Numbering round 1,000 albums, the Blue Observe discography is among the most revered within the historical past of jazz. Starting from bebop and exhausting bop to soul jazz, post-bop and even avant-garde music, Blue Observe’s most important albums ought to be in each jazz fan’s assortment. However not the whole lot this iconic label recorded throughout its most prolific years within the 50s and 60s was launched, as Grammy-winning producer and Mosaic Data co-founder, Michael Cuscuna, found in 1975 when he was given permission to undergo the then dormant firm’s archives. He discovered over 100 albums’ price of classes that had by no means been heard earlier than and, understandably, wished to share them with the world. The outcomes had been an intensive archival launch program of misplaced Blue Observe albums that would lastly obtain their due.
What puzzled many listeners who heard them was the sheer high quality of those albums. Alfred Lion, the corporate’s co-founder and predominant producer between 1939 and 1966, was identified to be fastidious and favored his music, above all else, to swing, however even he, when later questioned by Cuscuna, agreed that many of those forgotten Blue Observe albums had been good, and couldn’t provide an evidence as to how they ended up being uncared for.
If high quality management wasn’t the prime purpose for Blue Observe shelving the classes, what different elements may there be? The sheer scale of the label’s recordings is one. Grant Inexperienced, Stanley Turrentine, Lee Morgan, and Hank Mobley – all purportedly favorites of Alfred Lion – had been so prolific that they lower extra sides than the label may anticipate to launch.
One other doable purpose was that Blue Observe’s launch schedule couldn’t sustain with how briskly a few of its musicians had been creating. Take saxophonist Jackie Mclean. He went from exhausting bop to a extra experimental mode of jazz within the early 60s and, in all probability due to that, a few of his extra conservative classes had been put apart as they didn’t provide an correct reflection of his present musical state.
Generally successful report would alter an album’s trajectory, like The Sidewinder did for Lee Morgan. His follow-up to that album, the extra exploratory Search For The New Land – arguably his biggest musical assertion – was postponed after The Sidewinder’s catchy title lower turned a shock pop hit in 1964. Its success led Lion and Blue Observe to request related groove-oriented materials, and Morgan obliged with 1965’s The Rumproller (Search For The New Land was ultimately launched two years later).
Different albums weren’t so fortunate. Some had been assigned catalogue numbers (Blue Mitchell’s Step Evenly) and even had covers designed (Tina Brooks’ Again To The Tracks), solely to be inexplicably sidelined on the final second, ready to be found.
A lot of the the explanation why so many Blue Observe classes had been left to assemble mud will in all probability by no means be identified, however what’s abundantly clear is that a lot of the music on these obscure Blue Observe albums lives as much as Alfred Lion’s excessive requirements.
Right here is our decide of the misplaced Blue Observe albums you really want to listen to (with due to Michael Cuscuna for his enter). Assume we’ve missed one in all yours? Tell us within the feedback part, beneath.
Hearken to one of the best of Blue notice on Apple Music and Spotify, and scroll down to find the misplaced Blue Observe albums you have to know.
Hank Mobley: One other Exercise
Alfred Lion should have been a fan of Mobley; the Georgia-born tenor saxophonist recorded 26 album classes for Blue Observe between 1955 and 1970. Curiously, although, seven of them remained within the can and had been solely issued at a a lot later date. One other Exercise might be one of the best of Mobley’s misplaced Blue Observe albums and proves to be an incredible cache of unalloyed exhausting bop. It was recorded on December 5, 1961 with a rhythm part borrowed from Miles Davis (bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Philly Joe Jones and pianist Wynton Kelly) with guitarist Grant Inexperienced. Mobley provides three of the set’s six cuts and contains three requirements, together with a stunning rendition of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Hello, Young Lovers.”The album was launched for the primary time in 1985, only one yr earlier than Mobley’s loss of life on the age of 55.
Take a look at: “Hello, Young Lovers”
Wayne Shorter: The Soothsayer
Recorded in March 1965, The Soothsayer was the second of two fabulous albums recorded by the Newark-born saxophonist, however which Blue Observe locked away within the vaults for a few years (the opposite was Etcetera, recorded in June the identical yr and ultimately launched in 1980). It discovered Shorter, who was six months into his tenure with the Miles Davis Quintet, main a sextet that featured bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams, from Davis’ band, plus trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, alto saxophonist James Spalding and pianist McCoy Tyner. Highlights embrace the driving “Angola” (which remained in Shorter’s repertoire proper as much as the 00s), the hard-swinging title observe and the tender ballad “Lady Day,” a homage to Billie Vacation. A high-quality assortment, The Soothsayer ultimately noticed daylight in 1979.
