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Five more Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note reissues were released in October, following right on the heels of September's set of five reissues. This time there are second CDs from Jimmy Smith and Hank Mobley, filled out by reissues from Kenny Dorham, Joe Henderson and Herbie Hancock. As in the last batch, Rudy Van Gelder's remastering improves on previous CD releases.
Blue Note producer Alfred Lion carefully planned each session he produced, even having a paid rehearsal before the actual recording session. Each recording session normally correlated to a record. In the case of Jimmy Smith's
The Sermon and
House Party though, Lion mixed tunes from two different session from August 1957 and February 1958 which themselves had mixed personnel: with Smith's working trio of guitarist Eddie McFadden and drummer Donald Bailey, alternating with Kenny Burrell and Art Blakey, plus various horns: Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks. Using a variety of combos works well here.
Smith's long jam of Charlie Parker's blues "Au Privave" has a series of excellent solos by Morgan, Donaldson, Brooks and Burrell. The playing is relaxed, but upbeat and energetic. The ballad "Lover Man" has a beautiful Lou Donaldson solo and some juicy Jimmy Smith organ. "Just Friends" from 1957 has a wonderfully expressive and soulful Lee Morgan solo. The album also includes a version of Charlie Parker's "Confirmation" as a bonus track.
There were additional titles from these sessions released on the first version of the CD; this new version now follows the order of the original LP. (See reissue notes.) Perhaps when they release the additional tunes they could call the album House Party: Third Helpings.
Kenny Dorham
Whistle Stop (Blue Note RVG edition) Oct 12
Kenny Dorham was an excellent bop trumpet player with great credentials—he played with Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Clifford Brown and Joe Henderson—but he wasn't as well known as he should have been—he was often overshadowed by more well-known players.
Kenny Dorham co-led a quintet with Joe Henderson in the early
1960s and is a sideman Henderson's 1963 recording,
Our Thing, his second as a leader.
Henderson recorded some other great Blue Notes in the early 1960s such as Page One (his 1963 debut) and Inner Urge (1964). He was also a big contributor on many Blue Note records around this time—examples include Lee Morgan's Sidewinder (1963), Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, and Horace Silver's Song For My Father (1964) and Cape Verdean Blues (1965). (Henderson played in Horace Silver's group from 1964-66.)
Our Thing is a program of adventurous hard-bop, with compositions by both Henderson and Dorham. Joe Henderson's powerful playing and strong tone were influenced by John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Henderson builds beautiful, yet surprising, solos from his asymmetric phrases. Andrew Hill's playing is a strong part of the album; his off-centered chordal phrasing works well with Henderson's playing.
Hank Mobley
The Turnaround (Blue Note RVG edition) [LP SEQUENCE]Like Hank Mobley's No Room For Squares, his album The Turnaround comes from two different sessions—in this case from 1963 and 1965. The title tune, composed by Mobley, was one of the tunes influenced by the success of Lee Morgan's 1963 hit recording, "The Sidewinder," which was also an extended blues with a repeating rhythmic figure. Mobley's rhythm section of pianist Barry Harris and drummer Billy Higgins also played on the Morgan recording. As is usual for Higgins, his playing is superb throughout.
Perhaps because Mobley's playing was not overly dramatic or histrionic, he was not as popular with the general public as he could have been. He takes time to develop his melodic ideas and has a beautiful tone (which sounds a bit harder-edged on the 1965 session). It's also good to Mobley's playing on two ballads, "The Good Life" and "My Sin."
The Prisoner was Herbie Hancock's
last Blue Note album and the first with the sextet he formed in the summer of
1968 after leaving the Miles Davis quintet. The sextet, with a rhythm section of Buster Williams on bass Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums, had a three-horn lineup of Johnny Coles on flugelhorn, Garnett Brown on trombone and Joe Henderson on tenor. The sextet was augmented on the recording by the addition of flute (Hubert Laws or Jerome Richardson), bass clarinet (Jerome Richardson or Romeo Penque) and bass trombone (Tony Studd or Jack Jeffers)
Hancock gets some beautiful sounds from the ensemble—including some fiery playing from Joe Henderson. His open voices show the influence of Gil Evans's work with Miles Davis. The sound of those lovely voicings benefit from the Rudy Van Gelder treatment.
— Alan Lankin, 2 December 2000
[Discographical notes: The titles on the Jimmy Smith and Hank Mobley CDs match the original LP releases, which were both assembled from several different sessions. Instead of following the original order, the first CD releases were arranged by session. These new reissues go back to the original LP order. Rudy Van Gelder prefers the LP order because that follows the preferences of the original producer Alfred Lion.
Jimmy Smith's August, 1957 and February, 1958 sessions were used on both The Sermon and House Party. It's reported that a third, yet to be titled CD, will be released with the additional tracks from the session.
Four sessions from 1963 and 1965 were used to compile Hank Mobley's No Room For Squares, The Turnaround, and Straight No Filter. A Blue Note Connoisseur edition of Straight No Filter was released in February, 2001 and has the remaining uncollected tracks.]
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last update 21 December 2000