The Blue Note Thread

I'm very impressed with this Kenny Cox Quintet album. It's pretty great blue note is featuring some of these lesser known records (classics series is a bit of an odd place for it though). Was not expecting the post-bop romp that this album is. This group has really great chemistry and makes for a fun listen. Saxophonist reminds me a lot of Wayne Shorter. Highly recommend.
 
The Tone Poet schedule for 2022 has been revised. Starting in February, 2 titles a month.

February 4, 2022

  • Joe Pass – For Django (Pacific Jazz, 1964)
  • Stanley Turrentine – Rough ‘N Tumble (Blue Note, 1966)
March 4, 2022

  • Sonny Red – Out of the Blue (Blue Note, 1959-60)
  • Grant Green – The Latin Bit (Blue Note, 1962)
April 1, 2022

  • Hank Mobley – Curtain Call (Blue Note, 1957)
  • Jackie McLean – Tippin’ The Scales (Blue Note, 1962)
May 6, 2022

  • Gerald Wilson – Moment of Truth (Pacific Jazz, 1962)
  • Freddie Hubbard – Breaking Point! (Blue Note, 1964)
June 3, 2022

  • Kenny Burrell – Kenny Burrell (Blue Note, 1956)
  • Grant Green – Feelin’ The Spirit (Blue Note, 1962)
July 1, 2022

  • Harold Vick – Steppin’ Out (Blue Note, 1963)
  • Bobby Hutcherson – Stick Up! (Blue Note, 1966)
August 5, 2022

  • Chet Baker & Art Pepper – Picture of Heath (Pacific Jazz, 1956)
  • Blue Mitchell – Bring It Home To Me (Blue Note, 1966)
September 2, 2022

  • Donald Byrd – At The Half Note Cafe, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1960)
  • ScoLoHoFo (Scofield-Lovano-Holland-Foster) – Oh! (Blue Note, 2002)
Not to be too contrarian, but this release list - which is really the 2021 list deferred to 2022 - is for the most part uninspiring. I have bolded the titles that for me are essential, and they are all titles which were released back in the day - not shelved tapes. The Byrd/Half Note is an essential, but I have a good Japanese pressing and this should really have been done as a double with both volumes. The Blue Mitchell is ok, but not his best - Blue is B grade generally, so this one is a step below The Thing To Do.

Both the Mobley and McLean titles are B grade sesssions, and it is a shame they are given preference over far superior sessions that still have not received a decent reissue - in the case of Mobley, Third Season, Thinking of Home and Faraway lands are massively superior and needed, in the case of McLean, Action, Bout Soul and Demons Dance are amazing sessions, while Tipping The Scales is pleasant and straight ahead.

Even Grant Green - Feelin The Spirit is a great record, Latin Bit somewhat less so...I don't really need to hear another cheesy take on Besame Mucho...while Green Is Beautiful (smoking!) and Live At The Lighthouse remain buried. Does Joe not know that BN still produced amazing records after 1963?
 
FYI,
The BN Classics pressings for Rueben Wilson Love Bug and Jimmy Smith Home Cookin' have some QC issues, per a few folks on Discogs. I believe some people have received the Love Bug record in their Home Cookin' sleeves, inner labels on wrong discs etc. Check your copies.

My Home Cookin' appears to be the correct record, gonna listen later after work to confirm. But the Love Bug record has a Jimmy Smith Side 2 inner label on side 2 of Love Bug.
 
FYI,
The BN Classics pressings for Rueben Wilson Love Bug and Jimmy Smith Home Cookin' have some QC issues, per a few folks on Discogs. I believe some people have received the Love Bug record in their Home Cookin' sleeves, inner labels on wrong discs etc. Check your copies.

My Home Cookin' appears to be the correct record, gonna listen later after work to confirm. But the Love Bug record has a Jimmy Smith Side 2 inner label on side 2 of Love Bug.
Mine just arrived today from UDiscover but haven't had a chance to listen/open yet. Hoping mine are okay!
 
FYI,
The BN Classics pressings for Rueben Wilson Love Bug and Jimmy Smith Home Cookin' have some QC issues, per a few folks on Discogs. I believe some people have received the Love Bug record in their Home Cookin' sleeves, inner labels on wrong discs etc. Check your copies.

My Home Cookin' appears to be the correct record, gonna listen later after work to confirm. But the Love Bug record has a Jimmy Smith Side 2 inner label on side 2 of Love Bug.
Both mine are perfect!
 
I only picked up Home Cookin and mine is fine.

Gotta listen to that one again, my first impression is that it's a bit lackluster compared to other JS albums around the same time, or maybe it's just more introspective. Just wasn't blown away or anything.
 
