Home » Search Center » Results: My Blue Note Obsession
Results for "My Blue Note Obsession"
Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation – 1970
by Marc Davis
Blue Note was never home to many big bands, but the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra recorded four albums for the label from 1967-70, and one is a certified classic. Consummation is the musical equivalent of Neapolitan ice cream--three flavors packed into one large container. The album contains three moods: soft and contemplative, sprightly and ...
Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil – 1964
by Marc Davis
It's hard to imagine a jazz musician who has had more success with more bands than Wayne Shorter. His tenor sax was an essential part of three landmark combos: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (1959-1964), Miles Davis' classic quintet (1964-70) and Weather Report (1971-86)--27 consecutive years of uninterrupted magnificence. In other words, if ...
Javon Jackson: Pleasant Valley – 1999
by Marc Davis
If the iconic sound of Blue Note Records could be summed up in just one band, it would surely be Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. For 35 years--1955 to 1990--the Messengers were the heart and soul of hard bop, on Blue Note and other labels. But what happened when Blakey died in 1990? ...
Leo Parker: Rollin' With Leo – 1961
by Marc Davis
What if I told you there's a saxman who was there at the birth of bebop--literally, he played on the very first bebop recording--and you've never heard of him? And what if I told you his life story is the very archetype of the tragic, drug-addicted jazz musician? Would you still want to hear ...
Newport Jazz Festival 1959
by Marc Davis
The collector asks: When is it OK to say, “I have enough, thanks. I don't need the live version, too." Consider the dilemma of Wolfgang's Vault, a musical treasure trove of old jazz and rock performances. If you've never been there, go now. The site is stunning. It is an enormous collection of long-lost ...
Grant Green: The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark – 1961-62
by Marc Davis
Imagine if someone discovered a stash of unreleased Beatles records 15 years after they broke up. Then imagine Apple Records released all that music in a 2-CD set. That's what Grant Green: The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark is like. I exaggerate, but not by much. Grant Green wasn't the Beatles of ...
Louis Smith: Here Comes Louis Smith – 1957
by Marc Davis
I'm not a musical snob. I'm not a guy to drop obscure musical names to impress friends and hipsters. But when I come across a name that is undeservedly obscure, I don't mind shouting it out the window. So here's my shout for today: Louis Smith! Chances are you've never heard of ...
Horace Silver: The United States of Mind – Revisited
by Marc Davis
At what point did Blue Note Records jump the shark? Is there a single moment when Blue Note stopped being the world's greatest purveyor of jazz and instead became an irrelevant producer of schlock? Truth is, it was a long, slow slide. In the 1950s, Blue Note was the greatest source of hard bop. ...
Charles Mingus: Mingus in Wonderland – 1959
by Marc Davis
In 1959, there were two Charles Minguses: the Mingus you knew and the Mingus you didn't. In May 1959, Mingus recorded his very best album ever: the incomparable Mingus Ah Um. And I mean incomparable in the literal sense. There is, literally, no other record quite like it. It's a big band, but not ...
Art Blakey: A Night in Tunisia – 1961
by Marc Davis
Dizzy Gillespie's “A Night in Tunisia" has been done almost to death. Wikipedia says it has been recorded at least 500 times and it is the title track to at least 30 albums. It might be the most recorded bop tune of all time. Who did it best? Take your pick. Dizzy ...
