Blue Note LT Series

From 1979 to 1981, Blue Note released over 40 albums in their ‘LT’ series. These albums were largely unreleased sessions from the Blue Note vaults and the list of artists involved is basically a roll call of the biggest names on the label. These days jazz fans and critics appear baffled to why such excellent music was kept hidden for so long, but of course as any good historian will tell you, we must try and bear the context in mind.

The most commonly given theory for the reason that they may not have been released initially is the direction the label was taking at the time. With pressure to achieve commercial success increasing through the 60s, many sessions that didn’t fit the (1964 hit from Lee Morgan) ‘Sidewinder’ mould for example, got left behind. This is easy to believe and no doubt true too an extent, although a look at the recording dates of the sessions reveals music from as early as ’58 and ’59, through to the 70s; in between lay a decade of big change for Blue Note.

Another reason has to be the sheer amount of sessions recorded by Lion and Wolff through the peak years of the label. Even with the jazz market being in a healthy condition in the late 50s, there would be a saturation point, especially given the label’s well documented generosity of studio time.

It’s a mistake however to think that this means the music left behind is in any way inferior; in actual fact it is often the opposite. At the times the label was chasing the next ‘hit’, some of the more challenging and interesting material was left behind, particularly by the artists more likely to give the label commercial success. Thus we have the likes of Lee Morgan’s ‘Tom Cat’, ‘Taru’ and ‘Sonic Boom’ sessions all kept waiting for over a decade to see the light of day. The label did still give opportunities for more ‘avant-garde’ and forward looking music – take a listen to releases of Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean and Bobby Hutcherson – but this had to be funded somehow. A record label is still a business, after all.

There are still some more unusual occurrences in the LT series however. Some LPs were cobbled together from multiple sessions, and there’s even an LP that was of new music by Horace Silver, that presumably was seen as too good to not put out at the time.

In amongst all this, a casual glance down the list of titles will show a few eye-catching releases by some names that you would not expect to see at all on the Blue Note roster. Blue Note, since 1967 existing under the Liberty/United Artists umbrella, suddenly had joined ranks with the likes of Pacific Jazz Records and the powers that be could mix and match accordingly.

One such artist was the Jazz Crusaders who recorded on Pacific through the 60s. The Blue Note LP LT-1046 from 1980 is their album ‘Live Sides’, taken from 1968 performances. The Jazz Crusaders were in 1980 just The Crusaders, who had just scored a big hit with ‘Street Life’ the year before. LT-1046 could well have been a timely release to cash in on this.

Other musicians previously signed to Pacific who got an outing on Blue Note through the LT series include Joe Pass, (one a reissue of an earlier album and the other an unreleased session (featuring future Tom Waits bass player Jim Hughart), Bill Evans and Gerry Mulligan. Jean Luc Ponty is another name familiar to many but surely not in this context. The violinist was signed to Atlantic at this stage in his career, but had previously recorded for both Pacific and Liberty.

A handful of the LT releases formed part of the larger ‘Blue Note Reissue Series’, which started in the mid 70s with BN-LA catalogue numbers, and consisting mainly of compilation albums.

 

 

Charles Lloyd Quartet – A Night In Copenhagen

There is a fair bit of this months jazz press dedicated to saxophonist Charles Lloyd. The veteran musician has an album out in a few weeks of live performances from 1965, featuring Gabor Szabo, Ron Carter and Pete La Roca – a class act if ever there was one. This comes hot on the heels of the release of a DVD – ‘Arrows Into Infinity’ – a documentary about Lloyd, made by hs wife Dorothy Darr. Having not heard or seen these yet, this blog post is not about them, nor is it about the well documented tale of Lloyd disappearing from music for years, only to be coaxed back by pianist Petrucciani in 1980. This is about a live album, released on Blue Note in 1984, which initself shows how grateful we should be that Lloyd did come back.

Charles Lloyd Quartet – A Night in Copenhagen 

1984, Blue Note, BT 85104

Engineer – Jorn Jacobsen

Charles LLoyd – Tenor Sax, Flute, Chinese Oboe; Michel Petrucciani – Piano; Palle Danielsson – Bass; Son Ship Theus – Percussion; Bobby McFerrin – Vocals

1. Lotus Land
2. Lady Day
3. El Encanto
4. Third Floor Richard
5. Night Blooming Jasmine

So far in my series of blog posts about Blue Note albums, I’ve focussed on the classic era – the 50s and 60s. The takeover by Liberty in 1967 saw a gradual shift in the sound and the steely determinedness not to become irrelevant or left behind. But in truth, by the 1980s, jazz as a genre was left behind. Fragmented into more styles than ever before, artists had to adapt and diversify or risk getting left out in the cold. There are some amazingly great 70s jazz records out there but to compare them to (to my ears) the golden era of the late 50s to mid 60s is to miss the point. They must be taken on their own merit. Falling into the 1980s and admittedly you’ll be scrapping around for longer to find as many albums of high quality – at least in terms of studio albums. Live though, the scene was still thriving, particularly in Europe. For these reasons you could do a lot worse than checking out this live date with Charles Lloyd, with Blue Note now under the Capitol label.

