The Blue Note Thread

Interested in everyone’s recommendations on lesser known Blue Note artists and albums?
Much obliged in advance.

Fred Jackson - Hootin' & Tootin' (Funky soul-jazz. I have it on CD and it's awesome. Would make a great Tone Poet.)


Jack Wilson - Something Personal (Piano based hard bop. Would also make a great Tone Poet.)


Johnny Coles - Little Johnny C (Maybe not super lesser known, but underated. Still in stock at Music Matters for $39)
 
Interested in everyone’s recommendations on lesser known Blue Note artists and albums?
Much obliged in advance.

Here are some of my favorite lesser-known Blue Note titles:

Grachan Moncur - Evolution (see also Jackie McClean - Destination ... Out! and Jackie McClean - One Step Beyond, both with Moncur compositions).
Tina Brooks - True Blue
Peta La Roca - Basra
Cannonball Adderley - Something Else (foreshadowing Kind of Blue and with Miles Davis on trumpet)
Andrew Hill - Compulsion!!!
Horace Parlan - Up and Down
 
Here are some of my favorite lesser-known Blue Note titles:

Grachan Moncur - Evolution (see also Jackie McClean - Destination ... Out! and Jackie McClean - One Step Beyond, both with Moncur compositions).
Tina Brooks - True Blue
Peta La Roca - Basra
Cannonball Adderley - Something Else (foreshadowing Kind of Blue and with Miles Davis on trumpet)
Andrew Hill - Compulsion!!!
Horace Parlan - Up and Down
LOVE this list! Pure fire!
 
Here are some of my favorite lesser-known Blue Note titles:

Grachan Moncur - Evolution (see also Jackie McClean - Destination ... Out! and Jackie McClean - One Step Beyond, both with Moncur compositions).
Tina Brooks - True Blue
Peta La Roca - Basra
Cannonball Adderley - Something Else (foreshadowing Kind of Blue and with Miles Davis on trumpet)
Andrew Hill - Compulsion!!!
Horace Parlan - Up and Down
Evolution and Basra are two of my favorites from the MM choices. True Blue, Somethin' Else, and Destination...Out were up there but didn't make the cut before the price hikes for me. Hope they do them on something like the BN80 or Tone Poet level for a reasonable price.

Need to check out the last two!
 
Fred Jackson - Hootin' & Tootin' (Funky soul-jazz. I have it on CD and it's awesome. Would make a great Tone Poet.)


Jack Wilson - Something Personal (Piano based hard bop. Would also make a great Tone Poet.)


Johnny Coles - Little Johnny C (Maybe not super lesser known, but underated. Still in stock at Music Matters for $39)


Great picks, especially Something Personal.... amazing album.
 
Interested in everyone’s recommendations on lesser known Blue Note artists and albums?
Much obliged in advance.
This is kind of a tough question. It's hard to say what you would consider lesser known. I'd consider just about everything released by Music Matters to be fairly well-known and, even if not, definitely a great album that you should check out unless you aren't into the particular style or leader on the album. BN80's and Tone Poets are doing a good job of including a bunch of lesser known stuff that basically all great too. There's whole artists where I'd say that they are generally well-known, but only for one or two albums when really all of their stuff (at least on Blue Note) is great and worth listening to at least more than once. Every Paul Chambers solo album for example. They are all great, even the ones not on Blue Note. I guess my short list might be these right now:

Bobby Hutcherson - San Francisco
some seriously funky fusion. Really, most Hutcherson albums are great and worth checking out at least


McCoy Tyner - Extensions
I think too many people don't explore Tyner's solo albums much, but they are frequently amazing, with this being a standout spiritual jazz classic.


Marlena Shaw - Who Is this Bitch, Anyway?
a hidden vocal jazz gem


Bennie Green - Soul Stirrin'
amazing soul jazz


Cliff Jordan/John Gilmore - Blowin' In from Chicago
basically a great blowing session backed by the Jazz Messengers
 
Have any of my UK buds found any good prices on the Tina Brooks and Grant Green Tone Poets yet?

Really solid end to the first year IMO
 
Great pick regarding McCoy, that album is one of my favourites, and also second Hutcherson is worth exploring.Mcoy has a lot of great albums on Milestone from the 70’s too, look into them !Also another vote from Moncur and McClean and Andrew Hill.Tony Williams albums from the 80’s are really good.
This is kind of a tough question. It's hard to say what you would consider lesser known. I'd consider just about everything released by Music Matters to be fairly well-known and, even if not, definitely a great album that you should check out unless you aren't into the particular style or leader on the album. BN80's and Tone Poets are doing a good job of including a bunch of lesser known stuff that basically all great too. There's whole artists where I'd say that they are generally well-known, but only for one or two albums when really all of their stuff (at least on Blue Note) is great and worth listening to at least more than once. Every Paul Chambers solo album for example. They are all great, even the ones not on Blue Note. I guess my short list might be these right now:

Bobby Hutcherson - San Francisco
some seriously funky fusion. Really, most Hutcherson albums are great and worth checking out at least


McCoy Tyner - Extensions
I think too many people don't explore Tyner's solo albums much, but they are frequently amazing, with this being a standout spiritual jazz classic.
 
I know I'm a bit late to the party on this, but I'm SO glad Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims made it onto the BN80 list. It's just a killer record and to finally have a decent new pressing of it is brilliant. I would love to see one of the Hickory House volumes make it onto the Tone Poet's one day.

If you arent completely familiar with Jutta Hipp give her a quick google search, her story is actually one of Jazz's most tragic ones. She had real promise as a fantastic musician but the industry, her gender, and her being European really crushed her down until she quit music for good. I remember reading that when she first met Art Blakey he was doing a residency at a club Jutta visited. After he introduced himself, Blakey asked her to play live but she said she was too nervous and wouldn't be able to keep up with his fast style. Blakey said he would play slow and let her take the lead, but she still thanked him and rejected the offer. Blakey then went on stage and introduced Jutta to the audience, forcing her to play or lose face. She shyly went up and begin to play but Blakey came crashing in at full speed, and she just couldn't keep up. After the awful performance Blakey addressed the audience and said something along the lines of "And that's why we don't want or need Europeans coming over here and taking out jobs". Its a really sad, but unfortunately reoccurring story involving her.
 
This sounds better than my tone poets but that Byrd above trounces it, even with noise and brightness... sigh... we have an expensive hobby!
And because I’m a glutton for punishment, here’s my first MM... definitely not bright, definitely an utter lack of unwanted noise. Not quite as brilliant sounding as the Byrd. But yeah, this has to be better than spending Nm $$ on older BN:
View attachment 20871
Joe Henderson - Inner Urge
 
This sounds better than my tone poets but that Byrd above trounces it, even with noise and brightness... sigh... we have an expensive hobby!
We have discussed it a bunch on here but even VG and sometimes below original/early pressings are worth taking a chance on for the right prices. I have quite a few BNs that look really beat up and still sound awesome as long as there aren’t any feelable scratches...
 
Just bought "Search For The New Land" by Lee Morgan and "Judgment! "by Andrew Hill on MM from a facebook seller for $80 total, so hoping they arrive safely and in good condition! Two albums I have been looking for for quite a long time.
I played Search For The New Land again just last night. An incredible album, it could easily be the soundtrack to some adventure film.
 
I played Search For The New Land again just last night. An incredible album, it could easily be the soundtrack to some adventure film.
It has been on my wantlist for a looong time but have had trouble finding a decently priced copy in good shape. Randomly saw someone post a ton of MM and other audiophile pressings on a facebook group I am in and messaged and was a bit surprised by how fair the prices were. They were almost all under list price.
 
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