There's a nice tribute from George Shearing in the liner notes to this limited edition reissue of one of Erroll Garner's most celebrated albums. It mentions Garner's ‘musical and technical ability’ to carry out his highly original approach to jazz piano, though it doesn't quote George's nickname for Garner – ‘the scraper’ (because of the legato way he'd ‘scrape’ through a melody). The opening ‘La Vie En Rose’ is a perfect example of that scraping style, played virtually solo with Garner's usual liberties with time and melody. But lest that lull the listener into a false sense of security his own ‘Paris Bounce’ that follows is a characteristically hard-swinging trio number. Both things come together in a version of the Leo Robin standard ‘Louise’, which in any other hands but Garner's would fall apart following a statement of the theme that's about as close to the original as a Cubist painting. The album came about after Garner toured France in 1957, and back in New York he recorded a kind of aural postcard of French-related themes, originally issued by CBS in France as Impressions de Paris. For this release (according to the liner notes) we have five additional tracks recorded at the same session that would not fit on the original LP, in fact that's not quite the case, because though that's true of the European issue, on the other side of the Atlantic, American Columbia brought them out along with the originals as part of a double album in late 1958, and here there are actually four tracks missing from that! But this is a minor quibble, everything that is here is vintage Garner. If you compare it with the much-lauded Nightconcert from Amsterdam (by the same trio) that was released last year on Mack Avenue, this is by far the superior album. Yes, it's a studio session not a live gig, but Garner's spontaneity is not affected one iota, the piano is in tune, and the trio gels perfectly. So, amid the recent run of Garner reissues, particularly those from the laudable Erroll Garner Jazz Project, this reappearance of a great record is one to treasure.