Take a look at: “Angola”
Tina Brooks: Again To The Tracks
North Carolina tenor saxophonist Harold “Tina” Brooks recorded 4 classes for Blue Observe in the course of the years 1958 to 1961, however just one – True Blue – was launched throughout his lifetime. Although he was a gifted horn participant and composer who confirmed ingenuity when he improvised, Brooks’ quick profession was blighted with drug dependancy and led to an early loss of life, aged 42, in 1974. Recorded in 1960, Again To The Tracks was assigned a listing quantity and had cowl artwork ready, however when its launch was cancelled it lay within the vaults for 38 years earlier than Blue Observe lastly unveiled it in 1998. The session featured trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Artwork Taylor and, on one observe, alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. Aficionados of exhausting bop will discover little unsuitable with this absorbing however largely unheralded session.
Take a look at: “Back To The Tracks”
Bobby Hutcherson: Indirect
5 late 60s classes for Blue Observe by Los Angeles vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson remained unreleased by the label till the late 70s and early 80s. This explicit album, a shocking quartet studio date that includes pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Albert Stinson and drummer/composer Joe Chambers (who additionally contributed two tunes), might be one of the best of them. A group of cool post-bop grooves and moods starting from the blissful “’Til Then” to the bossa nova-infused “Subtle Neptune” and extra avant-garde title observe penned by Chambers additionally features a spacey transforming of Hancock’s “Theme From Blow Up.” Indirect was first launched in Japan on vinyl in 1980.
Take a look at: “Theme From Blow Up”
Lee Morgan: The Procrastinator
Blue Observe couldn’t sustain with trumpeter Lee Morgan’s creativity within the 60s, and eight albums’ price of fabric lay within the vaults for over a decade or extra. By the point The Procrastinator got here out, in 1979, as a 13-track double-album, Morgan had been useless seven years. It was made up of classes recorded in 1967 and 1969 and located the Philly trumpeter in stellar firm: Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, George Coleman, Bobby Hutcherson, Harold Mabern, Ron Carter and Billy Higgins all contributed. The music ranged from extra progressive post-bop items (such because the title observe) to languorous ballads (the Wayne Shorter-written “Dear Sir” is a standout) and soul jazz toe-tappers (“Party Time”).
Take a look at: “Dear Sir”
Artwork Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: Africaine
Recorded in November 1959, Africaine spent 22 years languishing in Blue Observe’s vaults earlier than producer Michael Cuscuna rescued it and revealed it to the world in 1981. What’s vital in regards to the album is that it not solely marked saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s recording debut with The Jazz Messengers, it was additionally the primary time that Jamaica tenor man Dizzy Reece recorded for Alfred Lion’s label (although, mockingly, he solely performed congas on the session). Provided that it’s a powerful, cohesive set – and contains the primary recorded model of Shorter’s basic homage to Lester Younger, “Lester Left Town,” which the Messengers recorded once more for his or her The Large Beat album – it’s a thriller why Africaine was ignored for launch. It was not too long ago reissued on audiophile vinyl as a part of the subscription-only field set Blue Observe Evaluate Vol.2: Spirit & Time.
Take a look at: “Lester Left Town”
Grant Inexperienced: Matador
No musician at Blue Observe suffered extra, maybe, from the frustration of getting his albums shelved than St Louis guitarist Grant Inexperienced. Recorded in Might 1965, Matador was simply one in all a staggering ten misplaced Blue Observe classes bearing Inexperienced’s identify. On it he led a quartet that included pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones (then a part of John Coltrane’s well-known quartet) together with famous bassist Bob Cranshaw. Initially a disciple of exhausting bop who turned a practitioner of funk throughout a second stint at Blue Observe within the late 60s, right here Inexperienced will be discovered mining a deep modal jazz groove on one of the crucial progressive albums of his profession. In addition to a few self-penned tunes there’s a protracted, exploratory model of the Coltrane-associated quantity “My Favorite Things.”Matador, which spent 15 years within the vault earlier than being freed in 1979, proved to be a discovery of giant historic significance because it documented a aspect to Grant Inexperienced’s enjoying that had by no means been heard earlier than.
