Wayne Shorter's Most Avant-Garde Blue Note Album: The All Seeing Eye

Back 20 years ago or so when I first started getting into modern jazz:

It was always a shock to the system when I'd discover an artist and be into a certain style of music that was more commercially accepted, only to be turned upside down by a different more challenging sound.

I think the first Shorter album I checked out was Speak No Evil, then Adam's Apple. When I finally worked my way over to this complex masterpiece The All Seeing Eye, I was shocked.

I didn't easily take to the avant-garde styled jazz, actually, ironically I did early on like free jazz of the Coltrane's Ascension variety, pure aggression some of that music is, and it just seemed to be easily understood to me.

Albums like Dolphy's Out to Lunch, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure are composed pieces in a purer sense, at least they sound that way to me. I had a harder time understanding the chamber jazz style. 1965's The All Seeing Eye is Definitely chamber jazz.

It would be asinine on my part to try to explain this music track by track, other than perhaps the moods and tempos. This is music that takes many listens to digest.

For what it's worth, this is the album I feel Wayne sounds the most like Coltrane, he digs into his solos with more earnestness, an less mystery perhaps?

This music is not that far removed from what Wayne was doing with Miles Davis at around this time. pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Ron Carter offer support along with Joe Chambers on drums. The Music is definitely more experimental, and less melodic than the Davis quintet material.

What makes this album so special are the horns, Shorter, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, James Spauding on alto, and Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, they all get to stretch out here.

Then there's Allan Shorter, Wayne's older brother playing flugelhorn on his own composition "Mephistopheles". A bizarre monotonous droning track that settles into a drum beat that will pound your head to Excedrin headache number 9.

Ultimately this album is fantastic if you like cerebral avant-garde style jazz. I know some will think music like this is pretentious, but really, how can you fault an artist for creating music he wants to as an artistic statement and not necessarily as a pay day? 

Shorter, in the liner notes for the album exclaimed that he had God in mind when creating this music. "Titles like "Genesis" "All Seeing Eye", and "Chaos" bring this to the forefront. Then his brother's "Mephistopheles", which brings in the devil and the struggles with that force, so you can see, this is thinking people's music, it's chamber jazz.

Do you dare to battle The All Seeing Eye?

Duke Pearson's Sweet Honey Bee on Blue Note: A Melody Filled Classic From 1966

Of all the musicians and arrangers in jazz history, Duke Pearson may be the most underrated.

Blue Note aficionados know Pearson, and perhaps in general jazz fans as well, but you don't hear his name mentioned as one of the all time greats. Not as an arranger or as a pianist.

Duke Pearson is one of my favorite composer/arrangers of all time. His compositions are always light and bouncy, with very memorable melodies.

I love the larger band records he's cut as well, big band or nonet. Sweet Honey Bee is a sextet session that surely has cast its spell on me.  The monster tenor of Joe Henderson, the alto sax and flute of James Spalding,  Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, and Micky Roker on drums.

James Spaulding's flute, other than the Pearson melodies stand out the most on the album. He, "Spaulding" is also well versed on alto, plus his flute on the title track is sublime.

A happy up beat tune from Pearson, according to Nat Hentoff's original liner notes: The title track and the cover's inspiration was Duke's new wife Betty, much of the music was created with her in mind.

"Ready Rudy" a play on the name of enginer Rudy Van Gelder presumably, is a nice hard bop vehicle, with a little bit of Thelonius Monk woven in, what Monk tune does it sound like to you?

Comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I like Pearson's tasty playing here, he's in the Monk mode of course, but also Horace Silver. You know, one of things that is so rewarding when you study music, being able to discern influences of other instrumentalists in their playing?

"Empathy" has a Middle Eastern vibe. Spaulding's flute once again owns this tune as well, Pearson reminds me of Horace Silver here with his comping, Hubbard breaks out the muted horn on this one, and it's nice, a different, and pleasant surprise. Henderson builds up a nice little solo on his tenor, staying down and subdued, and finally breaking out a little, but he never explodes.