Not to be too contrarian, but this release list - which is really the 2021 list deferred to 2022 - is for the most part uninspiring. I have bolded the titles that for me are essential, and they are all titles which were released back in the day - not shelved tapes. The Byrd/Half Note is an essential, but I have a good Japanese pressing and this should really have been done as a double with both volumes. The Blue Mitchell is ok, but not his best - Blue is B grade generally, so this one is a step below The Thing To Do.

Both the Mobley and McLean titles are B grade sesssions, and it is a shame they are given preference over far superior sessions that still have not received a decent reissue - in the case of Mobley, Third Season, Thinking of Home and Faraway lands are massively superior and needed, in the case of McLean, Action, Bout Soul and Demons Dance are amazing sessions, while Tipping The Scales is pleasant and straight ahead.

Even Grant Green - Feelin The Spirit is a great record, Latin Bit somewhat less so...I don't really need to hear another cheesy take on Besame Mucho...while Green Is Beautiful (smoking!) and Live At The Lighthouse remain buried. Does Joe not know that BN still produced amazing records after 1963?
Sounds more than a bit contrarian 😉

But seriously, all valid points!

A good reminder that music enjoyment is as much about time/place of influence as it is quality of performance. My first introduction to Grant Green was "The Latin Bit." Is it his best on vinyl? Not likely. But I don't own a great pressing of that album, so this is one I've been really looking forward to.

I think you indirectly raise another important point. If these 2021 Tone Poets got pushed into 2022, where did the 2022 titles go? Fall 2022? 2023?
 
Sounds more than a bit contrarian 😉

But seriously, all valid points!

A good reminder that music enjoyment is as much about time/place of influence as it is quality of performance. My first introduction to Grant Green was "The Latin Bit." Is it his best on vinyl? Not likely. But I don't own a great pressing of that album, so this is one I've been really looking forward to.

I think you indirectly raise another important point. If these 2021 Tone Poets got pushed into 2022, where did the 2022 titles go? Fall 2022? 2023?
2021 has become 2022, and 2022 has become 2023! My guess is that the next TP announcement will be in mid-2022, July -September, to announce any titles coming at the back end of 2022, if there are any.

Your point is good, BTW, and gives pause for some reflection. There are certainly titles I worship more due to time and place than pure performance quality (and those that I abhor, which may be very popular, for the same reason). If something is meaningful to people in their life, that is amazing. Music has been kind of a signpost for many of our lives, and if Latin Bit fits that for someone, 100% respect, and much more so than those who buy for FOMO or just because it's on the schedule.
 
Sounds more than a bit contrarian 😉

But seriously, all valid points!

A good reminder that music enjoyment is as much about time/place of influence as it is quality of performance. My first introduction to Grant Green was "The Latin Bit." Is it his best on vinyl? Not likely. But I don't own a great pressing of that album, so this is one I've been really looking forward to.

I think you indirectly raise another important point. If these 2021 Tone Poets got pushed into 2022, where did the 2022 titles go? Fall 2022? 2023?
Yea--I listened to my somewhat beat up copy of Joe Pass For Django a ton of times so I've been looking forward to the TP of this one for awhile too.

On the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of wants and buys, I didn't know much about the Kenny Cox album and went in kinda blind. But it only cost me around $15 and sometimes it's fun to sit down and listen to something for the first time on vinyl. I don't mind doing that occasionally and it's less than the price of a movie ticket for me. Really enjoying it so far and I know I'll revisit this one. That's what I have been liking about the BN series. Even if some aren't the shining jewels of the BN catalogue, it's letting me discover more jazz that I may not have listened to otherwise.
 
So what the fuck is going on? How did deer catch this? And then how did they spread it to each other or did they? They spend their time outside and are mostly solitary. Could there be a common infection source, say drinking water? And what the hell, Michigan?

Sounds more than a bit contrarian 😉

But seriously, all valid points!

A good reminder that music enjoyment is as much about time/place of influence as it is quality of performance. My first introduction to Grant Green was "The Latin Bit." Is it his best on vinyl? Not likely. But I don't own a great pressing of that album, so this is one I've been really looking forward to.

I think you indirectly raise another important point. If these 2021 Tone Poets got pushed into 2022, where did the 2022 titles go? Fall 2022? 2023?


Yea there is a lot of great music out there, past and present. This is the reason I try to pick out just the albums that are significant for me or are really different.

Grant Green’s Feelin’ Spirit was listed to while hammering out a pentatonic scale on either a old acoustics guitar or some old keyboard I got in elementary school but stuck around till HS. I swear those were some great sessions. Me alone in my room late at night. 😂
 
FYI, I just got an email from deep discount that Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil, is available again (the BN classic reissue from last January). I see on cogs that the lowest price in the US is $100, whereas this is the original $25. If you missed this 11 months ago, I highly recommend grabbing a copy.


 
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