Take a look at: “My Favorite Things”
Andrew Hill: Passing Ships
The grasp tape for this gem of an album by Chicago pianist/composer Andrew Hill wasn’t found till 2001 and was launched two years later. Hill, whose predilection for angular melodies invited comparability with Thelonious Monk, was one of the crucial avant-garde musicians to seem on Blue Observe and this session discovered him main a nonet that included a six-piece horn part in whose ranks had been trumpeters Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece, plus saxophonist Joe Farrell. Hill’s progressive tone poems spotlight not solely his originality as a composer however his talent as an orchestrator. By the way, the drummer on the session was a 19-year-old Lenny White, who would later discover fame with fusion supergroup Return To Perpetually.
Take a look at: “Sideways”
Larry Younger: Mom Ship
What John Coltrane was to the saxophone, Larry Younger was to the Hammond organ: an innovator who dared to go the place no different musician had been earlier than. Mom Ship was recorded in February 1969, only a few months earlier than Younger recorded two vital albums as a sideman: Bitches Brew, with Miles Davis, and Emergency, as a part of Tony Williams’ Lifetime. The music is generally extremely progressive, straddling the divide between modal and avant-garde jazz, although there’s additionally a beguiling bossa nova observe (“Love Drops”). Helping Younger is trumpeter Lee Morgan (on one of the crucial outré classes he ever took half in), tenor saxophonist Harold Morgan and drummer Eddie Gladden. Younger’s sixth and ultimate album session for Blue Observe, Mom Ship was ultimately launched in 1980.
Take a look at: “Love Drops”
Stanley Turrentine: ZT’s Blues
Like Grant Inexperienced, the Pittsburgh “Sugar Man”, tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, watched in frustration as Blue Observe stockpiled his recordings. When he left Blue Observe in 1970 after a decade-long tenure with Alfred Lion’s label, he left eight albums’ price of recording classes gathering mud within the vaults. Recorded in September 1961, ZT’s Blues was the earliest of the tenor titan’s classes to be mothballed, however it lastly noticed daylight in 1985 after Turrentine re-signed to the label. What makes ZT’s Blues so interesting is that it marks an rare collaboration between Turrentine and guitarist Grant Inexperienced; each had been consummate groove masters whom producer Alfred Lion regarded extremely for his or her potential to swing. They’re in peak kind on this seven-track fusion of exhausting bop and soul-jazz flavors that additionally options pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Artwork Taylor.
Take a look at: “The Lamp Is Low”
Jackie McLean: Consequence
Famous for his astringent alto saxophone sound, this native New Yorker went from enjoying exhausting bop to a extra progressive, avant-garde fashion because the 60s unfolded. Consequence was lower on December 3, 1965, within the firm of trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Herbie Lewis and drummer Billy Higgins, however was one in all seven McLean classes that Blue Observe left within the archives. Mainly, a tough bop date bolstered with items influenced by bossa nova (the fabulous “Bluesanova”) and calypso (“Tolyspso”), Consequence might have been shelved as a result of it wasn’t stylistically according to McLean’s extra advanced-sounding albums of the time, comparable to Vacation spot… Out! and Proper Now! Nonetheless, it’s a powerful album and was granted its first official launch in 1979.
Take a look at: “Bluesanova”
Blue Mitchell: Step Evenly
Step Evenly was the Florida trumpeter’s first session as a frontrunner for Blue Observe, recorded on Tuesday, August 13, 1963, within the firm of a well-honed sextet that included fellow Blue Observe artists, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, altoist Leo Wright and pianist Herbie Hancock. Inexplicably, the recording – which was even given a listing quantity for an meant launch – was not launched till 1980. Starting with an attractive Joe Henderson-penned Latin nugget referred to as “Mamacita” (which boasts a catchy three-horn hook line and is propelled by an irresistible groove), Step Evenly proves to be a coherent, high-quality set, however its launch got here too late to be appreciated by Mitchell, who died in 1979, aged 49.
Take a look at: “Mamacita”
Store for one of the best jazz on vinyl now.