Recorded in 1983 at Copenhagen Jazz Festival, the album opens with the meditative vibes of ‘Lotus Land’, a Coltrane tribute that digs pretty deep and once again confirms Lloyd is in the big league of forward, free thinking jazz musicians, playing expertly here the Chinese Oboe.

The rather fittingly gorgeous ‘Lady Day’ shows a sensitive side to Lloyd and also showcases just how good a pianist Petrucciani was. The highlight of this first half has to be ‘El Encanto’ however, with Lloyd footloose and carefree on the flute, floating the prettiest melody over a gently probing rhythm section, themselves providing more funk than is first realised. It’s a real cute charmer which sees out Side A.

Uber-hip singer Bobby McFerrin makes a guest appearance on ‘Third Floor Richard’ scatting away, cleverly quoting ‘Im beginning to see the light’, before Lloyd’s flute duets with the supple bass of Palle Danielsson. The epic ‘Night Blooming Jasmine’ ends the record with Lloyd playing the achingly haunting melody before some extended improvisations from all involved. A wonderful ending to this not to be overlooked record.

It seems a CD reissue came out last year which might be worth tracking down. I can’t even remember where I got my original copy from now, but it isn’t expensive or particularly unusual. 

Lack of Afro – Music For Adverts

Lack of Afro’s ‘Music for Adverts’ starts big. This sets the tone for the whole album; punchy horns, whirring sirens and infectious bassline and the anthemic chorus  leave you in no doubt that this is not going to pull any punches in its attempt to be a relevant, funky modern soul album.

The truth is that people have been digging LoA’s remixes and productions for the last few years, steadily building up a following and the respect that he (Adam Gibbons) deserves. ‘Music for Adverts’ is his fourth album for the unfailingly excellent Freestyle Records and highlights just how an adept multi-instrumentalist Gibbons is, though I’d suggest the remixes collection ‘One Way’ for further proof of his talented dancefloor-orientated ears. You’ll almost certainly not be a stranger already, if you have half an ear on Craig Charles and Gilles Peterson, both of whom champion him. MFA may just see him pull a bigger crowd.

‘One for the trouble’ is a slice of flute led instrumental funk but then things get propery interesting with ‘Recipe for Love’, a tune so catchy and instantly likeable that it places LoA in the same camp as Mayer Hawthorne for melodic retro-soulfulness.

‘Coco’ (like One for the Trouble) is a little smoother, I’m instantly taken back to something like ‘Street Lady’ or one of the other Mizell Brothers productions for Donald Byrd. I’m guessing that Coco is Adam’s child – the gurgles and laughs gracing the track are even credited – how sweet! Things aren’t made to let get to saccharine however – a proper old school rap (featuring the rather middle class sounding Herbal T) follows up, complete with yet another singalong chorus.

The second side is equally adept at showing LoA’s musical influences – ‘The Contender’ rocks in like 60s instrumental side, brimming with energy  and refuses to let go, before soul comes back in spades with ‘Missing Me’ and ‘Making It Right’ featuring the RnB soulstress Juliette Ashby. It’s an easy-going, carefree joy.

The main male vocalist on the album, the rather smooth Jack Tyson-Charles, returns with the reggae inflected ‘On The Road’  before a hip hop number closes the LP. Gibbons name checks (producer) Flevans in his spiel for the album on the Freestyle website – and anyone who has heard the Tru-Thoughts artist’s ’27 Devils’, a record not dissimilar to MFA, will be able to see they share a penchant for rich instrumentation, a great melody, bags of soul, and a modern twist.

Spin it, hear it and then flip it over and play it again. I can guarantee you’ll want to.

 

Mobley’s Rare Message

Having a browse through the racks of a of local second-hand record shop yesterday, two LPs caught my eye. The first, an original Blue Note – Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch, with its classic multi-handed clock cover. I’ve never been a huge fan of this record, despite its legendary status, and in this case my £5 cd version will do just fine, thank you. For that reason I didn’t look close enough to see if it was a US or UK pressing, but either way the £50 asking price seemed pretty fair.

The second record to catch my eye had a heftier price tag – just under £100. It looked vaguely familiar and the title was certainly recognisable – Mobley’s Message, an album featuring a stellar line up of Byrd, McLean and of course old Hank himself. The cover was a light blue, with a black electricity pylon and wires which stood out in stark contrast to the pale background. I flipped it over, allowed myself to think it must be pretty rare to be priced at that, in a shop where most second-hand records floated under £20, and placed it back.

