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Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers – Blue Note 1517
by Marc Davis
And now we reach the point in our program entitled, “What's The Point?" As in: You already know this album, you may already own this album, and yet here we are, discussing an album that's 59 years old and so widely synonymous with hard bop and Blue Note Records that it was featured on ...
Gil Melle – Patterns in Jazz – Blue Note 1517
by Marc Davis
Sometimes, Blue Note surprises you. Often, the Blue Note catalogue is predictable, especially in the '50s and '60s. Some say it is too predictable. But if you dive deep, there are hidden gems slightly off the beaten hard-bop path. Case in point: Gil Melle's Patterns in Jazz. West Coast jazz ...
Jimmy Smith: A New Sound, A New Star, Vol. 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1512 and 1514
by Marc Davis
Listening to Jimmy Smith's early recordings is like listening to Chuck Berry play “Johnny B. Goode." Today, every rock guitarist from junior high school on knows the riff and can play it by heart. But Chuck Berry did it first, and arguably best. There were no great rock guitar licks before Chuck Berry. He created the ...
Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet
by Marc Davis
And now, a crossroads: At what price do I pass? It's the dilemma all collectors face eventually. At first, you buy the commons. A used CD at $4 is a no-brainer. A new CD at $10 or $12, easy to justify. But what do you do when the easies are gone and the price ...
Thad Jones: Detroit-New York Junction – Blue Note 1513
by Marc Davis
Before he became famous as the leader of a big band, Thad Jones was a trumpet player, and a damn good one. In 1956, Jones led his first jazz group. It was a small sextet--unlike his later, more celebrated ensemble, co-led by Mel Lewis. This short album, which chronicles that session, has only five ...
Thelonious Monk: Genius of Modern Music, Volume 1 – Blue Note 1510
by Marc Davis
There's bebop, there's hard bop--and then there's Thelonious Monk. It's not hard to imagine where the bebop pioneers found their new sound in the late 1940s, after World War II. It emerged from the big bands, which were dying. It was a natural progression. Hard-charging, uber-fast soloists pushed the limits of speed and rhythm, ...
My Pet Peeve: The Mislabeled CD – Clifford Brown Memorial Album – Blue Note 1526
by Marc Davis
And now it's time for a personal pet peeve, something far worse than a squeaky sax or a fumble-fingered pianist: The mislabeled CD. Today's example: The Clifford Brown Memorial Album. Let's start by noting that this is a terrific record--recorded in 1953, released in 1956, shortly after Brown's tragic death in a ...
Meade Lux Lewis: The Blues Piano Artistry of Meade Lux Lewis
by Marc Davis
In three decades of professional writing, I don't think I've ever used the word “twee." But I'm about to. Look it up. Dictionary.com says “twee" means “affectedly dainty or quaint." Put another way: Unnaturally cute. That's the celeste in jazz. It's cute and dainty and thoroughly unnatural. What's more, it's a mood ...
The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia, Volumes 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1507 and 1508
by Marc Davis
Is it possible for a band to be both legendary and underrated? The Jazz Messengers at the Café Bohemia makes that case. Jazz fans know the Jazz Messengers is the definitive, go-to band for straight-ahead hard bop. Art Blakey was both master drummer and master talent scout--the man who co-founded and sustained the celebrated ...
J.J. Johnson: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volumes 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1505 and 1506
by Marc Davis
Think of jazz, and the trombone almost never comes to mind. Didn't used to be. In the beginning, every jazz band had a trombone. But that was the Dixieland era, and Dixieland bands aren't much in vogue anymore. (Unless you're a fan of HBO's Treme and you listen to Trombone Shorty. Sadly, not enough ...