"Big Bertha" bursts out of the gate with a nice little medium to fast paced Ron Carter bass strut, with Pearson and Roker playing support to his lead bass. Then the very nice classic hard bop theme kick in. Lots of great solos from all concerned. That Carter bass pulse is always there in the mind haunting every solo, I love it.

"Sudel" another upbeat number, it lets Hubbard and Henderson stretch out a little. But the strong melody is what wins here, a catchy  sing-a-long quality. That's how I would describe Pearson's work, catchy and memorable if not groundbreaking, just damn good and sometimes great music.

"After the Rain" is a real winner as well, a ballad, that creates a very ominous and spartan mood, another great showcase for the flute of Spauding near the end. I told you before that flute is a really player on this set,  I like it.

You can still get vintage original NY USA addressed vinyl copies for around 100 bucks, that's a pretty good deal honestly, I had a 21st century reissue that sounded OK to me. The remastered CD isn't bad to my ears, doesn't have that harsh tinny sound like some RVG remasters have had to my ears.

Herbie Hancock's Blue Note 4109 Takin' Off is a Nice Beginning

Pianist Herbie Hancock's debut as a leader Takin' Off is one of his best, though none of his Blue Notes should be missed.

Recorded and released in 1962, it is a stellar record. Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Dexter Gordon on Tenor sax, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums foretell the caliber of music.

Takin' Off is best known for the would be hit from Mongo Santamaria "Watermelon Man".

Hancock's original here is not as Latinized as Santamaria's for sure, It's just damned good hard bop.

Believe me, it's funky for sure, but in a Horace Silver kind of way. Trumpeter Hubbard and saxophonist Gordon play on the funkiness too. I like Gordon in particular here, he doesn't usually sound like this. Seems a little rougher his tone.

Billy Higgins does some interesting things also on the track during Herbie's Solo. Listening again as I am writing this, Herbie sure does sound like Horace Silver here. I do consider Herbie the superior pianist, Listening to the Miles Davis 65-68 quintet pretty much proves that point. But I really like Herbie when he is feeling his funky vibe.

So how's the rest of the album?

 Well, honestly, the rest of the albums is as good or better than the track the album is known for "Watermelon Man". "The Maze", "Driftin", "Three Bags Full", "Alone & I", and "Empty Pockets" are all solid hard-bop. The Ballad "Alone and I" is a showcase for Dexter Gordon, who is my favorite of all the ballad players.

The rest of the album, is what I would call fine advanced, but not too out there hard bop. A fantastic toe tapping debut from an all time great.

Of course this album does not come close to what was to come. Maiden Voyage, and Speak Like A Child for instance, as something new to the jazz vocabulary.

Takin' Off has a blowing session vibe to me. I feel like the music was made for the label more than the artist. A cutting your teeth, paying your dues album perhaps.

Right now original high grade vinyl copies of Takin' Off are selling for $250 or more, if the past is any indicator, that not at all cheap price will seem like bargain basement prices in the years to come. Just in the past 3 years I have seen so many 60's issued Blue Note spike.

Even 1970's liberty label copies of 4109 are bringing 30 bucks in lesser condition. Won't be long and those will likely be out of hand price wise too.

Kenny Drew's Undercurrent, Blue Note 4059, the Last Deep Groove: So How is the Music?

Pianist Kenny Drew's second and final Blue Note session as a Leader turns out to be perhaps more famous to jazz record collectors for being the last original deep groove Blue Note pressing.

What gets lost in the shuffle sometimes is what a fantastic record it is, seems an awful lot of the time the music takes a back-seat to the collecting minutia in Blue Note collecting circles.

As a collector myself, I get a little irritated when the focus strays so far away from the actual music. Recorded in December of 1960, and released in 1961, Undercurrent is a typical hard bop date for the label with a handful of swinging cookers, a ballad, and a blues.

