The Blue Note Years

Hank Mobley - The Blue Note Years
FLAC, EAC, LOG & CUE | Lossless Artwork | Size: 473 MB
Label/Cat#: Blue Note, Toshiba EMI CJ28-5035 | Country/Year: Japan 1989
Genre: Jazz | Hoster: Filesonic/Uploaded/Filepost

Part of Blue Note's quality series of artist samplers, The Best of Hank Mobley surveys the great tenor saxophonist's prime stretch from 1955-1965. Originally overshadowed by the likes of Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and, of course, Coltrane, Mobley nevertheless gained the respect of his peers, thanks to his richly fluid phrasing and smooth, caramel tone…

One of the great jazz trumpeters of all time, Freddie Hubbard formed his sound out of the Clifford Brown/Lee Morgan tradition, and by the early '70s was immediately distinctive and the pacesetter in jazz.

Hank Mobley - The Blue Note Years
FLAC, EAC, LOG & CUE | Lossless Artwork | Size: 473 MB
Label/Cat#: Blue Note, Toshiba EMI # CJ28-5035 | Country/Year: Japan 1989
Genre: Jazz | Style: Hard Bop

Part of Blue Note's quality series of artist samplers, The Best of Hank Mobley surveys the great tenor saxophonist's prime stretch from 1955-1965. Originally overshadowed by the likes of Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and, of course, Coltrane, Mobley nevertheless gained the respect of his peers, thanks to his richly fluid phrasing and smooth, caramel tone…

Covering prime early recordings from 1956-1960 and one mid-'80s cut, Blue Note's The Best of Jimmy Smith offers up a fine introduction to the trailblazing jazz organist. Smith's Blue Note sessions not only introduced the world to the complex solo possibilities of the Hammond B3 organ, but simultaneously ushered in the soul-jazz era of the '60s, spawning a wealth of fine imitators in the process. Before delving into more commercial terrain on Verve in the late '60s, Smith cut a ton of jam-session dates for Blue Note, often with the help of hard bop luminaries like trumpeter Lee Morgan, alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, tenor saxophonists Tina Brooks and Stanley Turrentine, and drummers Art Blakey and Donald Bailey. All are heard here on classic cuts like "The Sermon," "Back at the Chicken Shack," and "The Jumpin' Blues," with Smith regular Turrentine and a young Morgan availing themselves in especially fine form. For his part, Smith eats up the scenery on all the sides here, taking his solo to particularly impressive heights on a fleetly swinging rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".

Part of Blue Note's quality series of artist samplers, The Best of Hank Mobley surveys the great tenor saxophonist's prime stretch from 1955-1965. Originally overshadowed by the likes of Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and, of course, Coltrane, Mobley nevertheless gained the respect of his peers, thanks to his richly fluid phrasing and smooth, caramel tone – in lieu of trying to impress you, he seduced you slowly from afar. And while one is advised to dive in directly with any one of his Blue Note discs – especially Soul Station, No Room for Squares, and A Slice of the Top – this ten-track overview still works well as a launching pad. Backed by a stellar array of "Blue Note" regulars like Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Billy Higgins, Freddie Hubbard, and Horace Silver, Mobley ranges effortlessly from early hard bop favorites ("Funk in a Deep Freeze") to mature, solo-rich material from the mid-'60s ("The Turnaround"). In between, there are two stunning originals from his banner year of 1960 ("This I Dig of You," "Take Your Pick") and one of the best of his several bossa nova numbers ("Recado Bossa Nova"). For listeners who just want a taste, this best-of collection will do the trick just fine.

As the man who wrote the liner notes says, Stanley Turrentine may be the only Texas tenor player to come out of Pittsburgh - and you can hear several of the reasons why in this distillation of his Blue Note dates from 1960 to 1966, plus a grand leap all the way to 1984. Though his sound can be heard as early as the fairly conventional "Little Sheri," the real soulful Turrentine begins to emerge in "Since I Fell for You" with the 3 Sounds, and really explodes in the splendid "River's Invitation," thanks in large part to Oliver Nelson's great chart and Herbie Hancock's irresistible comping. "Smiley Stacy" is a Les McCann blues swinger that inspires a tough, characteristically pointed solo from Turrentine and some real burning from McCann and bassist Herbie Lewis - and he digs deeply into "God Bless the Child," with then-wife Shirley Scott acting cool and caressing on the Hammond organ…

It took awhile, but Blue Note has finally seen fit to honor one of its best with a best-of disc. And thanks to rabid fans like John Zorn and hard bop fanatics the world over, pianist Sonny Clark has also gotten the kind of reissue program such label cohorts as Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, and Lee Morgan have been blessed with for some time. Culled from Clark's short but potent prime of 1957-1961, the first five sides here (out of nine) come from his particularly fertile first year, when such classic LP's as Dial "S" for Sonny, Sonny's Crib, and Sonny Clark Trio were cut. Besides an urbane slice of Clark's single note style ("Softy, As In a Morning Sunrise"), this batch features two of his marquee originals (the Far Eastern-tinged, noirish blues swingers "Sonny's Crib" and "Dial S For Sonny") and an exquisite early Coltrane vehicle ("Speak Low")…