Later last night, I found myself wondering if it was worth the asking price, or indeed if that was cheap. My first stop for such matters is Discogs. Browsing the 7 versions of the album listed there none of them matched the cover that I saw. Strange, but not unusual – this excellent site is after all being added to all the time. A quick check on Amazon, just to gain a potential catalogue number. Plenty with this cover –

 

but, again, that’s not the cover I saw. Hm.

Well, as unscientific as it is, I find Google images often helps in these situations. Entering various search terms – Mobley’s Message, Alternative Cover, Blue, Jazz Message, Donald Byrd Message – I tried all these in various combos, with no luck. No sign of that cover anywhere.

Well, I’m starting to get a little edgy by this point. Why can’t I find it? Surely, I can’t have imagined it. I definitely remember it was called Mobley’s Message. The record shown above lists the same personnel that I saw listed. This is all most peculiar. Eventually, after searching Google again with the term ‘Mobley’s Message Blue Cover’ I found a reference to an album on a jazz forum. Someone has  copy of this album which they believe to be quite rare, with “The cover has a black telegraph pole and wires painted on top of a light blue background”. This was it! No picture, but this was definitely the one. I eagerly scrolled for the response.

Apparently, this was a very rare UK pressing by Esquire Records who had limited permission in the late 50s to put out Prestige releases. Ah ha! It goes on to say that these releases were of higher quality that the originals and the sound is usually excellent. The original poster has put up the catalogue number (32-029), which I then also did a quick search for. Very few results appeared, and those that did were mainly from a few years back when it seems a couple of copies sold auction sites for over the $200 mark.

Well I never. You rarely get such a find around these parts. I haven’t made my mind up whether to go back and get it yet, and I probably won’t. I don’t think it will hang around too long, and for an amateur collector such as myself, £95 is a fair whack. But it is sure tempting…. I’d be interested to know if anyone else has bought copies of LPs put out by Esquire Records, and what the quality is like. Fellow jazz blogger London Jazz Collector posted a list of catalogue numbers here sometime ago. If you’ve heard any – let me know! And for those of you wondering what that alternative cover looks like – it’s here

–

Grant Green – Carryin’ On

I for one was delighted when a re-issue of Grant Green’s ‘Carryin’ On’ was released a few years ago. Time for a fresh look at an album that features the recently departed Idris Muhammed on drums.

Grant Green – Carryin’ On

1969, Blue Note, 4327

Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder; Cover Photo – Francis Wolff

Claude Bartee – Tenor Sax; Willie Bivens – Vibes; Grant Green – Guitar; Clarence Palmer – Electric Piano; Earl Creque – Electric Piano; Jimmy Lewis – Fender Bass; Idris Muhammed – Drums

1. Ease Back
2. Hurt So Bad
3. I Don’t Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing
4. Upshot
5. Cease The Bombing

It only takes a quick glance of the date of this Blue Note release to realise that it’s going to be stood with both feet proudly in the soul jazz camp. There’s no schmoozy Lou Donaldson or greasy organ sounds, but Bartee’s sax has just the right amount of bite and, crucially, smoothness to fit in alongside Green’s ever-clean guitar tone.

‘Ease Back’ (by The Meters) does just that, and the stand out track from Side one – ‘Hurt So Bad’ takes on a new life from the Little Anthony and The Imperials version. The last track, a James Brown number, is the funkiest of the lot but nothing really catches fire despite some great solos from Green and Bartee.

Flip the disc and you’re faced with two long originals. The first, ‘Upshot’ by Green is a must-hear. A classic soul-jazz number with a repeated riff-like tune, never straying too far off the 12 bar blues path, with some rather plushy falling chords in the turnaround. It’s a true toe-tapper and the extended solos are perfect to let the band get all their funky ideas out.

The final track ‘Cease The Bombing’ can’t help but sound of its time, sounding as it does, like it should have ‘a-message-to-the-world’ lyrics. It may not have aged too well, but the chilled solos are undeniably fine with Green as melodic as ever.

There’s a genuine charm to this album, which although soul-jazz, never leaves you feeling unsatisfied as others are prone to do. It may not be Green’s finest, but you shouldn’t pass it by.

A word on the perhaps unfamiliar cast of musicians – 1969 and ‘Carryin’ On’ was Green’s return to Blue Note after a 4 year gap and on his return he brought 3 of these musicians (Bartee, Bivens and Creque) from Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers (who later recorded a version of Creque’s ‘Cease The Bombing’ ). The drummer, Idris Muhammed (also known as Leo Morris), is, after Green, the best known musician on the record – his tight drumming is never overbearing here but beautifully holds all together as he did as a sideman on so many jazz-funk records and some powerhouse LPs of his own. RIP Idris Muhammed…

Originally on CD as part of BN’s Rare Groove series, you can still pick an Import copy up or re-issue vinyl, but an original won’t set you back too much more.