The festival was a smashing success, musically living up to its “Pan African” moniker with a combination of cutting-edge African-American jazz mixed with indigenous polyrhythms. Photographer and jazz buff Jacques Bisceglia was among those intoxicated by the proceedings in Algiers. Bisceglia shot material for jazz and cultural magazine Actuel, which had been purchased by the owners of the BYG record label. Along with Claude Delcloo, the founder and editor of Actuel and sometime jazz drummer, Bisceglia convinced the two remaining owners of BYG, Jean Georgakarkos and Jean-Luc Young, that the still-fledgling record label could make a huge impact by taking the critical mass of festival performers from the stages of Algiers into the recording studios of Paris.

“Jacques had convinced [BYG] that it was a great time to build the label, and offered contracts to us,” says Alan Silva. “Archie was under contract to Impulse already, so I don’t know how his deal went. But we all signed contracts with BYG – me, Sonny Murray, Dave Burrell, I think Andrew Cyrille – and then agreed to play on each other’s records [for no extra charge] so each of us could do our own thing [with simpatico personnel].”

About two weeks after the Pan African Cultural Festival, Paris became a musical paradise for players and fans of cutting-edge jazz. Shepp’s contingent along with other expatriates who had played Algiers, such as Clifford Thornton (who, according to Silva, had been living in Switzerland) and Leroy Jenkins (Morocco), converged on the city to join the Art Ensemble of Chicago and pianist Burton Greene, who had come over earlier in the year.

“It was definitely a groundbreaking time. I have never seen Paris like that again – very cosmopolitan. There were musicians there from all over the world,” Mitchell enthuses. “There were many state of the art facilities. There were concerts all over. Paris embraced the music, so it was up to your imagination what you wanted to do.

“The big meeting place was the American Center. There were several practice rooms where you could rehearse, there was a theater there for concerts. So all the musicians would be there, or be coming there during the day, getting ready for concerts and recording sessions. Back then, you just needed to know where to be at a certain time. I mean you could stay out the whole day and the whole night and then start back over after a coffee and a croissant.”