Birth Of The Blue: “Uncompromising Expression” Box Set Celebrates 75 Years of Blue Note

Blue Note Records’ 75th anniversary celebration has already encompassed compact disc and vinyl reissues from the venerable jazz label’s classic roster of artists including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Clifford Brown and Thelonious Monk.  On November 4, the Blue Note party continues with the release of a new 5-CD box set.  Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression is the title of both the box set, a 75-track compendium of key Blue Note singles, and an accompanying hardcover book.  Uncompromising Expression, the book, has been written by jazz historian Richard Havers who has also curated the box set.  Havers performed the same duties last year for the book and CD releases of Verve: The Sound of America from Blue Note sister label Verve Records.

Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression, the box set, opens with the label’s very first artist, pianist Meade “Lux” Lewis, and comes to a close 75 years later with bassist Derrick Hodge.  Among the numerous artists featured are drummer Art Blakey, trumpeters Miles Davis and Donald Byrd, saxophonist John Coltrane, pianists Bud Powell and  Thelonious Monk, and vocalists including Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash and Cassandra Wilson.  (A separate set, with all of Monk’s Blue Note single releases on two CDs, will be issued on the same date of November 4.)

Founded in 1939 by German immigrant/impresario Alfred Lion and musician Max Margulis, Blue Note was quick to recognize the seismic changes coming to the sound of jazz – namely bebop and hard bop – in the late 1940s.  Adapting with the times, the Blue Note roster boasted some of the most legendary names in jazz, among them Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Art Blakey, Fats Navarro, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. In the late 1960s, Blue Note was acquired by Liberty Records, which was in turn acquired by United Artists (the conglomerate of which was bought by EMI in 1979). The label’s output waned by the end of the 1970s, but within a few short years, the Blue Note name was reactivated as many of the label’s past triumphs were revisited on CD.  Eventually, Blue Note returned to new music including Come Away with Me, the Grammy-winning 2002 debut album by Norah Jones.  In 2006, a number of related labels were consolidated by EMI as the Blue Note Label Group, and today, Blue Note is a division of Universal Music Enterprises, a result of Universal’s purchase of many of EMI’s assets.

Each of the box set’s five discs covers a specific era of the label’s evolution.  Over 75 years, Blue Note has been at the vanguard of boogie, bebop, hard bop, bossa nova, soul jazz and beyond, and Havers has chronologically compiled the discs as follows:

• Disc 1: From Boogie To Bop 1939 – 1953
• Disc 2: Messengers, Preachers and Hard Bop 1953 – 1958
• Disc 3: Struttin’, Moanin’ and Somethin’ Else 1958 – 1960
• Disc 4: Bossa, Blues and Hits 1961 – 1965
• Disc 5: Can You Dig It? 1969 – 2014

After the jump, we have more on these upcoming releases!

Release Round-Up: Week of July 15

Average White Band, All the Pieces: The Complete Studio Recordings 1971-2003 (Edsel)

Nineteen discs of AWB goodness, including two discs of rarities? Now that’s something to blow your horn over. Full specs will be posted later today. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

John Coltrane and Friends, Sideman: Trane’s Blue Note Sessions (Blue Note)

Three discs of ‘Trane’s time as a sideman, with performances by Miles and Monk, all in glorious mono. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Jerry Garcia Band, Garcia Live Volume 4: March 22, 1978 – Veteran’s Hall (ATO)

The latest volume in this official vintage live series is an unreleased, double-disc show of Garcia and band (including fellow Dead Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux) in Sebastopol, California. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ride This ‘Trane: Blue Note Preps Complete Packages For Clifford Brown, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane

The 75th anniversary campaign for Blue Note Records is continuing with a trio of titles from some of the venerable jazz label’s all-time greatest artists.  Following up on the recent deluxe presentation from Miles Davis of his Complete Blue Note Recordings, the label has announced new collections for Clifford Brown, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.  The Miles volume represented his complete Blue Note recordings as a leader, derived from his 10-inch LPs Young Man with a Horn, Miles Davis Volume 2 and Volume 3 as well as the alternate takes issued on the 12-inch LPs Miles Davis Volume 1 and Volume 2 and the expanded CD issues of those two releases.  In that spirit, each of the new sets will present the artists’ original recordings sequenced as they were first released on 10-inch or 78 RPM singles – a marked departure from previous CD versions, which have used recording chronology or later 12-inch versions of the albums for their sequencing.  Also like the Davis release, each of these Blue Note Select collections will be housed in hardbound book-style packaging with a new essay, session photos, and original album art elements.  For those preferring their jazz digital-style, all packages will also be made available as digital downloads.

