Blue Note 80th Anniversary reissues...any news?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by riverrat, Nov 9, 2018.

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  1. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    Sorry to derail here a bit, but I thought I would respond to how I lost over 10,000 albums...Back in the late 80's I went through (let's just say not a friendly divorce) and I had 3 and 1 year old sons at the time. The judge decided to use me as an example because there were many fathers out there that refused to support their children after a separation. I got hit with 75% of my pay going to the ex wife. I could have bolted like many, but my sons mean the world to me and it was my responsibility to take care of them, no matter what the cost, plus I had to keep a roof over my head.

    I started collecting records when I was 5 years old, I was surrounded by a family of music fanatics, that were big time in to Jazz, Blues, and then the British Invasion. I was addicted to music and wanted nothing else. My collection grew and grew over the years and then I wound up in the music business and promos began to fall from the sky. I was one fortunate person. I had over 1500 Jazz albums in that collection along with treasure after treasure.

    But I had no where else to turn to support my sons, so I did the unthinkable and I sold 95% of my prized collection. I was a basket case for a few months after, but I got over it. The CD craze was kicking into full gear and I was getting anything I wanted in the form of promos. I still dream of my old collection to this day, and if I knew then the value they would have soared to, I would have bolted town (kidding of course) as I would do it all over again, that's what my sons mean to me.

    But hey, not all is bad, I have now built my new collection up to around 3000 albums and still have close to 15,000 CD's, so I think I will be fine...
     
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  2. Bobsblkwax

    Bobsblkwax Forum Resident

    Location:
    NorCal
    A sad story, but you did the right thing. I went through something similar, but not as bad a financial situation as you went through. That judge should be ashamed of himself.
     
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  3. recstar24

    recstar24 Senior Member

    Location:
    Glen Ellyn, IL
    Yes! Because he’s the author :laugh:
     
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  4. Juggsnelson

    Juggsnelson Senior Member

    Location:
    Long Island
    Good for you in doing the right thing. I lost 85 percent of my collection when a loose bathroom gasket caused a flood where I was temporarily storing my LP's about 15 years ago. I lost tons of rare promos that I had gathered from radio stations and I was crushed. I got most of it back and then some over the years though. Funny story.....I took two friends with me to assess the damage and save what we could. Upon seeing an Earth, Wind, and Fire LP, my friend commented "It seems they have finally encountered the fourth element of water". That made me laugh pretty good.
     
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  5. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    I just played mine for the first time and noticed the same thing. I don’t have anything else to compare it to right now, but I’ll check it out.
    Unfortunately, I think I’ll have to return my copy, as it’s a bit warped...which I could probably repair with my VinylFlat, but there’s a repeating swish that goes along with it. Additionally, the cover once again showed up like this...

    [​IMG]
     
  6. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    Nothing but the best material here, kind of gives it that old school used look from being at to many parties if you will. I have been lucky so far as mine are all good with the exception of a little crinkle here and there on a couple that I can live with.

    Only got to listen to one vinyl album last night as the wife informed me it was movie night right when I fired up the turntable. Once again I had to call on Mr. Alligator to provide some awesome grooves. I have lost track of how many times I have played this now, but it just keeps sounding better and better with each spin! I knew the album before I got this version, and now I really know how amazing it truly is.

    Hey, to give an example of some of the cool albums I use to have, if anyone gets a chance, discog Billy Nicholl's "Would You Believe" UK 1968 vinyl as that was in the collection I parted with...
     
  7. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    I haven’t had good luck with my BN80 covers. Every one has been bent. This is the first one that I’m returning though due to vinyl defect. This one actually looked like the shrink wrap was so tight it caused some of that bending. Anyway, we’ll just try another one. Totally great album.
     
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  8. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    Good luck to you with the replacement. I have 9 of the 12 BN 80th titles and four of those have one or two small crinkle type bends on them, but the vinyl is all fine with maybe a small tick on a couple, so I am more than fine with them overall. I have all 10 of the Tone Poet's and I know this might be hard to believe, but the covers are all fantastic! Maybe, just maybe, they are on to something with these.
     
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  9. geddy402

    geddy402 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    Always sad to hear about the loss of a collection, regardless of the circumstances. Weird idea after reading these two posts, might be an interesting thread if it doesn’t already exist...”How I lost my record collection”
     
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  10. geddy402

    geddy402 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    Grant Green and my Ethiopian Knights have bents covers. I thought I was the only unlucky one...
     
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  11. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    That would not be a thread I would want to hang on...too many memories...believe me when I say that it was very hard for me to write that post earlier.

    Sorry if I missed your comments, but what what did you think of Ethiopian Knights?
     
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  12. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    One last post from me for now, but its off to the land of Hi-Fi where wonderful things happen every day...Thought I would go with "Takin' Off" and "Grant's First Stand" from this awesome series, but first up is my favorite Bowie album "Aladdin Sane" (the title track from this is heavily laced with Jazz) and then Zappa's "Hot Rats" (of course a very heavy Jazz vibe to it)...both first pressing vinyl versions that sound very nice!
     
