Shortly after the Vibrations sessions, the Three Sounds had their first major personnel shakeup when William Dowdy left the group. Donald Bailey replaced the drummer, and the group played a number of live dates over the course of 1967. During that summer, their concerts at the famed Los Angeles…
By 1966, Larry Young was playing music that fell between advanced hard bop/soul-jazz and the avant-garde. For this stimulating Blue Note date, the organist meets up with trumpeter Eddie Gale (who was playing with Cecil Taylor during this era), altoist/flutist James Spaulding, and three obscure but fine sidemen: tenor…
Organist Larry Young’s final Blue Note album, Mother Ship, was not released until 1980. Teamed up with tenor saxophonist Herbert Morgan, the great trumpeter Lee Morgan, and drummer Eddie Gladden, Young performs five of his originals, which range from the funky “Street Scene” and the samba “Love Drops” to…
Larry Young who like most organists originally sounded close to Jimmy Smith, took a big step away from the organ’s dominant influence on this adventurous and colorful set, which was his debut as a leader for Blue Note. Performing with a quartet also including tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, guitarist…
Although a four-LP Mosaic box set purportedly includes every recording led by the obscure but talented tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, this 1994 CD has previously unreleased alternate takes of “True Blue” and “Good Old Soul” that Mosaic overlooked. Brooks is teamed with the young trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (on one…
Like two of his other three albums, Tina Brooks’ final session as a leader (in March 1961) was sequenced and prepared for release, but remained on the shelves until well after the tenor’s tragically early death. That’s why the title of The Waiting Game is not only apt, but…
Tina Brooks’ first session for Blue Note was recorded in March of 1958, a month after he appeared on Jimmy Smith’s sessions for The Sermon and House Party, but the music wasn’t released at the time. The sessions remained unreleased for years, eventually appearing as Minor Move in Japan…
The music that comprises Back to the Tracks was recorded in September 1960, months after the sessions for True Blue, but it sat on the shelves until Mosaic reissued it as part of their Complete Blue Note Recordings box, even though it was penciled in for release. Like Minor…
Clifford Jordan’s first date as a leader actually found him sharing a heated jam session with fellow tenorJohn Gilmore. Backed by pianist Horace Silver, bassist Curly Russell, and drummer Art Blakey, the two saxophonists square off mostly on obscurities (other than Gigi Gryce’s “Blue Lights” and “Billie’s Bounce”). This was one of…
