I have this book (along with every book related to Blakey, including the cookbook/memoir put out by his partner), but I haven't read it yet. I'm currently finishing Miles' autobiography and in there Miles says Art ratted him out during a drug bust. I haven't started reading any of my Blakey books yet, but I get the impression he's a bit of an asshole. However, at least Miles says he is a great drummer! Poor Duke Jordan gets mercilessly roasted by him!
Yeah I remember reading that in the Miles book and being pretty shocked. The worst one I’ve heard is (and this is from memory so please forgive the lack of specifics) when Jutta Hipp visited a club where Blakey was performing. She was there as a spectator and had recently moved over to New York from Germany. Leonard Feather was introducing her to the nightlife and musicians, and Blakey came over to ask if she wanted to perform on stage with him. She was flattered but said she was tired and would struggle to keep up with Blakey’s speedy playing style. Later Blakey introduced Hipp to the audience, and unexpectedly said that she had agreed to play with him. Hipp awkwardly got on the stage and began to play but Blakey came in at break-neck speed and she couldn’t keep up. At the end Blakey stood up, pointed to Hipp and said to the audience “And this is why we dont want the Europeans coming and taking out jobs”.
I’ve heard that story too but not sure if it’s 100% true or not. Shitty if true but not unexpected.
Never mind... these were all initially announced. Carry on
This is one of the stories I hope becomes more illuminated in one or more of the books I have. I would hope there is more to it than this, or that it's exaggerated, or at least some explanation from his perspective. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it is as shitty as it sounds, though. Lots of these guys were drug addicts that just did horrible shit to people. To reference the Miles autobiography again, he himself admits to repeatedly beating women, pimping women, and just using women in general for their money to get drugs.
I have the Freddie Hubbard - Here to Stay release from this series and I remember it sounding pretty good. Here's what London Jazz Collector has to say:
Notable amidst this sea of variable quality reissues and a handful of new releases, the Blue Note vaults at this time yielded up many previously undiscovered original recordings from the Blue Note years, including sessions by Andrew Hill, Booker Ervin, Sam Rivers and many other gems discovered by Michael Cuscuna.
I have the Freddie Hubbard - Here to Stay release from this series and I remember it sounding pretty good. Here's what London Jazz Collector has to say:
Michael Cuscuna opens up the Blue Note vaults: the two-fers
Notable amidst this sea of variable quality reissues and a handful of new releases, the Blue Note vaults at this time yielded up many previously undiscovered original recordings from the Blue Note years, including sessions by Andrew Hill, Booker Ervin, Sam Rivers and many other gems discovered by Michael Cuscuna.
Around 1975, United Artists released these for the first time, in light brown gatefold package double album “two-fer” series. The series adopted a variant of the UA blue label, using a white b encircled by “THE BLUE NOTE RE-ISSUE SERIES”, a misnomer, as all the tracks have never previously been issued. The sound quality on some of these two-fers is bright fresh and exciting (Van Gelder recordings), whilst a minority are somewhat lacklustre. Booker Ervin’s Back From The Gig is a stellar recording, essential.
Thanks for your replies!
I did needle drops of the MMJ Blue Train and MMJ Blue Train SRX. Here are some short clips.
Who cares what some pleb whose interconnects only cost $8000 thinks?
Please tell me "the other pressing" isn't the SRX...