Home » Search Center » Results: My Blue Note Obsession
Results for "My Blue Note Obsession"
Hank Mobley: Soul Station - 1960
by Marc Davis
Hank Mobley is a mystery to me. On the one hand, I mostly love his relaxed style of bop. Sometimes it's round and smooth, sometimes rock hard, sometimes full of soul and funk. What's not to like? On the other hand, the same relaxed style can sometimes seem lazy. Critics sure thought ...
Not Feelin’ All Right: Guilt and Those Cheap Imported Box Sets
by Marc Davis
When I was in high school in the '70s, I bought a jazz record with an unusual request in the liner notes. The artist--I think it was Chick Corea--asked fans not to tape his record and pass it around to friends. He said (and I'm paraphrasing from memory): “If you like jazz and you ...
Earl Hines, Pete Johnson and James P. Johnson: Reminiscing at Blue Note – 1939-43
by Marc Davis
In the beginning, there was the piano--if not in jazz generally, then definitely at Blue Note Records. From the start, Blue Note founder Alfred Lion was obsessed with the piano. Blue Note's very first recordings, in 1939, were 19 tunes by boogie-woogie pianists Meade “Lux" Lewis and Albert Ammons. You can hear them all ...
Big John Patton: Along Came John - 1963
by Marc Davis
If you like Booker T and MG's, you'll love Big John Patton's Along Came John. It is, without a doubt, the funkiest, bluesiest, most soulful organ jazz record of all time, bar none. And that includes everything ever done by the legendary Jimmy Smith. Along Came John is a great party record, and once ...
Dizzy Reece: Star Bright – 1959
by Marc Davis
In the 1950s and '60s, there were two jazz trumpeters named Dizzy. One was famous. This is the other guy. Dizzy Reece is a pretty obscure name, even among Blue Note fans. He was a young hard bop trumpeter from Jamaica who spent most of the 1950s playing in Europe, recorded four very good ...
In Praise of Liner Notes
by Marc Davis
Joni Mitchell was onto something. You don't miss liner notes until you don't have them. I admit: Many liner notes leave me cold, for two reasons. First, they're way too detailed, especially in jazz. Every take has to be scrupulously annotated. Who played third trumpet in that big band? Was that Bird's second or ...
Duke Jordan: Flight to Jordan - 1960
by Marc Davis
If this isn't a perfect hard bop record, it comes awfully close. And coming from an artist who is virtually forgotten, it's all the sweeter. Duke Jordan was an A-list pianist who was there at the birth of bebop. He was part of Charlie Parker's classic quintet in 1947. So why don't we know ...
Tina Brooks: True Blue - 1960
by Marc Davis
I love finding little-known records by almost-unknown artists. There's nothing wrong with soaking in the comfortable pool of guys you know oh-so-well. I can listen to Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell all day. But even the greats can wear you out. How many times can you listen to the Beatles' “Hey Jude" ...
Kenny Burrell: Blue Lights – 1958
by Marc Davis
The name on the cover is Kenny Burrell, but Blue Lights isn't really a Kenny Burrell album. He may be the leader, but the stars are everyone else. This is truly a democratic 1950s jam session. I came to Blue Lights fresh from Burrell's Midnight Blue, expecting another laid-back blues guitar vehicle. Not even ...
Stanley Jordan: Standards Volume 1 – 1986
by Marc Davis
In my lust for Blue Note CDs, I've mostly focused on the label's classic period: the 1950s and '60s. That's where you'll find the very best hard bop and soul-jazz ever produced. But nothing good lasts forever, and no particular musical style stays popular for long. As bop and soul faded, so did Blue ...
