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1950s and ‘60s Blue Note – Is It All the Same?
by Marc Davis
A few years ago, a reader from California named Charlie F. started a provocative discussion in the All About Jazz forums with the title: “I've decided not to buy any more Blue Note albums." Oh boy. He began, “Recently, I came to notice something about Blue Note albums of the 50s-60s, which was that ...
J.R. Monterose – Blue Note 1536
by Marc Davis
J.R. Monterose is that rare bird at Blue Note Records--the guy who got one shot at leading a band, then practically vanished from the face of the earth. It's odd because the history of Blue Note is filled with famous guys (almost never gals) who took up residence and stayed just about forever. Think ...
Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims – Blue Note 1530
by Marc Davis
The title is Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims, but it should be the other way around. No knock on Jutta Hipp. She's great--a lively, fluid pianist who really could have been a big player in the 1950s bop scene if she hadn't suddenly disappeared and dropped out, forever. This is her date--a 1956 recording ...
The Magnificent Thad Jones – Blue Note 1527
by Marc Davis
Man does not live by hard bop alone, even on Blue Note. Sometimes, you just got to have a ballad. When you're in the mood, this is the record for you. Thad Jones provides the horn, and he has never been better. Jones is best known as co-leader of the big band that bore ...
Introducing the Three Sounds – Blue Note 1600
by Marc Davis
This is the moment I've been looking forward to, and dreading. The Three Sounds. A piano trio I've heard of, but never heard. And what I'd heard about them wasn't entirely nice. I was sure I would hate them, but still I was very curious. The Three Sounds. Here's a band that was intensely ...
Introducing Johnny Griffin – Blue Note 1533
by Marc Davis
In jazz and rock--heck, even in classical music--there is a sacred throne for those who play fast. Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson occupy such thrones. So do Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen. Fast is fun. Johnny Griffin played fast--very fast. The evidence is here in Griffin's very first album, Introducing Johnny ...
Horace Silver: Six Pieces of Silver – Blue Note 1539
by Marc Davis
Yep, this is the “Senor Blues" album. That's not the name, obviously, but it could be. This outstanding hard bop CD, recorded by Horace Silver's quintet in 1956, has 10 tracks, and three of them are “Senor Blues." No wonder. It's arguably the best track in the collection--a Spanish-tinged slow blues toe-tapper. Even so, ...
Kenny Dorham: The Complete ‘Round About Midnight at the Café Bohemia – Blue Note 1524
by Marc Davis
I think I have a new favorite hard bop record. For many years, I considered Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers the perfect hard bop band--the Beatles of the bop set. I still do. I don't know how Blakey managed to find the very best up-and-coming jazz musicians in America, year after year, but ...
Herbie Nichols Trio – Blue Note 1519
by Marc Davis
OK, now I'm cheating. At least it feels that way. The next CD on my quixotic Blue Note odyssey is Herbie Nichols Trio, a 1955-56 trio record by the criminally under-appreciated pianist. Great--I'm looking forward to it! I know almost nothing about Herbie Nichols, except that he was an overlooked talent who was often ...
Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House, Vol. 2 – Blue Note 1516
by Marc Davis
Raise your hand if you've never heard of Jutta Hipp. Yeah, me either. And yet, there she is, brooding and shadowy on the cover of her first Blue Note album. Yes, she--a female rarity in the almost-all-male world of 1950s Blue Note. And not American, either. Like Becks and Volkswagen, Jutta Hipp is a ...
