Among the New and Recent Blue Note Releases
4 interesting titles, two new, one reissue, and old/new
Four new and recent Blue Note titles worthy of your attention. Two are new releases: one from Charles Lloyd the other from Joshua Redman. The Ike Quebec is a "completist' package ala Mosaic records, but is a Tone Poet release title. The Silver title is a never before released title featuring Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Teddy Smith and Roger Humphries.
Blue Note Records has announced the October 24 release of Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse, a never-before-issued live recording of Blue Note legend Horace Silver captured 60 years ago at The Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, Washington on August 12 and 19, 1965. The album features a short-lived powerhouse line-up of the pianist’s quintet with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Teddy Smith on bass, and Roger Humphries on drums performing uninhibited renditions of Silver classics including “Song For My Father,” “The Cape Verdean Blues,” “The Kicker,” “Sayonara Blues,” and “No Smokin’.”
Transferred from the original tapes recorded by KING-FM radio host and engineer Jim Wilke and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab, the broadcast quality recording presents one of the greatest hard bop bands of all time delivering a high-energy, crowd-pleasing performance in an intimate club setting. Produced for release by Zev Feldman, Silver In Seattle will be released on LP and CD, both of which include an elaborate booklet with rare photos by Francis Wolff, Burt Goldblatt, Jean-Pierre Leloir and others; plus liner notes by acclaimed jazz scholar Bob Blumenthal; and interviews and statements with drummer Roger Humphries, Silver band alumni Randy Brecker and Alvin Queen, rising star pianist Sullivan Fortner, and more.
Bob Blumenthal: “In what might be called the 33 1/3 era, Horace Silver was Blue Note’s quintessential recording artist. From his initial session as a leader in 1952 until the label’s temporary shutdown in 1979 he represented a model of the originality, innovation and consistency that became a label hallmark; and despite changes in the musical environment and his own style, he remained one of jazz’s most widely revered artists. The present newly discovered performances, taped at Seattle’s Penthouse jazz club roughly halfway through his affiliation with Blue Note captures Silver and his music at a critical part of the journey.”
Zev Feldman: “It's an enormous honor to present this Horace Silver album, ‘Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse.' Of all the artists in the pantheon of jazz, Horace is absolutely one of my favorites. Horace Silver embodies the language of jazz. His unique personality beams out of his music in every composition and album… These recordings we present here are absolutely astounding; a source of inspiration and awe.”
Don Was: “It's not out of line to say that Blue Note would not exist today without Horace Silver’s impactful approach to playing, writing and grooving. This makes Zev's discovery of these tapes even more significant: we've been given a mind-blowing opportunity to glimpse Mr. Silver and his group stretching out in a live setting at the height of his popularity and creativity. ‘Silver in Seattle’ provides a missing link in our understanding of Horace Silver's music and is an essential addition to his recorded legacy on Blue Note.”
Roger Humphries: “It was a heck of an experience being with Horace Silver, going all the different places that we would go… I recall that band in '65. Woody Shaw. When Woody was playing, we had so much fun together. And I think about it now as well when I'm playing, but when you play with guys at their level, it's like a conversation that you have… And Joe Henderson, when you listen to him right now, it makes me think, ‘Dear God, I had chance to play with these guys.’ Listening back to this music brings me back in time. It's giving me more energy right now at this moment in my life too, to bring back some of that.”
Blue Note Records has announced the October 10 release of Ike Quebec The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions, a special Tone Poet Vinyl Edition that collects a magnificent body of work recorded between 1959-62 by an important figure in Blue Note history. Produced for release by Joe Harley, the 3-LP vinyl set is all-analog and cut directly from Rudy Van Gelder’s original master tapes by Kevin Gray. Pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, the LPs come packaged in a deluxe tip-on trifold jacket which includes a booklet with never-before-seen photos by Francis Wolff and an insightful, in-depth essay by scholar Loren Schoenberg. The collection will also be released as a 2-CD set and is available for pre-order now on the Blue Note Store.
The saxophonist had recorded a series of 78s for Alfred Lion in the 1940s and also served as a talent scout who encouraged Lion to record cutting-edge figures of the emerging bebop scene including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. After a difficult period through the 1950s during which Quebec fell off the scene, Lion reconnected with his friend and began to reintroduce Quebec’s music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and revealed a formidable stylist very much at the top of his game. His full-throated yet utterly relaxed sound was ideally suited to a wide range of material from ballads to blues.
