Blue Note Releases (Not Reissues): 90's and Beyond?

[Justin V]

I, like many other people, probably focus too much on all of the classic Blue Note recordings of the 50's and 60's. So, I thought that it'd be fun to talk about what Blue Note has done more recently, whether it's the good, the bad or the ugly.

I count Tommy Flanagan's Sunset and the Mockingbird: The Birthday Concert, Kenny Werner's Lawn Chair Society and Ron Carter's The Golden Striker among my favorites. Yes, I know that people don't like The Golden Striker, but it's an understated, charming record. Joe Lovano's Joyous Encounter is well worth acquiring to hear Hank Jones, George Mraz and Paul Motian together. Anything Joe Lovano contributes is just icing on the top. While not quite in the same league as the Tommy Flanagan disc, which had Flanagan with his regular group, Steve Kuhn's Live at Birdland is a fine album.

I think that Stefon Harris's Black Action Figure and Tim Hagans's No Words are two albums that seem to fly under the radar. With Gary Thomas and Greg Osby appearing on Black Action Figure, you'd expect something more like M-Base (which another 90's Blue Note, Lonnie Plaxico's Melange, provides). In addition to Hagans and Lovano's strong playing, No Words features the interesting rhythm team of John Abercrombie, Marc Copland, Scott Lee and Bill Stewart.

On the other end of the spectrum, albums like Wynton Marsalis's He and She, Lionel Loueke's Mwaliko and Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters did nothing for me.

[king ubu]

Guess this would belong into "recommendations"... there was a similar thread (including the years 1985-1990) which was in "reissues" but had the same subject you're asking of, really:

[Rooster_Ties]

I think all of Greg Osby's leader-dates from the period with with Jason Moran are superb -- pretty much everything from 1997-2002. Not solely because Moran was in his band, but they were a case where the sum was greater than the parts. (I look forward to the day when they reunite on record.)

Moran's first 3 or maybe 4 leader-dates are also stone classics, IMHO (though I've taken a bit less of a shine to his releases since those first 3 or 4).

Mark Shim's two Blue Note dates were great too.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Rooster_Ties