The 3-CD set Brownie Speaks: The Complete Blue Note Recordings arrives from trumpet great Clifford Brown on June 10.  The set chronicles his three 10-inch albums from 1953 as recorded with trombonist J.J. Johnson (Jay Jay Johnson with Clifford Brown), saxophonist Lou Donaldson (New Faces New Sounds) and his own sextet (New Star on the Horizon).  It adds live recordings from New York’s fabled Birdland.  These performances were led by drummer Art Blakey, and feature Brown alongside Donaldson and pianist Horace Silver. Brownie Speaks presents the three original 10-inch album sequences for the first time since the mid-1950s, with the Birdland shows in their original performance sequence for the first time ever. The 34-page booklet includes a new essay by Kirk Silsbee.

Next up, on July 15, is another 3-CD set: John Coltrane and Friends’ Sideman: Trane’s Blue Note Sessions.  This set covers the period between 1956-1957 during which time saxophonist Coltrane was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet and was also playing with pianist Thelonious Monk (the subject of a future Blue Note Select project).  Sideman has been conceived by former Blue Note Records president Bruce Lundvall, and marks the first time Coltrane’s sideman sessions for Blue Note have been collected in one place.  (A similar collection, Side Steps, was issued collecting Coltrane’s Prestige Records sessions in 2009.)  These recordings include albums led by bassist Paul Chambers (Chambers’ Music, a.k.a. High Step, and Whims of Chambers), saxophonist Johnny Griffin (A Blowing Session) and pianist Sonny Clark (Sonny’s Crib). The entire set will be in mono, and premieres the mono version of Clark’s album on CD. The 34-page booklet boasts a new essay from Coltrane biographer and jazz historian Ashley Kahn, author of A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album.

After the jump: details on Blue Note Select’s upcoming release from Thelonious Monk, plus track listings and pre-order links!

Release Round-Up: Week of November 26

The Animals, The Mickie Most Years and More / Tower of Power, Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow – Live on the Air & in the Studio 1974 / Lisa Fischer, So Intense / The Alabama State Troupers, Road Show / The Obsessed, The Church Within (Real Gone Music)

An Animals box set and a compilation of unreleased Tower of Power greatness head off Real Gone’s slate for the end of the year!

The Animals: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Tower of Power: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Lisa Fischer: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The Alabama State Troupers: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
The Obsessed: CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) LP (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Badfinger, Timeless: The Musical Legacy (Apple)

A new single-disc compilation devoted to the would-be Beatle heirs, the first to be derived from Apple’s 2010 remasters. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)

Big Star, Playlist: The Very Best of Big Star (Legacy) / Nothing Can Hurt Me (Magnolia)

A double dose of Big Star today: a new compilation in Legacy’s Playlist line that marries some of the band’s classic early recordings with latter-day live tracks from their mid-’90s reunion, and a new feature-length documentary on the band.

Playlist: Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K.
Nothing Can Hurt Me: DVD (Amazon U.S.) BD (Amazon U.S.)

Thelonious Monk, Paris 1969 (Blue Note)

An unreleased live set from later in Monk’s career, available in multiple formats (including an equally unseen video!).

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Soundgarden, Screaming Life/Fopp (Sub Pop)

An expanded remaster of the Seattle grunge icons’ debut EPs.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Barbra Streisand, Back to Brooklyn (Columbia)

Barbra takes Brooklyn – specifically, the new Barclays Center – by storm in these shows, recorded in October 2012.

CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Various Artists, It’s a Scream How Levine Does the Rhumba (Idelsohn Society)

Subtitled “The Latin-Jewish Musical Story 1940s-1980s,” this double-disc set (featuring performances by Carole King, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and more) is a fun, occasionally wacky musical archaeology session that’ll keep you amused and informed. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Wicked: Original Broadway Cast Recording 10th Anniversary Special Edition (Verve/UMe)

Defy gravity with this deluxe two-disc version of the Tony-winning musical about the witches of Oz. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Original Jazz Classics Celebrates 60 Years of Riverside with Evans, Montgomery, Baker, More

From its headquarters at 553 West 51st Street in New York, New York, the Riverside Records label presided over an impressive roster of jazz talent.  Founded in 1953 by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Riverside was home at one time or another to Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Alberta Hunter, Johnny Griffin, plus a number of artists currently being recognized with deluxe reissues from the Riverside catalogue: Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley and Milt Jackson, Chet Baker, Wes Montgomery and Bill Evans.  That “Who’s Who” of jazz is represented via five new titles as part of Concord Records’ Original Jazz Classics series celebrating Riverside’s 60th anniversary:

• Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan, Mulligan Meets Monk (1957)
• Cannonball Adderley with Milt Jackson, Things Are Getting Better (1958)
• Chet Baker, Plays the Best of Lerner and Loewe (1959)
• Wes Montgomery, So Much Guitar! (1961)
• The Bill Evans Trio, How My Heart Sings! (1964)

All five titles are available now, newly remastered by Joe Tarantino and expanded with bonus tracks and new liner notes by writers including Neil Tesser (Mulligan and Monk), Willard Jenkins (Adderley and Jackson), James Rozzi (Baker), Marc Myers (Montgomery) and Doug Ramsey (Evans).  Producer Orrin Keepnews’ original notes have been reprinted, as well.  After the jump, we’ll take a closer look at each of them!