However: Undercurrent is no ordinary record, you have the ballsy trumpet of Freddie Hubbard, and the sweet lyricism of tenor man Hank Mobley matching whits throughout. Both create some of finest unison playing you will hear on Blue Note.

Of course Kenny Drew's piano is delightful, and is out front in the mix, thanks to a very good Rudy Van Gelder engineered recording. The CD remaster I am listing to as I write does sound sweet, doesn't sound inferior to many vinyl copies I have heard over the years; a very crisp and clean sound, with perfect balance.

Boy do I like Mobley on "Groovin the Blues", sounds like something you could have heard on Mobley's masterpiece Soul Station, save Hubbard's trumpet of course, that being a quartet recording like it is.  Drew also plays some of the tastiest blues n bop runs you'll hear.

"Ballade" is a lovely romantic Drew composition, again Hubbard's horn and Mobley's tenor pair up for a wonderful set of down tempo verses.  Then Drew takes over with a nice melancholy ride with the brushes of Louie Hayes and the light walking bass of Sam Jones.

Then Hubbard and Mobley playfully trade off a little, then an abrupt end that leaves you wanting more, a fantastic ballad all the way around.

The title track is aptly titled, as the piano and drums create a nice little bubbling under the surface "Undercurrent" if you will, the horns spar over top this quick Blakey styled tune. Freddie Hubbard really reminds me Clifford Brown here, perhaps the mood and quick pace causes this.

Also, Mobley never seems to run out of ideas, his playing is strong, it's actually a little more bombastic than normal. Probably not easy to keep up with Freddie Hubbard, but Hank does a great job here.

I used to think Mobley was overrated, albums like this and his own Soul Station won me over fairly quickly, I always wondered why he never fit well in Miles Davis Band after Coltrane left? It's one of the biggest mysteries to me?

I think overall Undercurrent is one of the real great Blue Notes, and belongs in every jazz collection. A fairly hard vinyl record to find, even vintage reissues, if you must have a vinyl copy you might check out the 45 rpm Music Matters reissues, I hear the stereo sound on these is stellar.

Maiden Voyage: Herbie Hancock's Mid 60's Masterpiece

Maiden Voyage, and album recorded in March of 1965, and released in 1966, was released on the independent jazz record label Blue Note.

 Pianist Hancock's Maiden Voyage is one the greatest albums ever recorded in jazz, and certainly one of the classics from Blue Note label in the 1960's.

At this time, Hancock was on a roll, he was the pianist in the second great quintet of Miles Davis, and was quite simply carving out a niche for himself as one of the great jazz artists of the 20th century.

The title track was originally made for a Faberge' commercial,  but was re-purposed for the album.  Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and the Underrated George Coleman on tenor saxophone dig into these modal compositions quite well, they offer some very interesting interplay, and seem to understand what Hancock is after here. Perhaps a oceanic mood, sailing ships etc... what you might encounter on a voyage,  high waves, hurricanes, and dolphin's dancing?

Drummer Tony Williams and bassist Ron Carter offer the typical fine support you would expect. When you take the Davis quintet albums Hancock participated in, along with the music Herbie was making during the mid 60's while he was in his mid 20's, it is astounding!

 Drummer Williams was only 19 at the time of this recording by the way, incredible the classic albums he was the drummer on, Out to Lunch from Eric Dolphy, and Point of Departure from Andrew Hill to name a few, all before the age of 20.

If you ever wondered if trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was over hyped, Maiden Voyage is an album that should dispel that myth. His solo on the title track is pretty darned good, his notes ring true, I still don't understand how he doesn't lose his balance at the 3:50 mark (see above)?

The title track, "Dolphin Dance", and "The Eye of the Hurricane" by every sense of the word are jazz standards. Personally I think the album strikes the perfect balance between the hard-bop jazz that Blue Note was famous for, but also that slightly outside music with just a slight avant-garde influence. Certainly not as far out as Jackie McLean went, but a nice contemporary inside-outside style of music.

