condition (record/cover): NM / VG+ (light ring wear)

Paris, 1958: the "Moanin'" band conquering Europe, and Europe surrendering gladly. Art Blakey with Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons and Jymie Merritt - one of the classic Messengers editions, maybe the classic edition - live at the Olympia with the French audience going appropriately insane between numbers. This is hard bop at its most communicative: Golson's arrangements giving the band its elegant frame, Morgan's twenty-year-old trumpet blowing the frame apart, Timmons dropping the church into every chorus. The Paris recordings from this tour are treasured for good reason - band and city fell for each other hard, and you can hear it. Mercury edition.