Milestones

How could these recordings have been lost for so many decades?

The length of any individual track is its own issue. Someone mentioned 6 minutes as about the ideal (or even max) length for jazz tunes. That is way too limiting for jazz. I'm sure we've all heard 8-10 minutes jazz pieces that sounded intolerably long. But we've also heard 20-minute masterpieces. However, I usually find it hard to get past 20. I don't find it appealing when every track on a CD runs 15-20 minutes. There are exceptions, such as Coltrane at the Vanguard; but even here there is more variety in song-length than you might think.

The thing is, the double album was a real rarity. I suppose Blonde on Blonde was the first studio double album (rock), though I'm not 100% sure. It seems that most great groups did it once (not counting live albums)--think Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Elton John. I don't recall Bowie ever releasing a double. My first jazz album was Bitches Brew, a double studio LP. It's a classic, but not many artists are named Miles Davis.

In a sense, they are too long nowadays. You wonder if Kind of Blue and Brilliant Corners would be quite so classic if they ran to 70+ minutes. It's not uncommon for me to break a CD into three listening blocks, even the really good ones. Maybe some of this due to being conditioned to not simply original album length, but SIDE length. And few people today can muster a long attention span even for the things they love.

I think Donald Byrd's A New Perspective would fit into this category, as well as some other individual tracks by Byrd such as "Pentacostal" (as above), "Chant," and "Great God."

No love for Herbie?

Quite by accident I came upon Herbie Hancock on Austin City Limits. I've always liked that show, though I have not kept abreast on it much in several years. I cannot recall ever seeing a bona fide jazz artist on the show. Herbie sounded pretty good with a quartet, though he mostly worked the funk and hip hop elements. I guess a new album is coming out (first in about 8 years, I believe), and once again it has quite a share of singers/guest stars. I've not been too enthused by this approach, though Gershwin's World was pretty impressive and River had its moments. Clearly, Herbie has nothing prove anymore, but I'm sure many feel like I do and would welcome material that recalls his Blue Note period.

Others artists have liked the tune. In my collection I have versions by Joe Henderson, Steve Lacy, and Steve Khan.

I've been hearing Joey Baron for a long time and always liking his work, without necessarily thinking he's among the elite percussionists. But at this point I'm thinking he is. He sounds mighty creative to these ears, and his presence always raises the quality of a session. For those who like Masada, well there must be dozens of recordings. I think he's on every John Abercrombie record of the 21st century (at least the ECM stuff). He has appeared with a lot of my favorites--Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Jim Hall, Lee Konitz. Some nice work as a leader too, where he has featured Frisell and Blythe. A force to be reckoned with. Your thoughts and recommendations....

Volcano Blues, Khepera, Highlife, Zep Tepi, The Storyteller, among others. It's usually the final track, whether recorded live or in the studio.

Not to sound snarky, but you need to obtain a few more Weston records. A couple of the more memorable versions are found on Volcano Blues and Khepera.

These are some of my favorites: Wanton Spirit (with Haden and Haynes) The Art of Conversation (w. Dave Holland) Night and the City (with Haden) Also, check out sideman work with Ron Carter, Jim Hall, Gerald Wilson, Steve Turre, Jimmy Owens, etc.

Candido? So he is 96-years-old and still performing on stage?

Tom Cat is a great Lee Morgan record, and it sat in the vaults for 16 years. It took 26 years for Grant Green's Matador to get an American release.

Yes, and Side 1 (at least) sounds absolutely like a Miles Davis record. I might well argue that Basra (Pete La Roca) is the greatest Joe Henderson album on Blue Note.

The River and the Thread is an excellent record.

Isn't this strict definition of sideman too limiting for jazz? I'm always most intrigued by the records on which every player is a leader (albeit at a lower rate for most bassists and drummers); and in Blue Note's heyday this was true of virtually all the great records.

I've been digging into Billy Higgins' music quite deeply of late. I noted him as one of the most distinguished of Blue Note sideman, with immense contributions to albums by Morgan, Mobley, Gordon, McLean, and countless others. He was the drummer on Rejoicing, which may be Metheny's best record. The man had important partnerships with Ornette, Charles Lloyd, Cedar Walton, Clifford Jordan, Charlie Haden, and more. I know he did very little as a strict leader, but I just listened to the title track of Soweto and it sounded quite fine. Offer your praise. I'm pretty sure we all love Billy Higgins.

Yes, I guess this last is the true notion of the sideman--the one who only supports and never (or rarely) leads. I would also add Kenny Burrell, who is great as both leader and sideman. Midnight Blue is definitive as one aspect of the Blue Note sound. Kenny is vital as a BN sideman mainly for Jimmy Smith and Stanley Turrentine.

"Blue Note family" is probably an apt term.

Pepper Adams did do some sideman work, in addition to the group he co-led with Byrd--three with Blue Mitchell, two with Lee Morgan, one with hank Mobley.

In addition to Billy Higgins (who is on my original list), I would add Elvin Jones, Joe Chambers, and Tony Williams as drummers who made major contributions. Williams even contributed in the rebirth era, on records by Geri Allen and Don Pullen.

I would agree with you on Morgan, although I do find that Morgan produced better stuff as a leader than Hubbard (but Lee also had a longer run with the label).

Happy anniversary, Mr. Llloyd. I've been listening to your wonderful music for a long time. I recently acquired Passin' Thru and Acoustic Masters I.

I thought I would give this a try. Part of the interest in Blue Note’s heyday was how seemingly everybody played on everybody else’s records. You could have a record with Shorter, Morgan, and Hancock and it could any one of them who was the leader. I guess you could often tell by who contributed the most compositions. Of course, in this era (the 1960s) everyone was writing. I’m not sure how many visionary artists there were on Blue Note at this time. I would say a visionary is a Miles, a Monk, a Trane. But some musicians were excellent players, but largely lacked vision; thus their own records were rarely of hit-it-out-of-the-park quality, but they made great contributions to the works of others, especially those with more vision or at least with greater compositional ability (Andrew Hill, Wayne Shorter). Anyway, this would be my current choice of favorite sidemen: 1. Freddie Hubbard (definitely my top choice; Freddie was everywhere in jazz in the 60’s, but especially appeared on many great Blue Note albums; somehow his own records are a notch below, other than Breaking Point) 2. James Spaulding (perhaps the #2 man, if only because he never led a date on Blue Note, yet he was all over the place on the label; whether on alto or flute, he would provide something special) 3. Joe Henderson (a lot like Hubbard; he always raised the excitement level; it’s no accident that the 4-CD set overview mostly features sidemen appearances) 4. Curtis Fuller (for his work with Blakey and appearing on quite a few other Blue Note classics; the go-to trombonist on Blue Note) 5. Grant Green (house guitarist for sure; a lot of good records under his own name, but his sideman work is not to be missed) 6. McCoy Tyner (I love Tyner’s leader work, but one should also check out what he did with Shorter, Hutcherson, Morgan, and others) 7. Herbie Hancock (sort of like Tyner, but I think he appeared more frequently as sideman) 8. Bobby Hutcherson (not showing up as much as I would like, but some great appearances with McLean, Hill, Tyner, etc.) 9. Ron Carter (Carter was well on the way to being, I believe, the most recorded bassist ever; his work with the Miles Davis quintet was more significant, but his work for Blue Note is part of his legacy) 10. Billy Higgins (tons of sessions displaying his dancing style)