I have also felt that Maiden Voyage had a Kind of Blue sort of vibe, being modal in a lot of spots that's not surprising, but the feel of the music, a challenging, yet contemporary at-the-same-time-sound, marks this classic as one of the most accessible jazz albums of all-time, just like Kind of Blue was before it.

Note: The above pictured copy was a mid 70's liberty issue. I paid less than 20 dollars for it, a very reasonable price. These 70's issues are rising in price. People who can not afford the hundreds of dollars for a 60's NY USA first press, like these black b Liberty issues. They sound pretty good and do have Van Gelder in the dead wax.

One Night With Blue Note DVD: It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This 1985 Concert

If you are an avid fan of Blue Note jazz and you don't already have the DVD pictured One Night With Blue Note, you must get it immediately, for it is that good.

Immediately inside the first 5 minutes of this DVD you will realize that Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is here to serve notice that he's the baddest trumpet mutha on the planet circa 1985.

Freddie's solo on Herbie Hancock's  "Cantaloup Island" is brash, in your face, pure Freddie! The Price is well worth it just for this performance. Oh yeah, Joe Henderson and Herbie are are pretty darn good too.

If that isn't enough, you also get a killer Jackie Mclean solo on "Appointment in Ghana," These dudes rose to the occasion and possibly considered it a last hurrah of sorts. The underrated trumpeter Woody Shaw also offers support to McLean.

 Many of the greats show up, drummer Art Blakey, Saxophonists Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, Lou Donaldson, and Stanley Turrentine, vibist Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, and even a very lengthy solo performance of pianist Cecil Taylor on "Pontos Contados".

Another highlight is Charles Lloyd going above and beyond with the island themed "Tone Poem". Lloyd delivers a stellar Coltrane styled solo over top the nice groove of pianist Michael Petrucciani.

There has been some talk about the original VHS cassette and or Laserdisc are the ways to obtain this timeless classic, as some footage has been cut from the DVD, McCoy Tyner's performance of "Passion Dance" is not on this DVD. I don't know about you, but I don't have a VHS or Laserdisc player?

I am thankful to have this DVD, I do return to it quite often. It has a feature that can omit the narrator, who does a good job by the way, Some have commented they prefer the music without the narrator led ins, but I don't mind it at all.

In closing Freddie Hubbard, Charles Lloyd, and Cecil Taylor stand out the most, but all who perform do so  in stellar fashion.

In case you didn't know, producer Michael Cuscuna along with Capitol Records head Bruce Lundvall were responsible for this show and the resurrection of the reissue program. I know I am for one thankful that Cuscuna has done so much to keep jazz music alive.

Freddie Hubbard: Blue Spirits on Blue Note 1966

1966 was the last year that Alfred Lion owned Blue Note Records, because in 1967 Liberty Records bought the company.

1966 also saw John Coltrane go head long into militant free jazz, I use that term affectionately by the way. Freddie Hubbard had already staked a reputation as one of the most in-demand and ballsy sounding trumpeters on the scene.

I love Freddie's in your face brassy tone. I always felt Lee Morgan and Freddy Hubbard were equals on the instrument, and definitely cut there teeth on Clifford Brown.

Blue Spirits is an album that quite frankly is one of the best for the label in the mid 60's, a sort of a soul bop sound, modal and bluesy.

A heavy Kind of Blue influences on the first side of the record I think. "Blue Surge" is a nice little walking blues strut, reminds me of "Freddie Freeloader" from the 1959 Davis Classic.

All of side 2 actually has a nice soulful laid back vibe, but not a bore in any way.

Side 2 ramps up the bop, with a Clifford Brown style number, "Outer Forces", an opening fanfare that has some avant-garde leanings, but quickly turns into a nice hard bop piece, Freddie really lights it up on this track.

Percussionist Big Black stops by to add some congas on "Cunga Black" a nice exotic piece that reminds me of Yusef Lateef, with flute and a nice latin bogaloo, with some hot sax from James Spaulding.

I highly recommend Blue Spirits, as well as every other Blue Note Freddie ever did. Don't shy away from the early 70's CTI stuff either.