Note Plus

Blue Note Plays the Beatles contains 11 previously released performances by jazz artists dipping into the Lennon/McCartney songbook. When deciding to cover such well-known songs, an artist has two possible ways of going about it: either re-create the track with no challenge to the original or attempt the complete opposite. Falling into the first category are "I've Just Seen a Face" by Holly Cole, "And I Love Her" by Kevin Hays, and "Come Together" by Dianne Reeves and Cassandra Wilson with Bob Belden.

Blue Note Plays Rodgers & Hart is a solid single-disc collection of standards by Rodgers & Hart culled from various Blue Note jazz albums. Included are such cuts as pianist Sonny Clark's version of "Lover" off his eponymous 1957 date as well as trumpeter Thad Jones' duet with guitarist Kenny Burrell on "Little Girl Blue" from the 1956 release Detroit-New York Junction.

Shift is a welcome return to the emotive stylings of Logan Richardson, the Paris-based, Kansas City-born saxophonist and composer who garnered respect as a fluent voice with his 2007 debut Cerebral Flow (Fresh Sound) and projects with peers like pianist Gerald Clayton in NEXT Collective. With this debut on Blue Note the blending of culturally rich environments feed creative music realized by Richardson's dream band of jazz luminaries: guitarist Pat Metheny, pianist Jason Moran and a superb rhythm unit of bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Nasheet Waits.

Since 2014, drummer/bandleader Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Werth have led an incredible collective of musicians brought together as a groove-based funk, hip-hop and jazz group which has amassed a global audience. With Mustard n’Onions – the follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Swagism – the band brings the funk to new levels with an album of originals featuring bassist MonoNeon (Prince), keyboardist Dominique Xavier Taplin (Toto), saxophonist/arranger Sylvester “Sly5thave'' Onyejiaka and more alongside special guest keyboardist and legend Bernard Wright.

Fifth Note is a new signing from the Frontiers label and is another band which is based in the Northeast region of India based in Kohima, the capital state of Nagaland. The group was started in the middle of 2019 evolving from the original foundations of a Christian themed band, though now they draw most of their musical influences from the secular Progressive Metal and classic old school Hard Rock genres of music. While Progressive Music can run the risk of being self-indulgent, Fifth Note manage to offer a sort of primal urge in their music still offering very catchy melodies and a very polished sound.

These are mature talents, presented to the world by the Italian branch of Blue Note. It isn't necessary though, because Paolo Fresu and Uri Caine already have quite a name among jazz connoisseurs. They recently released the album Think and we can expect them to tap this source extensively.