“Hank Mobley — Blue Note 1568: Might Moe and Joe; Falling in Love With Love; Bags Groove; Double Exposure; News.

“Personnel: Mobley, tenor; Curtis Porter, alto, tenor; Bill Hardman, trumpet; Sonny Clark, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Art Taylor, drums

“Rating — Three and a half stars

“One of the nicer things about Al Lion and associates at Blue Note is that they don’t hesitate to present new talent they consider worthwhile. On this set is presented 29-year-0old Philadelphia saxman Curtis Porter, who is equal to the company. Although it is Mobley’s date, the leader allows generous space for the wailing of his fellow reedman, which makes for a high degree of hard blowing.

“Porter’s alto and tenor work is more intensely staccato than Mobley’s. He skips through his solos with light-footed adroitness, delicately sparring with the changes. And he always swings hard. Trumpeter Hardman remains a wishful spokesman for the late Clifford Brown. Though he blows with controlled ferocity and biting tone, he lacks the sense of construction and taste so necessary to major status. Clark, Chambers and Taylor combine in churning rhythm  section, with Sonny’s frequent solos gems of taste and swing. His rippling tough and original, melodic constructions contribute much to the album’s rating.

“Of the three originals here, Porter wrote two (Joe and News); Exposure is Mobley’s. None is outstanding compositionally, but News offers an attractively melodic theme. Mobley’s tenor is big, bustling, hard and virile — but still a considerable cut below the level established and sustained by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. When he speaks, though, it is with authority. The good moments are many in this set, and quite a few of them come from the horns of newcomer Porter. Let’s hear more from him.”

There is is. What do you think?

Let’s start with Cool Struttin’. The reviewer, Don Gold, gave it two and a half stars out of a possible five stars. To put it in perspective, Cool Struttin’ had a lower rating than these records, also reviewed in this issue: Steve Allen All Stars Featuring Terry Gibbs; Danny Alvin and His Kings of Dixieland Play Basin Street: Belafonte Sings the Blues; Paul Horn Plenty of Horn, and Moe Koffman, The “Shepherd” Swings Again. This is what the reviewer had to say about Cool Struttin’:

“Cool Struttin‘ — Blue Note 1588: Cool Struttin‘; Blue Minor; Sippin at Bells; Deep Night

“Personnel: Clark, Piano; Art Farmer, trumpet; Jackie McLean, Alto; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.

“The relentless production of jazz LPs creates many record sessions which could easily pass for rehearsals. This is one such session. I won’t get involved in attempting to guess how much rehearsal time or how many takes this session consumed. It does seem to me, however, that more time and more discipline were needed.

“The results are not comparable to the potential ability of those present. Clark plays inconsistently, not as well as he can play. He alternates between moments of enlightened lyricism and strings of devices. Farmer, a far more astute trumpet player than he indicates here, seems more concerned with repetition than variations. McLean, passionately striving for individuality, remains an alto man in search of an identity. Chambers is an able supporter throughout. Jones, rather inhibited or fatigued here, plays with tasteful authority without intruding.

“Clark’s contributions, Stuttin‘ (a blues) and Minor, are excuses for blowing, with little inherent authoritative value. On Night, the initial unison theme is expediently dispensed with for a string of solos. The best track is Bells, a blues from Bird’s book;  it contains Clark’s best solo work, some furious McLean, adequate Farmer, and a brief, pointed arco passage from Chambers.”

There it is. What do you think? Do you think the reviewer would have ever believed that this two-and-a-half star record would be selling for $3,000 or $4,000 56 years later? Do you think the pan was justified at any level? I’m going to have to re-listen myself in this context. Also, do you think negative reviews influenced Blue Note’s decision-making about when/whether to print up additional copies of records? Certainly a negative review would seem to lead to fewer sales of the record, right? Do you think “fatiqued” in reference to Philly Joe was a code word for drugged?

The Mobley record fared better, with three and a half stars. Tune in tomorrow for that review.

Randy Brecker: Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland Volume 1, Blue Note 5037. They actually show the original 10-inch LP, but I imagine Brecker didn’t just single out the first volume, but the whole series.

Teri Lyne Carrington: Wayne Shorter, JuJu, Blue Note 4182

Branford Marsalis: Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil, Blue Note 4194.