  13. geddy402

    geddy402 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mid Atlantic
    Appreciate your openness. Haven’t had a chance to spin Byrd yet, got it and it’s in my needs to be cleaned pile. Probably get to it next week. Looking forward to it!
     
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  14. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    There is an awesome Funk/Soul/Jazz album that I have by Melvin Sparks "Texas Twister" that he plays on as well, some very tasty grooves on this one.
     
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  15. Tuck1977

    Tuck1977 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Just bought my fist Blue Note 80th release Grant Green First Stand. I must say I am impressed with the sound. I steered well clear of previous BN75 due to complaints. I gave up with MM due to import costs. Now with the Tone Poet options and BN80 things are on the up it’s getting back into Jazz. I will definitely be ordering Lonnie Smith Think & Kenny Dorham Una Mas BN80.
     
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  16. Joe Harley

    Joe Harley Senior Member

    May I suggest John Scofield's Hand Jive? yes, it's a digital source but Kevin works his magic with it on the double LP.....simply superb! And, if anyone has not yet picked up Lou Donaldson's Alligator Bogaloo, please do so now! This, and Lou's Mr. Shing-A-Ling are best-of-the-best examples of Lou Donaldson at his soulful best when it comes to his post-bop soul-jazz output, accompanied by ace B-3 player Doctor Lonnie Smith and the supreme soul drumming of Leo Morris aka Idris Muhammad on both titles. For fans of 70's soul-jazz it does not get better than this I promise you!
     
  17. MisterBritt

    MisterBritt Senior Member

    Location:
    Santa Fe, NM, USA
    Things have quieted down today. I'm going to paddle back out and transcribe the final installation for now from the Idris Muhammad autobiography. As context, we were discussing the recent BN80 Lou Donaldson Alligator Bogaloo album and its companion, Mr. Shing-A-Ling, from the Tone Poet series to which this is also relevant. I'm sure many of us own both albums. We also noted a previous post from @Gabe Walters expressing his enthusiasm for the Idris Muhammad and Dr. Lonnie Smith rhythm section. Idris addresses specifically the unique matter of drums and organ.

    At its best, I consider this thread like a conversation and I am delighted to bring Idris Muhammad into it as an authentic voice in the conversation, offering insights about his experience playing live and making these records. Here we have Idris on playing with organ players in this exciting period of the Blue Note Records catalog. Also, note that Idris started with Lou circa 1965 so when he says he spent three years with Lou Donaldson, I take that to mean a couple of years before the Alligator Bogaloo date and ending about that time, so far as touring on the road. They continued, however, to record for Blue Note Records. He discusses this at the end of this section, and again in a subsequent chapter titled, "Touring Vs. Recording." The chapter below is entitled "Lou's Jazz Lesson."

    LOU'S JAZZ LESSON

    I spent three years with Lou Donaldson. And during this period it seems like there were sections where I would record a lot with organ players. This is one of the things that I was better at than other drummers. So that's why I did all these dates with organ players.

    Dr. Lonnie Smith, Shirley Scott, Charles Earland, Rueben Wilson, Emmanuel Riggins, Ronnie Foster, Neal Creque, Leon Spencer, Sonny Phillips, Charles Kynard.

    And there was Bill Mason, Ernie Hayes, Don Patton, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Willis Jackson, Wild Bill Davis. These are some of the organ dates I would do. The organ was the thing.

    There was only one other cat besides myself that played well with the organ. Donald Bailey, who played with Jimmy Smith, was the other. My older brother Weedy used to play with Wild Bill Davis.

    Jimmy Smith and Wild Bill Davis played the organ different from the other guys because they played the bass on the pedals. The other organ guys -- in contrast and comparison -- only played at the pedals; but for the most part they play the bass with their left hand.

    Once the organ player starts playing the bass line on the left hand, and then starts soloing on the right hand, they will begin to incorporate the left hand to playing the solo and they lose the bass line.

    As the drummer, you have to keep the time going. You've got to keep it level. And that's what I was good at playing. That's why I made so many records with the organ. It was because my timing was impeccable. And my swing was so hip that you wouldn't believe I came from playing funk music.

    This is another lesson in playing jazz music. You sit down to the drums. Don't play the bass drum. Don't play the snare drum. And you'll hear the swing. I had to learn that because I was not a jazz player. But I watched Art Blakey play. He had the strongest hi-hat ever. Why? Because he was playing the fifteen inch hi-hat cymbals when most guys were playing much smaller cymbals.

    The swing happens between the ride cymbal and the hi-hats. Listen to Art Blakey. He will swing you into bad health. Art Blakey will swing your ass into bad health, man. He plays the two and the four beats heavy on the hi-hats. Then you've got the pattern on the ride cymbal. So these two match up and that's where the swing occurs.

    The other colors are between the snare and bass drums. And you can't be playing up on your toes. You might get a Charlie Horse. So I play heel down on the bass drum and the hi-hat, and rock into heel and toe on the hi-hats. That's what makes the swing happen between the ride cymbal and the hi-hats. I got that from Art Blakey.

