A TOUT CASSER !

JACQUES DENJEAN & SON ORCHESTRE

UN DISQUE A TOUT CASSER (aka THE TOUGH TOUCH)

Surf, Hully Gully, Mashed Potatoes avec Jacques Denjean & son Orchestre

LP Polydor, France, 1963 (or 1964 as The Tough Touch ).

I continue with the (re)-posting of various LP I own but I haven't got the time to rip. I take the easy way by re-cycling rips downloaded from the net, mostly from now defunct blogs.

I found the LP here in Rabat a couple of years ago.  Pretty lucky I was as it is an album well sought after by collectors of sixties instrumentals.

Jacques Denjean is a French composer, arranger and band leader, active in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Two years ago I had posted a rare 25 cm (10”) of his Grand Orchestre de Jazz (see Rarity #10) dating from 1962.  The album I post today was recorded about one year later but could not be more different.  While the 25cm is straight big band jazz, this LP is typical sixties pop soul instrumentals.  Denjean – who was a pianist/organist – had listened to the American instrumental soul combos such as Booker T & the MGS and the Mar Keys.

Soul rock rhythms, groovy organs, a bit of percussion à la Mongo Santamaria (Watermelon Man), funky horns arrangements, all that played by seasoned jazz players and – so sixties! – the occasional wordless vocals.  Very enjoyable, a must for any retro party!

Two of the tracks were used as theme songs for French Radio programmes in 1963 («La Route» on France Inter and « Dans le vent» on Europe 1).

At the same period, the Belgian Radio was using tracks by Andre Brasseur who had his own organ combo.

As "The Tough touch" outside of France

With thanks to the original ripper.

The fisrt four tracks were release as a 45 rpm EP, highly collectable also.