Nicholas Payton: Speak No Evil

David Sanchez: Speak No Evil

Greg Osby: Wayne Shorter, Schizophrenia, Blue Note 4297

Chris Potter: Wayne Shorter, Adam’s Apple, Blue Note 4232

Kurt Elling: Wayne Shorter, Night Dreamer, Blue Note 4173

Geri Allen: Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage, Blue Note 4195

Sean Jones: Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage

Terence Blanchard: Herbie Hancock, Speak Like A Child, Blue Note 4297

Uri Craine: Herbie Hancock, The Prisoner, Blue Note 4321

Matt Wilson: Eric Dolphy, Out To Lunch, Blue Note 4163

Dee Dee Bridgewater: Horace Silver, Song For My Father, Blue Note 4185

Dave Douglas: Horace Silver, The Cape Verdean Blues, Blue Note 4220

Bill Charlap: Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note 1518

Christian McBride: Joe Henderson, Mode For Joe, Blue Note 4227

Steve Turre: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2, Blue Note 1506

Kenny Washington: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588

Larry Grenadier: Sonny Rollins. A Night at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note 1581

Gary Bartz: Sonny Rollins, Volume 2, Blue Note 1558

Antonio Sanchez: John Coltrane, Blue Trane, Blue Note 1577

Ben Allison: Andrew Hill, Black Fire, Blue Note 4151

Mulgrew Miller: Freddie Hubbard, Ready For Freddie, Blue Note 4085

Robin Eubanks: McCoy Tyner, The Real McCoy, Blue Note 4264

Conrad Herwig: Larry Young, Unity, Blue Note 4221

Patricia Barber: Sheila Jordan, Portrait of Sheila, Blue Note 9002

Jason Moran: Bobby Hutcherson, Dialogue, Blue Note 4198

There were a couple of other they were weird and I didn’t include them. If you’re like me, you probably haven’t even heard of half the musicians that are quoted here. I will tell you my finalists:

Art Blakey Buhaina’s Delight

Art Blakey Blue Note 4003

Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd

Horace Silver, Blowin’ The Blues Away

John Coltrane, Blue Trane

Dexter Gordon, Our Man in Paris

Donald Byrd, A New Perspective

At this point, the very strong lean is toward Buhaina’s Delight, but I might put a few others on the turntable today, since it looks like it’s going to be a nice snow day in New York. But, at least I’ve narrowed the field to My Seven Favorite Blue Notes. For now, at least.

quite amusing. But there are no details on what is amusing about the review, so I am hoping that Rudolf will see this post and share a tidbit from the review. I don’t have many Metronome’s from that era. I do have a lot of Downbeat magazines, more from the late 1950s and just about all of them from the 1960s. I occasionally pore through them — at least the ones that aren’t sitting in storage — and find out interesting tidbits to post here. You can find some of them if you just do a search on Downbeat, using the search feature at the top right of the page.

If you’re looking for a good read, pick up the July issue of Downbeat. It’s being promoted as the “70^th Anniversary Collector’s Edition” and the focus is a feature called “Our Heroes” in which more than 70 musicians talk about their primary influences. Here are a few highlights:

 Sonny Rollins on Coleman Hawkins: “I first saw him play on 52^nd Street. I used to put eyebrow pencil on my lip to make a fake mustache so I could get in. We’d stand in the back, and it was like looking at a god playing.”

 Joe Zawinul on Art Tatum: “He always sounded like two piano players. The story goes like this:

His grandmomma had one of those player pianos. But the recordings in the piano were by two piano players. So Tatum, that’s just the way he just heard the music. He though that’s the way you’re supposed to play the piano.”

Antonio Hart on Cannonball Adderley: “What inspired me most about him was that he played with tremendous intellect and technical facility, but was able to maintain that down-home feeling in his playing. There was total communication.”

There are many interesting articles, including Jimmy Heath on Dizzy Gillespie; Wayne Shorter on Charlie Parker; Branford Marsalis on Sonny Rollins; Michael Brecker on John Coltrane; Gary Bartz on Clifford Jordan, and others. People sometimes ask me which jazz magazines I prefer. Downbeat is the only one I read consistently. To me it has the most interesting articles, best writing and a good mix between the older stuff and current music. They could write more often about the vinyl market, but we’re happy to serve that niche.