feat. Nat King Cole & Les Paul - "Body And Soul"

When Norman Granz choose the Jazz musicians for the first of what became a series of concerts at the Philharmonic Hall in Los Angeles, little could he imagine that within a few years two of them would become major stars - in the 'Pop', not Jazz, idiom. And neither could the latent stars themselves, whose names were Nat "King" Cole and Les Paul.The year was 1944, the Second World War was raging, Los Angeles was a busy, busy town, and its illustrious 'suburb' Hollywood was even busier. Of course, the musicians were top class: there was Nat Cole on piano, plus Johnny Miller from his Trio on bass and Lee Young, Lester's brother and a sometime accompanist of Cole, on drums. J.J. Johnson, Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea and Shorty Sherock were all schooled in the 'Big Bands', Red Callender (swopping on bass) was a well-respected free-lance, which leaves Les Paul. His career as Country singer/guitarist 'Rhubarb Red' was not entirely over, but around Los Angeles he was known as a classy session man and leader of an innovative Jazz trio. No comment is necessary on the actual music, other than everyone involved was really involved, and all got their fair share to shine in the solo spots. As 'live' recording was not an easy operation in 1944, the sound holds up remarkably well. It had not been Granz's intention to record the concert but a producer with Armed Forces Network radio service (possibly the same unit Les Paul was then working for during his war service) asked permission to do so.