The success of Quebec’s comeback inspired Lion to keep going, capturing four sessions of material with a revolving cast of musicians that yielded classic tracks including “A Light Reprieve,” “Blue Monday,” and “What A Difference A Day Makes.” Quebec would also go on to record several album sessions including the timeless soul jazz classics Heavy Soul, Blue & Sentimental, and Bossa Nova Soul Samba, capping a prolific end to a career that would be tragically cut short with his death from lung cancer in 1963.
“I was shocked when I first listened to Ike’s 45 sessions,” says Harley. “I had imagined it would consist solely of short groove-oriented tunes. No, these stunning sessions capture a player who had already lived a full musical life, playing fully fleshed-out tunes with restraint, emotional weight, and a blues-drenched approach that bridged R&B accessibility with jazz sophistication. The release of this set shines a light on a key player in the Blue Note story who deserves much wider recognition.”
“It has been more than three score years since Ike Quebec died in 1963 at the age of 44, and his tremendous contribution to the music he lived for has come into greater focus,” writes Schoenberg. “Although most of the music in this collection remained unknown or at best obscure until their release on a 1987 Mosaic box set, the performances are nonetheless nothing short of phenomenal… From 1959 through 1962, Ike Quebec was closely connected with Blue Note in a number of capacities, including talent scout, A&R man, and performing artist. That he was able to concentrate on the music to such an extraordinary degree during these sessions, when he had so many other responsibilities, is a testament to his talent.”
LP1
IKE QUEBEC, tenor saxophone; EDWIN SWANSTON, organ; SKEETER BEST, guitar; SONNY WELLESLEY, bass; LES JENKINS, drums. Recorded July 1, 1959, Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
SIDE 1:
1. A LIGHT REPRIEVE (Ike Quebec) 4:34
2. BUZZARD LOPE (Quebec) 6:15
3. BLUE MONDAY (Fisher, Sharp, Singleton) 5:01
4. ZONKY (Edwin Swanston) 4:31
SIDE 2:
1. LATER FOR THE ROCK (Quebec) 4:37
2. SWEET AND LOVELY (Arnheim, Tobias, LaMare) 4:19
3. DEAR JOHN (Quebec) 6:53
4. BLUE FRIDAY (Swanston) 5:05
LP2
IKE QUEBEC, tenor saxophone; SIR CHARLES THOMPSON, organ; MILT HINTON, bass; J.C HEARD, drums. Recorded September 25, 1960, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
SIDE 3:
1. EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME - SHORT VERSION (Adair, Dennis) 4:32
2. MARDI GRAS (Quebec) 6:13
3. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES (Grever) 4:07
4. FOR ALL WE KNOW (Coots, Lewis) 4:12
5. ILL WIND (Arlen, Koehler) 6:13
SIDE 4:
1. IF I COULD BE WITH YOU (Creamer, Johnson) 6:03
2. I’VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING (Arlen, Koehler) 5:34
3. ME ‘N MABE (Quebec) 5:12
4. EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME LONG VERSION (Adair, Dennis) 6:38
LP3
IKE QUEBEC, tenor saxophone; WILLIE JONES, guitar; EARL VAN DYKE, organ; SAM JONES, bass; WILBERT HOGAN, drums. Recorded February 5 & 13, 1962, Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
SIDE 5:
1. HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON (Gershwin, Gershwin) 5:59
2. WITH A SONG IN MY HEART (Rodgers, Hart) 5:09
3. IMAGINATION (Burke, Van Heusen) 5:09
4. WHAT IS THERE TO SAY (Duke, Harburg) 4:33
SIDE 6:
1. THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE (Jones, Symes) 4:45
2. ALL OF ME (Marks, Simons) 2:58
3. INTERMEZZO (Henning, Provost) 3:45
4. BUT NOT FOR ME (Gershwin, Gershwin) 3:45
5. ALL THE WAY (Cahn, Van Heusen) 3:55
Compilation Produced by JOE HARLEY
Original Sessions Produced by ALFRED LION
Recording Engineer RUDY VAN GELDER
Photography by FRANCIS WOLFF
LP Mastering by KEVIN GRAY, Cohearent Audio
Jazz legend Charles Lloyd has announced the October 10 release of his latest musical offering, Figure In Blue, a spacious double album of new studio recordings featuring the great saxophonist-flutist in the company of a new trio with pianist Jason Moran and guitarist Marvin Sewell. Lloyd’s 12th Blue Note album travels wide expanses of musical terrain from beautiful ballads to raw Delta blues and includes heartfelt homages to Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Zakir Hussain. Figure In Blue is available for pre-order now on Blue Note Store exclusive color vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital download. Listen to the elegant title track “Figure In Blue, memories of Duke.”