Cast Your Fate to the Wind with New “Very Best of Jazz” Collections From Brubeck, Evans, Guaraldi, More

What makes a legend most?

When it comes to the legends of jazz, Concord Music Group has that answer for you.  Earlier this year, Concord launched The Very Best Of, a new series of “Jazz 101” collections designed at an affordable price point.  These compact sets might introduce new fans to daunting catalogues, or offer longtime fans a compact sampler of a favorite artist.  The first wave of titles arrived for Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone), Chet Baker (trumpet) and Wes Montgomery (guitar), but the second group of artists is equally illustrious.  Four are pianists that would make any jazz buff’s all-star team, and one is an alto saxophone great:  Vince Guaraldi (piano), Dave Brubeck (piano), Thelonious Monk (piano), Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone) and Bill Evans (piano), with his first Trio (Evans, Paul Motian on drums and Scott LaFaro on bass).  The rich family of labels under the Concord umbrella – including Fantasy, Milestone, Riverside and Prestige – captured many of these titanic talents before they were snapped up by larger labels, and so these compilations offer a window into their formative years, including a selection of their signature tunes.

Good grief!  Composer and pianist Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976) isn’t always spoken of in the same breath as contemporaries like Brubeck, Evans or Monk (all represented in this piano-heavy quintet of releases!), most likely due to the overwhelming “crossover” success he experienced as the writer of some very famous songs: namely “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” and the Peanuts-inspired tracks “Linus and Lucy” and “Christmas Time is Here.”  Though “Cast Your Fate” netted Guaraldi a Billboard hit and a Grammy Award, its popularity was arguably eclipsed by his series of Peanuts soundtracks on which he gave jazzy life to Charles M. Schulz’s comic-strip characters.  And “Cast Your Fate” was the tune that persuaded producer Lee Mendelson to make the call to Guaraldi that led to the Peanuts jobs.  It leads off this 14-track assemblage, and remains one of the most beguiling songs ever.  Whether you think of it as jazz (its majestic piano solo certainly qualifies!) or pop, its Latin groove, shifting mood and changing tempo all still captivate.  The Very Best of Vince Guaraldi also includes the Bay Area legend’s renditions of standards from Burton Lane and Frank Loesser, and Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, as well as his famed renditions of songs from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa’s Black Orpheus soundtrack.  (Another bossa nova from the pen of Jobim, “Outra Vez,” also appears, and the Brazilian legend’s influence on Guaraldi the composer and arranger is apparent.)

Needless to say, the Peanuts songs (“Linus and Lucy,” “Christmas is Coming,” “Charlie Brown Theme” and the instrumental-only “Christmas Time is Here”) occupy significant space on the collection.  How many children had their first introduction to jazz via Vince Guaraldi?  His dexterity and breezy style are recognizable on lesser-known songs like “Ginza,” with the pianist joined by Bola Sete on guitar, Monty Budwig on bass and Nick Martinez on drums.  Budwig would also play bass on “Linus and Lucy.”  A more reserved, slinky side of Guaraldi is brought out on John Lewis’ “Django,” on which he employs his trademark deceptive simplicity with another sympathetic group (Eddie Duran on guitar and Dean Reilly on bass).  All told, ten albums are excerpted from the 1956-1966 period, adding up to a primer on the man once known as “Dr. Funk” but forever immortalized as the musical voice of a boy named Charlie Brown.  (A more comprehensive career overview is also offered from Concord: 2009’s 2-CD, 31-track Definitive Vince Guaraldi.)

We’ve written often here about Bill Evans (1929-1980), one of the most-anthologized pianists ever, and a pioneer in the area of modal jazz (in which the solos build from the key, not – as is traditional – from chord changes only.)  Even while fighting considerable demons, Evans was capable of creating music both heartbreaking and beautiful, and he arguably found his most sympathetic partners when he formed his first Trio.  The music on The Very Best of the Bill Evans Trio shows how closely attuned Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian were, for the brief but incandescent period between 1959 and 1961.  LaFaro and Motian weren’t so much supporting Evans as all three gentlemen were playing as one voice, tearing down the walls in a free, post-bop environment.  Yet this groundbreaking team only recorded three dates together, resulting in two live albums and two studio albums: Portrait in Jazz, Explorations (the two studio sets), Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard (the two live sets).  Any further explorations of this Bill Evans Trio were curtailed when LaFaro perished in a car accident, aged just 25, in 1961.  Evans’ grief was so great that he didn’t perform in a public setting for nearly one year after LaFaro’s death.  But oh, what music LaFaro, with Evans and Motian, left behind.

