Visits Paris by Jimmy Raney

By the time Jimmy Raney recorded the ultra-cool Visits Paris, he was already at the peak of his career. Having started in 1944 with the Jerry Wald band, he'd pass through a passel of great jazz combos before ending up with Stan Getz in his classic quintet. There, the guitarist became world-renowned, and just weeks before cutting this album, in 1954, he was voted the number one guitarist in the world by French magazine Le Hot Jazz.

The album finds Raney on a (very) brief break from touring France, taking the opportunity to cut an album with some local musicians and putting himself very much in the foreground after having been a sideman on previous projects. He spins through a variety of songs, from his solo composition "Tres Chouette" (translation: "very cute") to standards such as "Night and Day" and "Love For Sale" with his trademark smooth guitar style. The French band is very much up to the challenge, and the album's bubbling energy on songs like "Too Marvelous For Words" is positively infectious.

James Elbert Raney was an American jazz guitarist born in Louisville, Kentucky, most notable for his work with the Red Norvo trio and later with Stan Getz. In 1954 and 1955 he won the Down Beat Critics' Poll for guitar. Raney worked in a variety of jazz mediums, including cool jazz, bebop, post bop, hard bop, and mainstream jazz.