Top 10 Blue Note sidemen

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

That rings a bell with me. Circa 1975 when Blue Note in the racks here in UK meant  Donald Byrd ‘Places and Spaces’, Ronnie Laws, aforementioned Lou LPs with garish covers and not much else. Then the Brown Bag twofer series from Mesrs Lourie and Cuscuna appeared like a ‘mana from heaven’.

But also, in the early 80s I think, Pathe Marconi had started reissuing early BN single LPs. And I can't recall a time over here when you couldn't get BN single LPs from before Frank Woolf's death. They got hard to get and pricey in the period just after Liberty acquired the firm, and again in the period when UA was winding down and selling to EMI, but that was all. And we ALWAYS thought they were worth the money, didn't we?

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

10 hours ago, sidewinder said:

That rings a bell with me. Circa 1975 when Blue Note in the racks here in UK meant  Donald Byrd ‘Places and Spaces’, Ronnie Laws, aforementioned Lou LPs with garish covers and not much else. Then the Brown Bag twofer series from Mesrs Lourie and Cuscuna appeared like a ‘mana from heaven’.

Well, that wasn't quite my experience in 1974/75. Until August '74, I lived in Sussex and worked in Brighton, then moved to Cardiff.

From the regular record shops in those areas (not London, and not second hand shops) I got the following BN albums (often not for the first time  )

(Brighton)

Lou Donaldson - Everything I play

Ike Quebec - Soul samba

Lou Donaldson - Midnight creeper

(Cardiff)

Lou Donaldson - Say it loud

Grant Green - The Latin bit

Jimmy McGriff - Black pearl

Stanley Turrentine - Dearly beloved

Ike Quebec - Blue & sentimental

OK, that was March '75. Didn't get another until July '76 (Inner urge, and 6th sense & City lights by Lee Morgan). But I was into different stuff in that period and found it easy to get new but evidently classic albums on other labels like Fantasy, Milestone, Kudu, Delmark, Groove Merchant, and OF COURSE loads of Prestige LPs by Person, Booglaoo Joe, Sparks, Purdie, Ammons, Earland, Jacquet and Kynard. And I'm as sure now as I was then that the Prestige stuff, and much of the rest, was better than the BN stuff. It was also in that period that I discovered Fela Kuti, so there was more competition around, as far as I was concerned. So I'm certain that my lack of purchases of BN for over a year wasn't because I couldn't get them. I just didn't want them, thanks.  

MG

 

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

While I was emptying the dishwasher, I thought that, really, what I was doing in terns of BN in the mid 70s was filling in gaps in my collection. I already had most of the label's stuff that was most important to me: the Fred Jackson, the Vick, both Willettes, all of Patton, Wilkerson, Braith, Turrentine, most of Grant Green, Freddie Roach, Lou Donaldson, Lonnie Smith, and lots of Donald Byrd and Duke Pearson, as well as the two Quebecs with Roach and 'Into somethin' - the other Youngs I'd had and flogged as unsatisfactory. 

MG

[sidewinder]

I don’t think I ever saw a physical copy of the likes of ‘Inner Urge’ until I bought the Pathe Marconi around 1984. In fact I bought it on the spot (Festival Hall), as much out of surprise/delight than anything.

Having said that, Mole had some of these titles as Japanese imports but that was out of my price league..

Anyway, enough of this waffle...... back to ‘ Blue Note sidemen’..

Edited March 24, 2018 by sidewinder

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

5 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Those BNs were imports and not common/readily available in the average high street shop.

Well, I got 'em in ordinary High Street shops in Brighton and Cardiff; I couldn't afford to go to London to buy stuff at Dobells, Colletts and... was Mole open in those days? OK, the Jazz department at Sound Advice Records in Cardiff (a good name, that) was the hon sec of the Welsh Jazz Society, so he DID get a nice lot of stuff in. A lot of advanced stuff, too. I saw my first Nessa albums there, and other boutique labels like India Navigation. (It was there I got 'Inner urge and the Morgans.) But Spillers got a lot in too and were MILES better at Prestige material which was greatly frowned on by the jazz aficionados. I couldn't get THAT stuff from Sound Advice. Was I blessed in having two such shops to choose from? Well, perhaps, perhaps not, I dunno, guv. All I know is what I got, when and where (but not how much they cost).

MG

[Holy Ghost]

22 hours ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said:

Welcome Holy Ghost!!!

Do you mean that, as I did and do, you avoided getting Jackie McLean records or that you think he dominates his albums.

MG

MG,

On the contrary, I see Jackie's name anywhere on a BN record, whether as a sideman or his own, generates a level of excitement, meaning that he's there, get the record. Hard to explain I guess, but ordinary records by other leaders with Jackie Mac lifted to good, great, sometimes extraordinary records, if that makes sense. 

He carries that aura about him that gets things exciting anywhere in the BN era, for me at least,

On the other hand, yes, he can dominate a leader date that's not his own and make it his date, and I don't think that's what his intentions were, for example Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds, in effect was a JMac record ( my opinion, of course).

Addendum: Those "ordinary" records are usually pretty sharp anyways, I buy them because I like them with or without JMac, so I didn't mean to imply that they're shabby because JMac isn't there; however, Jackie sometimes makes those records even appear more exciting just by seeing his name on the jacket; he always brought something to the table that made things more intense, uneasy, unpredictable: Leeway for example, a good record, but Jackie made it a must have Lee date for me, not because of Lee (who I adore) but the edginess that Jackie delivers; or even in organ combos, like Open House/Plain Talk (which which turned me on to J Smith) can exemplify his dominance on a situation. Free, straight ahead, in between all that, he was the go-to guy.

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Holy Ghost
addendum

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

1 hour ago, Holy Ghost said:

MG,

On the contrary, I see Jackie's name anywhere on a BN record, whether as a sideman or his own, generates a level of excitement, meaning that he's there, get the record. Hard to explain I guess, but ordinary records by other leaders with Jackie Mac lifted to good, great, sometimes extraordinary records, if that makes sense. 

He carries that aura about him that gets things exciting anywhere in the BN era, for me at least,

On the other hand, yes, he can dominate a leader date that's not his own and make it his date, and I don't think that's what his intentions were, for example Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds, in effect was a JMac record ( my opinion, of course).

Addendum: Those "ordinary" records are usually pretty sharp anyways, I buy them because I like them with or without JMac, so I didn't mean to imply that they're shabby because JMac isn't there; however, Jackie sometimes makes those records even appear more exciting just by seeing his name on the jacket; he always brought something to the table that made things more intense, uneasy, unpredictable: Leeway for example, a good record, but Jackie made it a must have Lee date for me, not because of Lee (who I adore) but the edginess that Jackie delivers; or even in organ combos, like Open House/Plain Talk (which which turned me on to J Smith) can exemplify his dominance on a situation. Free, straight ahead, in between all that, he was the go-to guy.

 

Right. Thanks.

MG

[mjzee]

Harold Mabern!

(Thanks to the Hank Mobley - Dippin’ thread for reminding me.)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

4 hours ago, mjzee said:

Harold Mabern!

(Thanks to the Hank Mobley - Dippin’ thread for reminding me.)

Oh yes. He was on Blue Mitchell's 'Bring it home to me' album, too, if memory serves. Can't think of anything else, though.

MG

[JSngry]

http://www.bluenote.com/artists/harold-mabern

 

[Brad]

Thanks for that link. I saw Harold once in concert. It was a great experience.