Although Grant Green provided his share of groove-oriented soul-jazz and modal post-bop, his roots were hard bop, and it is in a bop-oriented setting that the guitarist excels on Born to Be Blue. Most of the material on this five-star album was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey…
Broadening his musical palette, Grant Green detoured into a number of “theme” sessions in 1962 — the light Latin jazz of The Latin Bit; the country & western standards of Goin’ West; and the best of the bunch, the old-time gospel album Feelin’ the Spirit. For Feelin’ the Spirit,…
Trumpeter Donald Byrd and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams worked together on several recordings between 1958 and 1961, and The Cat Walk (released on LP in 1962) is among the best. A quintet setting, with pianist Duke Pearson (another longtime Byrd collaborator), bassist Laymon Jackson, and a lively Philly Joe…
From the crackling opening notes of “Lover Come Back to Me,” it’s clear that Off to the Races is one of Donald Byrd’s most invigorating sessions of the late ’50s. Working with a stellar supporting band — Jackie McLean (alto sax), Wynton Kelly (piano), Pepper Adams (bari sax), Sam…
Donald Byrd was at his peak as a straight-ahead hard bop band leader in the early ’60s, turning a series of remarkably solid, enjoyable sessions for Blue Note. Royal Flush is no exception to the rule. Recorded in the fall of 1961, Royal Flush finds Byrd once again working…
This 2004 remastered Rudy Van Gelder edition of Donald Byrd’s At the Half Note Cafe (the original double-disc version was only issued for the first time in 2000) appears to add one extra track — “Theme (Pure D. Funk),” which clocks in at 1:51 and is also on the…
Fuego — a title that might be somewhat misleading — is the final Blue Note recording exclusively pairing Donald Byrd with Jackie McLean, a fruitful partnership that set the yin of the (in this case) restrained trumpeter, against the yang of the tart and extroverted alto saxophonist. While not…
Donald Byrd’s 1961 recording Free Form is both a smorgasbord of modern jazz styles and a breakthrough album showing the Detroit born trumpeter’s versatility and interest in diversity. At age 30, turning down offers to teach and a full decade before turning to commercial funk fusion with his Blackbyrds,…
It is surprising that Lee Morgan’s The Procrastinator was not released when it was recorded in 1967 for the sextet (which includes Wayne Shorter, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Higgins) lives up to their potential on a well-rounded set of originals by…
Lee Morgan was the leading trumpeter in hard bop during the 1960s and he recorded quite a few classic albums for Blue Note. This is one of them. The CD reissue (which adds an alternate take of the title cut to the original five-song program) features Morgan at his…