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Jean-Pierre Llabador — The Jazzy Years
(Castle Records (FR), 2025, 2LP / 2CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-10-13

The Jazzy Years Cover art

A brief recap: Jean-Pierre Llabador and his brother Jean-Claude Llabador were founding members of the French jazz-rock band Coïncidence. At some point following their second LP Clef de Ciel in 1979, Jean-Claude was killed in a car crash, effectively ending the band. Jean-Pierre would go forward on his own, releasing around a dozen albums beginning in 1984, and a number of those are in the instrumental jazz guitar vein; The Jazzy Years is a two-disc compilation of cuts culled from a number of those recordings, including El Bobo (1995), Fifth Edition (1989), Dialogues (with René Bosc), Friendship (1992) , Give Me Five (2007), and The French Guitar Connection (1989). Llabador’s playing style is stylish and fast, not so different from early John McLaughlin or the late Larry Coryell, yet his compositional style makes him certainly unique among guitarists, with a bit of a French twist informing every measure. The tracks at hand use a variety of supporting musicians, and if one only has the CD version, none of that detailed information is given, especially who else played on which track or that, and referring to Discogs is only going to help in a limited way, for example we see that on French Guitar Connection there were four bassists, three drummers and three keyboard players, with no details as to what tracks they play on. On the five tracks from Give Me Five and El Bobo, there is more detailed information to be found there. With the two discs at hand, the selection of fifteen tracks become an entry point to his music, with the six original albums (all are currently available on CD) being a logical next step for those looking to explore further. On his website there is a twelve minute sample consisting of bits from many of the tracks crossfaded every minute or so, which gives a general idea of what’s on offer here. So the way this is being sold, one needs to buy the double (black) vinyl, which comes with an additional picture disc, plus two CDs; presently the CDs are not available separately, and there doesn’t appear to be any way to download this outstanding compilation.

Filed under: Archives, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Jean-Pierre Llabador

More info
http://www.castle-records.fr/produit/jean-pierre-llabador-the-jazzy-years/

 

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