and both Daryl Stuermer and Gerald Albright give us some drastic soloing. Then it's all over! It's live, it's entertainment – and it's impressing!

TORSTEIN ELLINGSEN