Originally released in 1968, Introducing Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet is the first recording by the storied and somewhat lesser known Detroit ensemble. Led by pianist Cox, the Contemporary Jazz Quintet featured saxophonist Leon Henderson (brother of Joe Henderson), trumpeter Charles Moore, bassist Ron Brooks, and drummer Danny Spencer. Interestingly, this group is perhaps best known for…
Max Roach has long been one of the most adventurous and stimulating improvisers in music. For this unusual CD, the drummer is featured on the 50-minute “Festival Journey,” an episodic and sometimes dramatic piece by Fred Tillis that falls closer to the realm of Western classical music than to…
“Howlin’ for Judy” is flutist Jeremy Steig’s best-known track, thanks to the Beastie Boys’ use of a sample from it in “Sure Shot.” As the title track for this collection, it marks new chapter in Blue Note’s Rare Groove series. This seven-track set is compiled from two different albums:…
The Complete “Is” Sessions were recorded during Chick Corea’s tenure with Miles Davis, along with bassist Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. Recorded over three days in New York, the final product came out as two albums on different labels — “Is,” “This,” “Jamala,” and “I,” were issued as Is…
Featuring his usual touring band, conga master Candido released the funky Beautiful in 1970. His first release for Blue Note — following his Solid State debut, Man of a Thousand Fingers — is a dance-oriented project that features lots of go-go-style blues jams propelled along by Candido‘s high-energy percussion,Richard Davis‘ electric bass, and Frank Anderson‘s…
Drummers Alphonse Mouzon and Billy Cobham led almost parallel careers during the 1970s and helped to raise the bar by which all subsequent drummers were to be judged. They were both in legendary fusion bands (Mouzon in Weather Report and Larry Coryell‘s Eleventh House and Cobham in Dreams and the Mahavishnu Orchestra), both led their own successful bands, both reinvented jazz-rock drumming, and both…
Although he has participated in a couple of Miles Davis tribute bands and Herbie Hancock’s V.S.O.P., Ron Carter always resisted leading a CD of Davis tunes, until this project. Actually only seven of the ten songs that are performed by Carter’s quartet on Dear Miles were associated with the…
