Unissued BN session: Grant Green w/John Gilmore

[Nate Dorward]

One thing I've been thinking of, which may be without any significance but I thought I'd mention anyway: When Ike Quebec died in 1963 Pearson took over his A&R at Blue Note. From that point, these are the Blue Note sessions where he played piano during the following two years:

Johnny Coles 'Little Johnny C' (July 18, August 9, 1963)

Grant Green 'Idle Moments' (November 4 & 15, 1963)

Bobby Hutcherson 'The Kicker' (December 29, 1963)

Rejected Grant Green session (February 12, 1964)

Grant Green 'Solid' (June 12, 1964)

Duke Pearson 'Wahoo' (November 24, 1964)

Pearson's not on Solid, it's Tyner, but there's a Pearson tune in the setlist (the lead-off minor blues). I take it Pearson was eager to make guys play his tunes....

I think that it'd be interesting to hear the unreleased session though it's very unlikely to be a winner. Perhaps the most sensible thing would be for it to be made available as a download rather than actually released on CD. If nothing else it'd be nice to hear the earlier take on "Ezz-Thetic" for comparison.

[Daniel A]

Pearson's not on Solid, it's Tyner, but there's a Pearson tune in the setlist (the lead-off minor blues).

Yes, you're right of course!

Well, the initial statements about the Pearson-Henderson connection still holds, but on a more scant number of albums.

[marcoliv]

A few years ago they released the Lost Sessions disc which, frankly, in my opinion, wasn't that good. Those were some sessions that probably should have stayed in the can.

i like The Lost Sessions disc but we can only say if we like or not if we have those sessions released

if it's not that good we will post then "probably should have stayed in the can"

Marcus

[mikeweil]

Interesting, too, that Henderson played tenor on ALL the aforementioned dates except this one.

I didn't even realize that myself!!

After these sessions Duke didn't sit on Rudy's piano chair until December 7, 1966 when he recorded "Sweet Honey Bee". And guess who was playing tenor...

Between his Blue Note periods Pearson recorded two albums for Atlantic, with Harold Vick or George Coleman on tenor - again, more conservative players than Gilmore. And he used a Henderson tune.

Gilmore looks like an odd choice to me, too.

Why did Pearson switch to Atlantic, BTW?

[Jazz Kat]

more freedom?

[mikeweil]

A few years ago they released the Lost Sessions disc which, frankly, in my opinion, wasn't that good.  Those were some sessions that probably should have stayed in the can.

i like The Lost Sessions disc but we can only say if we like or not if we have those sessions released

if it's not that good we will post then "probably should have stayed in the can"

Marcus

You hit the nail of the head here, Marcus!

I, too, found the Pearson/Quebec session disappointing, even more so as Crosby/Fournier were such a great rhythm section, but still it was good that we could hear ourselves.

Cuscuna used to ask the musicians whether they wanted it released - that's why it took so long for the Andrew Hill Mosaic Select to appear, and that's why we will never get to hear the Silver Tentet sessions, which I endlessly regret - Silver didn't want it out, and MC handed him the tapes ...

Why not ask Hutcherson as the sole survivor from the date?

[Jazz Kat]

Well that should be the way of going about it. It's more about the musicians then the record company, 99.9 % of the time, IMO.

[bertrand]

Mike,

Butch Warren is still living, although keeping a low profile right here in D.C. I've been periodically posting about this in the live shows forum.

I haven't seen him in a few months. He lost the Wednesday night gig because he was unpredictable ('hasn't been taking his medicine'). I'm trying to put together some sort of benefit/tribute (don't tell Allen Lowe), but I have no clue how to go about it, and I can't pay anyone from my own pocket.

Bertrand.

[mikeweil]

Mike,

Butch Warren is still living, ...

Sorry, didn't know about that!

[Jazz Kat]

That Go session kept him alive.