Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” Revived With Stéphane Grappelli’s Jazz Magic In A Lost Recording

If you’re a fan of both jazz violin and progressive rock or just find them interesting, this article is a treat for you.

Let’s take a stroll through music history with the track below, a version of Pink Floyd’s well-known 1975 song “Wish You Were Here.” It’s not your typical rendition as it features a solo from the French “Grandfather of Jazz Violinists,” Stéphane Grappelli.

The interesting part is that Grappelli and the Floyd boys found themselves recording in adjacent studios during that time of high-profile musical experimentation.

Plenty of people left positive feedback in the comment section. One wrote, “That is magnificent. That violin gives the song even more a sense of sadness. That wailing soulful violin is haunting and gives the song even more power.”

Another also complimented, “Honestly, this is the definitive version of this song just because the guitar just sounds so magnificent and the violin goes great as well. Of course it is sort of a demo, but if I were in that studio in 1975 I would’ve gone with this version and worked on it to make it a truly finished song.”

Despite the richness of the result you hear and the hours fans spent listening to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” album, Grappelli’s playing was hidden until Immersion reissued it three years ago. This long-lost mix of the title track, rediscovered, is considered by Pink Floyd founding member Nick Mason as a marked improvement over the version on the original album.