Six of the eleven tracks here are standards, sensitively reinterpreted by the Trio, including Johnny Mercer’s “Autumn Leaves,” Irving Berlin’s “How Deep is the Ocean,” and George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward’s “My Man’s Gone Now” from Porgy and Bess.  The remaining tracks are compositions by Evans (his own oft-recorded “Waltz for Debby”), LaFaro (“Gloria’s Step”), Miles Davis (“Solar” and “Nardis”).  Shortly before forming the Trio, Evans had performed with Davis on one of the most influential and successful jazz albums of all time, Kind of Blue.  “Blue in Green” was jointly credited to Davis and Evans on that album, though many (including liner notes scribe Neil Tesser) doubt Davis had much to do with it.  Evans revisited the piece sans Davis’ horn less than one year after Kind of Blue on this subtle recording from Portrait in Jazz.  All eleven tracks show the many sides of Evans: moody and intense, yes, but also deeply lyrical, highly romantic and passionately swinging.  Of course, you might just want to go out and buy all four of the Trio’s seminal recordings, but if not, this is a solid place to dip your toes into the water.

After the jump: we explore two more iconic pianists, plus the great alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley!

Release Round-Up: Week of July 31

Frank Zappa, Official Reissues #1-13 (Zappa/UMe)

The iconoclastic musician’s catalogue is back in print thanks to a new agreement with Universal, and his first 13 albums (most of them newly remastered from the original analog masters) are available today. Joe gave us a great breakdown of what’s what on these new masters, which also has convenient links to both these new titles and the forthcoming second wave of remasters next month.

Blur, Blur 21 (Virgin/EMI)

21 refers not only to the legendary British band’s lifespan to date, but the amount of discs in this collection: all seven studio albums expanded with bonus discs (which are available separately, if that’s your thing), plus another four discs of rarities and three mostly live DVDs.

Neil Diamond, Hot August Night: 40th Anniversary Edition (Geffen/UMe)

Hard to believe it’s been 40 years since Neil’s second, terrific live LP was issued! This two-disc edition adds four unreleased tracks, offering just about every minute of that fateful night at LA’s Greek Theatre.

Elvis Presley, I Am An Elvis Fan (RCA/Legacy)

The latest Elvis compilation was fan-sourced, leading to some slightly different track choices than your typical Elvis fare, including a nice handful of live cuts from the latter half of the King’s career.

Charles Mingus, The Complete Columbia & RCA Studio Albums Collection / The Thelonious Monk Quartet, The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection / Weather Report, The Complete Columbia Albums 1971-1975 (Columbia/Legacy)

PopMarket’s latest complete boxes showcase some of the best jazz/fusion players to ever grace the Columbia label, and there are some great surprises in these boxes, including two rare tracks in the Mingus box and the first-ever domestic release of a Japanese live album in the Weather Report set.

20/20, 2o/20/Look Out! ; Clover, Clover/Fourty Niner ; Jimmy Griffin, Summer Holiday: Expanded Edition ; Sanford & Townsend, Smoke from a Distant Fire/Nail Me to the Wall ; Charles Bukowski, Charles Bukowski Reads His Poetry ; Jackie Gleason, Music for Lovers Only (Real Gone)

A diverse selection of releases from the eclectic reissue label: “The Great One,” the future Bread frontman, an American poet, a future Elvis Costello backing band and more!

Various Artists, Good Vibrations: The Beach Boys Songbook (Columbia/Sony Music Japan)

A quirky compilation from Japan (on Blu-Spec CD, no less) featuring some intriguing Beach Boys covers from the likes of Todd Rundgren, The Tokens, Andy Williams and others.

Short Takes: Legacy’s New Essentials, Concord’s New Jazz Reissues and a Catalogue Score from Perserverance

• Legacy’s latest release schedule update promises three new titles in the Essential series: Paul Revere & The Raiders, Django Reinhardt and Eartha Kitt. All are going to be double disc sets, and specifically, the Raiders set (compiled by Bob Irwin of Sundazed Music) will feature some promo-only tracks and some mono single mixes. All are due on March 15.
• Concord has four new reissues of classic jazz titles also planned for March 15. They are Monk’s Music (1958) by Thelonious Monk, Cal Tjader/Stan Getz Sextet (1958), Ugetsu (1963) by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and Ella Fitzerald and Oscar Peterson’s Ella and Oscar (1975). At least two of them will feature bonus tracks. Read here for some more info.
• Perseverance Records, which scored a coup in the film score world by releasing the soundtracks to Red Sonja and Rain Man last year, have another victory on hand: the music to the 1989 sci-fi film Slipstream, composed by Elmer Bernstein. It’s due on an unspecified date in the future.