Is it just me ?

[Victor Christensen]

Is it just me or what, I have come to point where most of my BN recordings from that period just bores me, I have come to that conclusion after listening for a while to it, and right now am I listening to Hank Mobley "No Room For Squares", it says me nothing anymore. Alfred Lion had a concept at that time that is so boring after a while. I have a lot of it, but hardly listen to it anymore (I have almost complete BN recordings from 1945 to 1968). Give me an opinion.

BTW Hope That the Danish Book About "Jazzhus Montmartre" will come out in English Some Day, it's great, but I am biased, I was there and have known so many of the persons mentioned in the book.

you are all great guys and girls

Victor

[Chuck Nessa]

How about Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill, Larry Young, Jackie McLean, etc?

I also think many of the Mobley, Morgan and Blakey '60s recordings are dandy.

[Alexander]

I've gone through periods where much of Hard Bop stuff on BN bores me. You let it go for a little while and listen to something else. Come back to it with fresh ears.

[Christiern]

Much of it is uneventful, but there has over the reissue years developed a BN cult, of sorts, so it simply isn't PC to not go gaga over the stuff. A great label? Yes, but one of several. Rudy's work is also overrated, imo.

[danasgoodstuff]

When you're tired of '60s Blue Note you're tired of life...that said, it's still just one (or more) wonderful flavour(s) among many.

[Christiern]

I would not liken life to a bunch of albums. I hope that does not describe your life, nor anyone's, for that matter.

[Teasing the Korean]

Rudy's work is also overrated, imo.

Agreed.

[AndrewHill]

How about Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill, Larry Young, Jackie McLean, etc?

I also think many of the Mobley, Morgan and Blakey '60s recordings are dandy.

There's a lot of exciting listening with just the BN Hills alone!

[blajay]

I am by no means sick of Blue Note recordings, but my attention, too, has recently been more directed towards other labels, like Prestige after feeling somewhat overwhelmed and also recently reading stories of Bob Weinstock's general benevolence in Mike Fitzgerald's Gryce book and Joe Goldberg's Jazz Masters of the 50s.

Lion and Wolfe cast a nearly mythical shadow in the history that has been rewritten. Not only in books like Richard Cook's or Ashley Kahn's, but also the Wolfe photography books and numerous volumes of album cover books. I think this is also built up by RVGs, Mosaic Records, Hoffman's 45rpm project (the Music Matters Blue Note one seemed to be more of a spectacle than the previous issues, whichever way it was spun), Classic Records, the cheap vinyl reissues that are ubiquitous, and now Blue Note's own vinyl reissues. Not to mention gokudo-Vintage Vanguard and the entire Japanese ideal of authenticity in the Blue Note aesthetic. There is just a lot of attention right now on Blue Note it seems. I still love nearly everything I listen to from the label, though...

[blajay]

btw, Dan, I read the thread about your preparing to interview Bob Weinstock years ago. Is that interview archived somewhere? I'd love to read it!

[Indestructible!]

Is it just me or what, I have come to point where most of my BN recordings from that period just bores me, I have come to that conclusion after listening for a while to it, and right now am I listening to Hank Mobley "No Room For Squares", it says me nothing anymore.

Sure, I get bored with those Blue Notes from time to time... but I often take that as I good sign that I'm up for exploring new things, new sounds.

When was that Mobley album recorded, roughly 45 years ago? It was a great document of that music in that day... but man, that was 45 years ago! I love it, but I also know that I need fresh new things to keep my fire burning, you know?

When I get bored of Mobley, I usually go out to listen to live music (and, more often than not, it's not jazz that I go see... more like punk, ska, reggae, etc. shows)... I find something new out there that kicks my ass (and, more/most often than not, the musicians I'm seeing couldn't even come close to holding a candle to Hank's level of musicianship), and that inner fire gets stoked.

Then, after a few months, I put on that Mobley album again... and more often than not I get the rush of hearing that music... and falling in love with it all over again.

It's not just jazz, and it's definitely not just the Blue Note albums... if I don't get to see LIVE music often enough, damned near every album I own will bore me after a while. That's why I'm grateful to be living in a place like LA, where I can see fantastic music every single night of the week if I'm so inclined. Hell, that's one of the reasons I moved here in the first place!

Now if we could only get Organissimo to make a road trip out here...

Cheers,

Shane

[JohnS]

For me it's the only really continually satisfying music. That doesn't mean to say that I don't like, and need, a change every now and again.

[Dan Gould]

btw, Dan, I read the thread about your preparing to interview Bob Weinstock years ago. Is that interview archived somewhere? I'd love to read it!

The only archive that exists is the poor quality audio that resulted. Combined with Bob's dental problems at that stage in his life, transcribing became a nightmare, and so there is nothing to read.

[Brad]

I listened recently to NRFS (after having not listened to in at least a year) and enjoyed it. Too much of a good thing can be too much and BNs are no exception.

