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Ike Quebec
“This incontestably superior musician has been almosttotally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to whichhe has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man ofthe Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style.I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebechas made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his souland much more recognition to his name.” Leonard Feather
An accomplished dancer and pianist, he switched to tenorsax as his primary instrument in his early 20s, and quicklyearned a reputation as a promising player. His recordingcareer started in 1940, with the Barons of Rhythm. Herecorded or performed with Frankie Newton, Hot Lips Page,Roy Eldridge, Trummy Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carterand Coleman Hawkins. Between 1944 and 1951, he workedwith Cab Calloway. He recorded for Blue Note records inthis era, and also served as a talent scout for the label(helping pianists Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell come towider attention) and, due to his exceptional sight readingskills, was an uncredited impromptu arranger for many BlueNote sessions.
Quebec recorded only sporadically during the 1950s,though he still performed regularly. He kept abreast on newdevelopments in jazz, and his later playing incorporatedelements of hard bop and soul jazz.
In 1959 he began what amounted to a comeback with aseries of albums on the Blue Note label. Blue Noteexecutive Alfred Lion was always fond of Quebec's music,but was unsure how audiences would respond to thesaxophonist after a decade of low visibility. In the mid-to-late1950s, Blue Note issued a series of Quebec singles for thejuke box market; audiences responded well, and this wasrecently reissued as “The Complete Blue Note 45Sessions.” As strange as it sounds, these cuts are allexcellent, as Quebec rose to the occasion and delivered thegoods.
He made some reputable recordings in the early ‘60’s as“The Art of Ike Quebec,” “Heavy Soul,” and “It Might as wellbe Spring.” These were all recorded and released in 1961.These albums led up to his masterpiece for Blue Note, “Blueand Sentimental,” (1961) this collection of ballads offers himplenty of room and the tempo is suited to his heavy rollingsound. Quebec went on to record some more sessions forBlue Note going into 1962.
Quebec's comeback was cut short by his death from lungcancer, in 1963.
Source: James NadalTags
Exploration (Don Friedman Quartet), Classic Jazz from Miles Davis, Dinah Washington, Freddie Hubbard, Recent Jazz from Tina May, Dave Douglas, Michael Mayo, Birthday Music from Ike Quebec, Malachi Thompson, Vital Information, and more
by David W. Daniels
The program will feature classic jazz, current jazz that is in the tradition of classic jazz, jazz fusion, and music by local artists covering all forms of jazz. We do this in three segments, each an hour long: 1: Classic jazz; 2: Recent jazz that is in the tradition; and 3: Jazz musicians who had birthdays during the week (August 17-23). Playlist Don Friedman Quartet “Exploration" from Dreams And Explorations (Riverside) 00:00 Miles Davis “Jeru" from Birth Of ...
Continue ReadingIke Quebec: Blue & Sentimental - 1962
by Marc Davis
Everyone loves a good comeback--especially if the second act is better than the first. Think of Tina Turner, Marlon Brando and George Foreman. Or tenor saxman Ike Quebec. Quebec isn't exactly a household name, but his seven Blue Note records are uniformly terrific, and Blue & Sentimental is among the best ever produced by the label. That it came after Quebec had already achieved success (if not fame) among the big bands of the 1940s, and ...
Continue ReadingIke Quebec: Easy Living
by Greg Simmons
Ike Quebec is one of those funny figures in Blue Note Records' history. By the late fifties, after he'd been out of recording for a number of years, he was too old to really be at the hard-bop vanguard (he was born in 1918) but not old enough to be a senior statesman like Coleman Hawkins or Duke Ellington. Much of his involvement with the record label in those years was as an A&R man, scouting for new talent for ...
Continue ReadingIke Quebec: Blue & Sentimental
by Chris May
Ill health and “personal problems" prevented Ike Quebec (1918-63) from becoming the star he could otherwise have been. The tenor saxophonist straddled 1940s swing-to-bop with as much style as his near contemporary, Dexter Gordon. His warm, weighty, approximately out-of-Coleman Hawkins playing was tailor-made for the hard bop era which followed--but he spent most of the 1950s silent, with a gorilla on his back, and his 1959 re-emergence on Blue Note, for whom he'd first recorded in the mid 1940s, was ...
Continue ReadingIke Quebec: Bossa Nova Soul Samba
by Chris May
This is quite a painful disc to listen to. Not because of the music--which is beautiful--but because of the events surrounding it. Recorded in October 1962, it was to be tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec's final album. Less than four months later he died of lung cancer. This fact rather sticks in the mind like a house guest who has outstayed his or her welcome.
Wistful, pretty and elegiac, the music is somehow a fitting final statement from a ...
Continue ReadingIke Quebec: It Might As Well Be Spring
by Chris May
A generation older than the tenor saxophone young Turks who helped define Blue Note during its 1955-65 heyday, Ike Quebec's style was fully formed a decade before the innovations of Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson--and his legacy has been consistently overshadowed as a result. But while Quebec may not have been storming any barricades, his sumptuous, blues-drenched, swing-to-bop playing sounds as heartachingly beautiful today as it must have done all those years ago.
Born in 1918 and a ...
Continue ReadingIke Quebec: The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions
by Chris May
It's hard enough finding any sort of jukebox in a bar these days, and as for one with some jazz on it, you can forget it, at least here in Inglan. But there was a time, in inner city US neighbourhood bars anyway, when both things were commonplace. The last gasp was the early '60s, when hard bop was still kicking and rock and soul had yet to knock it sideways.
The 26 good-time--but, as you'd expect from ...
Continue ReadingJazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name.” ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name.” ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name.” ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name.” ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name... ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name... ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name... ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name... ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today! “This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name... ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Ike Quebec
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Ike Quebec's birthday today!
“This incontestably superior musician has been almost totally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to which he has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man of the Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style. I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebec has made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his soul and much more recognition to his name... ...
read more
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Ike Quebec
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Born: August 17, 1918
Died: January 16, 1963
