As a young teenager, guitarist Bireli Lagrene was a remarkable soundalike of Django Reinhardt. As he neared age 20, he largely tossed away his role model and delved into fusion and rock. By the time of this 1994 concert, Live in Marciac (a trio outing with bassist Chris Minh Doky and drummer André Ceccarelli), Lagrene had returned to straight-ahead jazz but (except for an occasional hint) he no longer did Reinhardt impressions, even on "Nuages." Lagrene actually comes closer to Barney Kessel in spots, although he mostly sounds fairly original. The well-played performance includes such numbers as "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" (which is over ten-and-a-half-minutes long), "Donna Lee," "Blues Walk" and "I Got Rhythm." An excellent example of Lagrene's playing of the mid-'90s.

Piano pumper Memphis Slim (1915-1988) and bass thumper Willie Dixon (1915-92) were kindred spirits. Both men were commanding vocalists and brilliant songwriters who played key roles in shaping the Chicago blues sound of the Fifties, though their roots were in an earlier era. The two blues titans usually worked separately, but during the late Fifties and early Sixties they frequently teamed up for recordings, club dates, and concerts, often in Europe, generating an instant, gusto-filled camaraderie. Though short-lived, theirs was one of the great duos in the history of the blues, and this long-unavailable recording of a 1962 show in Paris is a vital document of that association.