[Popkin]

Complaining about BN in the 60s is kind of nutty. I can't think of any other label during any other period that recorded more incredible music. And I think that's true even if you're not a big fan of the standard hard bop and soul jazz that Blue Note recorded so much of. Consider these:

Jackie McLean "One Step Beyond"

Sam Rivers "Fuchsia Swing Song"

Wayne Shorter "Speak No Evil"

Joe Henderson "Inner Urge"

Herbie Hancock "Maiden Voyage"

Grachan Moncur "Evolution"

Eric Dolphy "Out to Lunch"

Andrew Hill "Point of Departure"

Freddie Hubbard "Breaking Point"

Art Blakey "Indestructible"

McCoy Tyner "The Real McCoy"

Bobby Hutcherson "Dialogue"

Tony Williams "Lifetime"

Larry Young "Unity"

I think I would include every one of these albums in a list of top-25 jazz albums of all time; what other label & era would be better represented on such a list?

Oh, and No Room for Squares is a great album (though my favourite Mobley session is the one with Herbie Hancock March 1963, that got divided up across a few different albums).

[John L]

Bored by Blue Note in the 60s, but not by other jazz labels in the 60s? That doesn't really register with me. Blue Note was all over the map in the 60s. Maybe you just don't like jazz from the 60s?

[andybleaden]

I am speaking at the other end of one of these 'blue' blue note periods where I had not enjoyed any of my old old Blue Notes for a long while. More recently I was barely arsed enough to listen to a whole cd...oh my...

Then I had a brain wave ...stuck all the Blue Note 1500 and 4000/100/200 series onto my pc and then on an MP3 player ( my internet was down for a while so I had time). Now plugged my Mp3 player into my stereo and play it on random...Andrew Hill then Thad Jones then John Coltrane then Three Sounds and any of them not just my favourites....you would be surprised at how many tracks at the end of a cd you forget about

Edited November 18, 2008 by andybleaden

[BillF]

When Blue Note LPs were coming out in the 60s, I and my youthful friends criticised them for sticking to a formula to create the BN brand: Side 1, Track 1 was very often a heavily accented backbeat number aimed to make the album saleable and perhaps create a hit single; Van Gelder's recording tended to make everything sound "dramatic"; Francis Wolf and Reid Miles's covers always had the same look; certain musicians, e.g. Billy Higgins, were omnipresent while large areas of the music were never recorded by BN. In my maturity I realise these were quibbles and that jazz owes an enormous debt to BN and that some of the finest records in my present collection are on that label.

[Dan Gould]

The truth of the matter for me is that BN, Riverside, Prestige were all great labels. I've never tired of the Blue Note "formula" in hard bop or soul jazz, but I'd say that some of the classic recordings, as thrilling as they are, have lost something simply due to having listened to them so many times.

[BillF]

some of the classic recordings, as thrilling as they are, have lost something simply due to having listened to them so many times.

That's very true. Some of the finest music I have has been in my collection for forty years, which means I'm likely to be listening to stuff of lesser quality because it's only been there for forty days! One of life's sadnesses!

[paul secor]

As Chuck pointed out, there was much more to 1960's Blue Note than hard bop.

My experience in the 60's was that I let BN's hard bop sides slip by. I found myself turned off by the BN hard bop formula.

20-25 years later, I listened with better ears and was able to hear the music inside the formula, and was able to hear that all of the music on those records didn't fit a formula. The music was always there. I just wasn't ready to hear it right away.

[Christiern]

Paul Secor: "As Chuck pointed out, there was much more to 1960's Blue Note than hard bop."

There was also much more to 1960's jazz releases than Blue Note.

It is the excessive glorification of one label that I find so ludicrous. Ditto the deification of Rudy Van Gelder. I used Rudy for some of my sessions—they were no better than other studios I worked with. In fact, I was often bothered by the slightly cavernous sound.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Paul Secor: "As Chuck pointed out, there was much more to 1960's Blue Note than hard bop."

There was also much more to 1960's jazz releases than Blue Note.

It is the excessive glorification of one label that I find so ludicrous. Ditto the deification of Rudy Van Gelder. I used Rudy for some of my sessions—they were no better than other studios I worked with. In fact, I was often bothered by the slightly cavernous sound.

Not as cavernous as Prestige used for some early fifties Ammons singles! Or Chess, for that matter. Wonderful caverns on those!

MG

[Christiern]

It was a time when no studio would be caught without a reverb unit. I guess Capitol started that trend and many listeners mistook cavernity (my patented word) for high fidelity.

[BillF]

As Chuck pointed out, there was much more to 1960's Blue Note than hard bop.

My experience in the 60's was that I let BN's hard bop sides slip by. I found myself turned off by the BN hard bop formula.

20-25 years later, I listened with better ears and was able to hear the music inside the formula, and was able to hear that all of the music on those records didn't fit a formula. The music was always there. I just wasn't ready to hear it right away.

Something like my experience, Paul!