Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site mhuxr.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mfs
From: mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Reissues: On the Blue Note Trail (6 of 6)
Message-ID: <352@mhuxr.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Jun-85 13:27:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxr.352
Posted: Sat Jun 15 13:27:46 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Jun-85 00:56:30 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 82

Horace Silver: BLOWIN' THE BLUES AWAY (1959); FINGER POPPIN' (1959);
HORACE-SCOPE (1960); DOIN' THE THING LIVE AT THE VILLAGE GATE (1961);
THE TOKYO BLUES (1963); and SILVER'S SERENADE (1964)
Horace Silver and Art Blakey were the foremost practitioners of the
discipline known as hard bop. They prefigured, and were stars in, the
soul jazz movement (which in turn, fused back into R&B to give us
great musicians like Jr Walker, King Curtis, etc; but I digress)
These records are some of the ones Silver made with his peerless
quintet, featuring trumpeter Blue Mitchell and tenor saxist Junior
Cook. The band stayed together from 1959 to 1964 and made many fine fine
records. Silver is an expert tunesmith, and rehearsed his band endlessly.
The result is unique among small groups: the ability to swing as
one during ensemble passages, yet remain flexible enough to blow personal
lines when the time comes to step forward. These records are all very good,
with noteworthy tunes like the incandescent "Blowin' the Blues Away",
"The St. Vitous Dance" and "Sister Sadie" on BLOWIN'; "Juicy Lucy", "Swingin'
the Samba" and especially "Cooking at the Continental" on FINGER;
"Nica's Dream" and the title tune on SCOPE; "Filthy McNasty" and "The Gringo"
on DOIN'; "Too Much Sake", "Sayonara Blues" and the title tune on TOKYO;
"The Dragon Lady" and "Sweet Sweetie Dee" on SERENADE

Jimmy Smith: HOME COOKIN' (1959); MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (1960); BACK AT THE CHICKEN
SHACK (1962); and PRAYER MEETIN' (1964)
Ah, for the righteous fervor and down home greasy tome of Smith's organ.
Yeah, the formula is simple and endlessly repeated. Yeah, he inspired
countless mediocre organ trios; yeah, yeah,yeah. I absolutely don't
care. This is delicious music, to be savored ,and to have second and third
helpings of. Besides, these records are probely the best that Stanley
Turrentine has ever recorded (just listen to his solos on "Prayer Meetin'",
"When the Saints go Marchin' In", "Back at the Chicken Shack" and others)
We also have here the ever tasteful Kenny Burrell, whose spare, clean
tone is good contrast to the greasy tenor and organ. Love them all!

Cecil Taylor: UNIT STRUCTURES (1967) and CONQUISTADOR (1968)
Most of the Blue Note re-issue program makes it seem like the label
was only the temple of har bop. In reality, from about 1961 until the
label was purchased by Liberty, Frank Wolff retired and Alfred Lion died,
Blue Note was also the site for a highly active set of free players.
Tempered by the bop verities that were all around them, they never strayed
into totally chaotic territopry, but they ventured pretty far. There
were may members of that scene: Sam Rivers. Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson,
Freddie Hubbard (sometimes), Wayne Shorter, Eric Dolphy. It was they
who persuaded Wolff and Lion to rescue Taylor from washing dishes and
give him a couple of recording sessions. The results, these albums, are
breathtaking. Taylor makes completely presonal music that is not for the
faint of heart. He also demands TOTAL attention from the listener. Those
not willing to provide it should probalby stay away, for they rapidly
get the feeling of having stepped into an empty elevator shaft and
fall, and fall....
Taylor does not play linear themes. He creates three and sometimes
more dimensional sound fields. His use of the piano is intensely
percussive. Someone once characterized him as "a musical blacksmith,
with his hands as hammers and the keyboard as his anvil, forging out
musical entities" STRUCTURES, the better of these two, is a case in point.
"Enter, Evening" starts on a gently pastoral theme that Jimmy Lyons's alto
and Ken McIntyre's bass clarinet take into slowly diverging paths, with
Taylor's piano gosding them further still. Then Cecil himself takes
over and the atmosphere changes, to primitive chants in the left hand, with
the right hand tapping out a sort of Morse code stylized blues.

Describing Taylor's music properly is a task far beyond my writing skills.
Some others have done it better. None, however, really captures
the expanse of that man's music. It is like no one else's. It is entirely
self sufficient and only makes sense if taken in its own context. It is
at variance with virtually every rule ever invented. It possesses a
rugged beauty and character that will captivate the listener willing to
strip away all assumptions and take this music on its own terms.
Those who have never heard him would do better to start with his solo
albums, not because they are more "accessible", but because there is
only one voice to figure out: SILENT TONGUES is the best of those.
NEFERTITI, THE BEAUTIFUL ONE HAS COME, is a wonderful trio with
Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray from 1962. The duet with Max Roach
recenly issued is another summit in a tall mountain range.
There are many others.  They are all worth it.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Well, that's all my budget has permitted me to pick up so far. There are many
other worthwhile records in this reissue program. I hope others
will contribute their opinions of those. I am always looking for tips
on things I have not heard yet.

Marcel Simon