Blue Note Tone Poet
Jackie McLean’s 1962 album Let Freedom Ring reflected the change in the air of the early ‘60s: both the musical freedoms being explored by the emergent avant-garde movement and the social freedoms sought by the ascendent civil rights movement. This four-song set featuring the alto saxophonist with Walter Davis Jr. on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums melds the bluesy language of hard bop with the bristling energy of The New Thing. McLean’s emotive horn wails, shrieks, and soothes as the quartet moves through three striking McLean originals: “Melody For Melonae” (dedicated to his daughter), “Rene” (dedicated to his son), and “Omega” (dedicated to his mother). A plaintive rendition of the Bud Powell ballad “I’ll Keep Loving You” rounds out the date.
Recorded in 1956 for producer Tom Wilson’s short-lived Boston-based label Transition Records, Watkins At Large was the first of only two albums that the great bassist Doug Watkins would make as a leader. The Detroit native had moved to New York and begun to garner recognition for his contributions to the Art Blakey-Horace Silver co-led iteration of the Jazz Messengers as well as Bud Powell’s trio when Wilson decided to give him the opportunity to front his own recording date. Along with a first-rate ensemble featuring trumpeter Donald Byrd, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Duke Jordan, and drummer Art Taylor, Watkins swings through a stellar set of blues, ballads, and more including originals written by Jordan, Burrell, and Thad Jones.
Kenny Dorham added stellar entries to the catalogs of Blue Note, Riverside, and New Jazz throughout the 1950s as he solidified his reputation as a leading trumpeter and composer on the jazz scene. He began 1961 in the studio for Blue Note recording his excellent album Whistle Stop and later that year cut his first date for Pacific Jazz, Inta Somethin’, a spirited live recording that captured Dorham leading a quintet with alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Art Taylor at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. The band is firing on all cylinders throughout this set of four standards bookended by the Dorham originals “Us” and “San Francisco Beat.” A buoyant version of “It Could Happen To You” is performed quartet as a Dorham showcase, while the trumpeter lays out on “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” and “Lover Man” to give the spotlight to McLean.
The prodigious trumpeter Freddie Hubbard debuted on Blue Note in 1960 and produced an astounding run of recordings over the first half of the decade that culminated with Blue Spirits, which was the last of his 1960s studio albums for the label. This bluesy and spirited album presented five evocative Hubbard originals, each of which was given a richly textured arrangement for an ensemble that included a dynamic four-horn lineup. Drawn from two different sessions, the first date produced the gratifying opening track "Soul Surge" and the percolating "Cunga Black" with Hubbard joined by James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Kiane Zawadi on euphonium, Harold Mabern on piano, Larry Ridley on bass, Clifford Jarvis on drums, and Big Black on congas. A week later Hubbard returned to Van Gelder Studio with Spaulding, Zawadi, and a slightly different lineup including Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Pete LaRoca on drums. This second session rounded out the album with hard-charging performances of "Outer Forces" and "Jodo," as well as the mesmerizing title track.
This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.
FEATURES:
- 180gram Vinyl LP
- Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series
- Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
- Mastered from the Original Analog Tapes
- Deluxe Tip-On Jacket
Freddie Hubbard Blue Spirits (Blue Note Tone Poet Series) 180gram LP
John Coltrane's first great masterpiece, Blue Train, is the legendary saxophonist's sole album as a leader for Blue Note Records and is now available in its original mono form. Blue Note Tone Poet Series features all-analog, remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
Also Available: Stereo 2LP and 2CD