Throughout a program of new original music, reinvigorated older works, and other choice selections, Lloyd pays tribute to the musicians and influences that have shaped him. The result is one of the most musically stunning and personally meaningful recordings of his career. In it, you can hear a kind of memoir unfold at the same time the saxophonist puts forth a candid document of his undiminished strength. As he nears his tenth decade, his tone and technique are, as ever, equally mighty and ethereal, delivering startling intensity even in moments of meditative quiet.
Lloyd convened the new trio for his 87th birthday concert at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara and immediately brought them into the studio. The trio is a study in ensemble empathy — a clinic in knowing when to play and when to listen — owing to both experience and shared Southern roots. Moran, a generation-defining pianist who was born and raised in Houston, Texas, has been one of Lloyd’s most important collaborators for nearly two decades. “We arrive at the heart of the matter with very few words,” Lloyd says of their kinship.
Sewell has joined Lloyd onstage in various configurations and he’s of a piece with the comprehensive range of Lloyd and Moran’s musicianship. Trained in classical piano and jazz guitar, Sewell also plays bottleneck Delta blues with soul-stirring veracity. “Marvin has an authentic voice,” Lloyd says, going on to explain how Sewell’s playing can transport him to his own musical beginnings in Memphis. “Marvin grew up in Chicago but has family ties to the Mississippi Delta, and knows from first-hand experience the trials and tribulations we experienced on the red clay of the South. You can hear it in his playing.”
Charles Lloyd has done career-defining work in unconventional trio lineups, including Sangam with Hussain, and the more recent recordings collected in the trilogy Trio of Trios. But Figure In Blue stands alone, breaking new ground in the way of harmony, patience, and generosity. By projecting his reverence outward, Lloyd becomes luminous.
Joshua Redman has released his second Blue Note album, Words Fall Short, a collection of original compositions that introduces his new quartet with pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo, which was formed as a working band for the world tour behind the saxophonist’s 2023 label debut where are we. As the quartet performed steadily on the road, Redman felt a vibe developing and was inspired to bring them into the studio to record a set of music he had composed during the pandemic that embraced the shifting moods of wistfulness, sadness, and resolve. The album also features special guest appearances by vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and trumpeter Skylar Tang.
Redman will be celebrating the album release at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City June 20-22, with additional tour dates across the U.S. and Europe this Summer and Fall. Visitjoshuaredman.com for more information. Watch the quartet perform “A Message to Unsend” live in the studio.
Redman acknowledges that the album title could be viewed ironically—his previous project was his first to feature a vocalist (Cavassa)—yet Words Fall Short is anything but a comment on the saxophonist’s last triumph. More accurately, his latest offering is an organic next step, a collection of previously unheard originals brought to life by inspiring new collaborators. “It’s impossible for me to will a project into being,” he says of the wide-ranging adventures he has embarked upon in what is now his fourth decade as a recording artist. “This album came out of a working environment that inspired me to dig into compositions that hadn’t found a home yet.”
In building a new rhythm section, Redman found himself drawn to younger players he had recently encountered. Norris and Ebo came aboard first, and Redman quickly knew he had made the right moves. “Not since Christian McBride can I recall experiencing an acoustic jazz bassist who seemingly has it all together at such a young age,” he says of Norris, “and Nazir has groove in spades, a groove that is super-flexible, in the flow of the moment, and with an innate sense of architecture that always serves the song.” By the summer of 2023, Cornish had completed the quartet’s transformation. “Paul is the perfect balance of empath and contrarian, challenging everyone to break away from established patterns, while still always making the music feel good and natural in the moment.”
Cornish, Norris, and Ebo impress on each of the album’s eight tracks. While they have moments to emerge and take the spotlight, they also provide a distinctive ensemble personality, one in which spontaneity and sensitivity keep the music fluid yet coherent. They are a rhythm section with character, one in sync with the priorities of their leader. “My approach to bandleading is unchanged,” Redman says. “Play with the best musicians I can find, virtuosos who have mastered all the different jazz vocabularies, but who are also great listeners and collaborators — who know how to express their individual brilliance through group improvisation and collective interaction.”
Blue Note has been very busy this Spring/Summer season and there are other new releases but for now these are four worth noting....
