Other titles to be released on October 7th include lesser-known gems from Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Sam Rivers, Charlie Rouse and Larry Young
As evidence that great music doesn't get stale but instead improves with age, the Blue Note Connoisseur Series releases Passing Ships, a never-before issued little-big band album by composer-pianist Andrew Hill, along with five restorations of classic yet still edgy recordings by trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonists Hank Mobley, Sam Rivers and Charlie Rouse, and organist Larry Young.
Featuring Hill's propulsive yet elusive piano and seven previously unheard original compositions performed by an all-star nonet including the blazing trumpets of Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece, multi-reeds virtuoso Joe Farrell, trombonist Julian Priester, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Lenny White on his first date after his debut on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Passing Ships is a long-lost gem by an artist Blue Note Records founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff considered “the next Thelonious Monk." Hill, a genius of the 1960s, is still in the forefront of exploratory music in 2003, as recipient of the prestigious JazzPar Award and winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's Composer of the Year category.
Though rich in memorable themes and evocative written backdrops to urgent and mysterious solos, the ambitious Passing Ships was deemed “non-commercial" and shelved upon its completion in 1969, a low point for jazz record sales. Hill and others recalled it, but the project languished for 30 years in the Blue Note vaults due to a mistake about master tapes prepared by legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
“It turned out the stereo tape was only a rough mix," producer Michael Cuscuna explains in his liner notes. “So I dug out the multi-track tape, and there it all was!" He continues: “Nothing else in Andrew's discography so clearly foreshadows the kind of writing that he would introduce in 2002 with his big band."
“This shows I've been arranging music for decades," mentions Hill, who at age 66 lives in Jersey City, New Jersey and concertizes in the U.S. and Europe. “At the time I had a fever to write for as many different types of instrumentation as possible, and it was a foundation for things I did when I left New York City in the '70s and worked out of the limelight, in Syracuse where I tried to stage string quartets, for instance, and in Oregon with symphony orchestras."
Hill is philosophical about the gap between the creation of Passing Ships and its emergence. “Things happen when they're suppose to happen," he says. “Nothing was ever promised, you know, and overall life's been better than I was told it would be."
The other Blue Note albums restored in this Connoisseur Series release are also life enhancers.
- Saxophonist Sam Rivers, now a vigorous 80-year-old composer and bandleader residing in Florida, made his bold debut as a leader in 1965 with Fuschia Swing Song, accompanied by pianist Jaki Byard, bassist Ron Carter and 20-year-old drummer Tony Williams.
- Charlie Rouse (1924-1988), tenor saxophonist in Thelonious Monk's quartet, recorded a set of Caribbean calypsos, Brazilian sambas and bossas for Bossa Nova Bacchanal in 1962 with guitarists Kenny Burrell and Chauncey “Lord" Westbrook, Monk bassist Larry Gales, and a unique percussion section of Willie Bobo, drums; Patato Valdes, conga; and Garvin Masseaux, chekere. “One For Five," a bonus track from 1965, spotlights trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Billy Higgins.
- Prodigal trumpeter Lee Morgan (1938-1972) was joined by r&b-linked tenor saxophonist David “Fathead" Newman and an ace rhythm section (pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Billy Higgins) for Sonic Boom, recorded in 1967, unreleased until 1979, and then available only briefly.
- Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley (1930-1986), hard bop exemplar, is in peak form on The Flip, his penultimate Blue Note album recorded in Paris in 1969 with trumpeter Dizzy Reece, trombonist Slide Hampton and drummer Philly Joe Jones joined by European pianist Vince Benedetti and bassist Albu Cullaz.
- Organ innovator Larry Young (1940-1978) recorded Mother Ship in 1969 as his final Blue Note album; unreleased until 1980 and quickly out-of-print, it has five striking tunes played by fiery trumpeter Lee Morgan, muscular but nearly forgotten tenor saxist Herbert Morgan, and stalwart Newark drummer Eddie Gladden.
The Blue Note Connoisseur Series is notable for its original and newly commissioned liner notes, cover art, and 24 bit digital mastering of the original analog recordings.
Blue Note Connoisseur Series
Andrew Hill Passing Ships (90417)
Sam Rivers Fuschia Swing Song (90413)
Charlie Rouse Bossa Nova Bacchanal (90416)
Lee Morgan Sonic Boom (90414)
Hank Mobley The Flip (90412)
Larry Young Mother Ship (90415)
Release Date: October 7, 2003
For more information contact All About Jazz.
