Claude Vasori – Cocktail d’Images

Musique Pour l’Image was a small library label based out of Paris founded by pianist Robert Vigier in 1968. The label is popular with library fiends due to the fantanstic cover art and, more importantly, the high quality music.

Almost all of the MPI albums I’ve seen feature black and white covers, and many, such as this one, have really bugged out collages. The cover here actually does a pretty good job of capturing the dreamy themes of the album, which appear to be romance, glamour, and a bit of mystery.

Although the music is very jazzy (jazz was Vasori’s muse), it possesses that other worldly and experimental spirit which confirms you’re listening to a library recording: jazz solos featuring Andean recorder, waltzes for harp and flamenco guitar, and other twisted takes on the ordinary that leave you scratching your head. Unlike a lot of other library albums this one is good from start to finish too. Recommended.