(Jerry Mengo - French bandleader, film composer, prolific recording artist. Doesn't ring any bells?)

Continuing our romp through French Jazz and Big Band - Jerry Mengo was a prolific band leader and film composer who was active for several decades in France. He had massive popularity throughout France and Europe and, like Jacques Helian, was widely regarded by American musicians who visited and worked in Paris during the pre-war and post-war periods.

Sadly, almost none of his material has ever been available in the U.S. and this track Un Ciel Bleu en Hiver, recorded in 1953 is one of the great instrumentals from the early 1950s. It borrows heavily from the Claude Thornhill/Gil Evans-Stan Kenton school, but it's more of a tribute to solid arranging than performing a facsimile.

A good track to break the ice with.