This is hardly comparable to the sensational Birdland 1953 set reissued last year (and reviewed in Jazzwise 185) but well worth hearing nonetheless. Taped by the late Alan Douglas around the time he was also recording Billy Strayhorn – the actual dates are vague, apart from the half-hour with Zoot – it finds Bud with his preferred Parisian accompanists. Though the fire in his playing is somewhat dampened, the accuracy is still there and this was either a good night, or a carefully selected representation. The repertoire, including three Monk tunes, is nothing that he wouldn't have played a dozen years earlier, but the invention and its execution are impressive. Powell also demonstrates an enviable memory, not only playing ‘Lover Man’ with the exact intro from Sarah Vaughan's 1945 version, but finishing ‘Night In Tunisia’ with a note-perfect reproduction of Gillespie's closing cadenza from his 1946 recording. The trio is perhaps a bit too pushy for Sims, but he plays well and extracts longer solos from the pianist, so this ends up superior to many other early-1960s Powell items.