    Most rock drummers play four-four on the hi-hats. When they start making something on the drums they take their foot off the hi-hats. A lot of them, when they're fixing to make a fill, they take their foot off of the hi-hat -- they leave the hi-hat open. But in playing jazz the swing comes from the hi-hat.

    This concept originates from the guy in the Second Line drumming playing the bass drum while he's playing the two and four on the cymbal that's screwed down on top of the bass drum. That's where the swing comes from. And as you press down harder on the hi-hats you can feel the two and four when you play the cymbal beat. Those two are supposed to connect. That makes the swing.

    When Art gave me the fifteen inch cymbals, I had to strengthen the calves in my legs to press down on the cymbals because they were heavier than what I was used to playing. And ever since that time I've been playing fifteen inch cymbals.



    One reason everybody had an organ was because it cut down on the one man, the bass player. We might have four pieces instead of five. It was economical. It was compact. But then again that organ was heavy. It took all four guys just to lift it.

    With Lou Donaldson's band , we put that organ on the trailer and pulled that with Lou's station wagon. When we got to the club we had to unload that trailer in the reverse order it was packed. The clothes was the last thing to go in and the first thing to come out. The organ was next, then the Leslie speakers, the drums, Bill Hardman's trumpet (and however many bottles of whisky he had). Last in, first out; first in, last out. That's how we packed.

    It needed all four of us to carry that organ. Each guy would take one handle on the four corners and roll it to the curb. Then we had to lift it up off the curb, roll it to the door and go up the stairs. Take the rollers off and then two strong guys on the back, two guys on the front -- we'd pull while the other guys pushed. It just slides right up.

    We did the same thing coming down the stairs. Put the legs up and you guide it down. When we got to the bottom, we'd put the set of wheels on it and roll it back to the wagon.



    I went to Philadelphia with Lou Donaldson one time. After a weeks' work he gave me one hundred dollars. I had to ask him:

    "Where's the rest of the money at?"

    "There ain't no rest of the money," Lou says. "That's what the gig pays."

    Then I had to pay the hotel out of that. I almost quit on the spot. That was jazz. So after that, most of the time I never went out on the road with the people I recorded with. I just did the records.

    The organ was the thing that keyed it off itself. Then the guitar period keyed off of that. You can understand why I looked forward to the guitar period.


    The next chapter is titled "The Guitar Period" and it's a good one, too. He starts right in:

    Grant Green used organ players. Every record Grant did for Blue Note Records between 1967 and 1971 I did with him. Rudy Van Gelder recorded my favorite Grant Green record, "Alive!" at the Cliche Lounge in Newark, New Jersey. So we did play some gigs together. But for the most part we made records....

    Since Alive! is coming out as part of this BN80 series, maybe we could pick it back up when that record drops because it will be more relevant at that time. Then the following chapter is titled "The Saxophone Period," followed by "Touring Vs. Recording," which leads me to recall all these chapters were recorded around at same time. I also recall, although perhaps it doesn't necessarily come across, that Idris thought of these instrument-titled periods, per the chapter headings, as periods of music. While they certainly overlap chronologically, I had never thought of it that way. I had thought only in chronological order, or by the artist, the leader on the date, so it's interesting how he recalled this period and these recording dates: the organ period, the guitar period and the saxophone period. Then the question of touring versus recording kind of ties it all together with a common thread and puts a bow on: "Section Five: Introduction to the Jazz Scene."
     
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2019
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  18. Crazysteve

    Crazysteve Gonzo Party Member

    Thank you for each and every one of these! Sincerely. I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of Idris’ book. Jazz has finally and only recently touched my soul. I believe growing up with Kenny G playing in every single public area caused a forcefield to be built around me to shield me from jazz. Or what I stupidly thought was jazz. The quality and freshness of both of the current blue note batches has been a godsend to me musically. These threads have been tremendous resources as I dive in headfirst and try to figure out what I’ve missed the past century in this area. The timing and amazingness of your write ups have just added to my experience. I really appreciate it Britt.
     
  19. MisterBritt

    MisterBritt Senior Member

    Location:
    Santa Fe, NM, USA
    You're very welcome. Thank you!

    It's fun for me to type these chapters up again because some of them I haven't looked at in years. I can usually recall when and where these interviews were done. Like the Blue Note label, and the Tone Note and BN80 Series we're celebrating, Idris too was born in 1939. But this book: much, much, much of the groundwork was laid before the idea of doing a book was ever broached. It happened at an organ date! I've got the vinyl album here -- although most guys have probably never heard of it -- a Japanese label, Venus Records, recorded June 19, 2002, Girl Talk by Joe Beck, Joey DeFrancesco and Idris Muhammad.

    We were doing the date at Avatar Studio in New York City. I was actually sitting in a folding chair, one of those gray-brown auditorium folding chairs, in the drum booth so close that I could have reached over and touched the drums and cymbals. I say drum "booth" but it was good sized room, maybe 20' x 15'. Maybe even bigger because there was a smaller drum booth -- it kind of looked like a sauna or a wood cabin -- inside the drum room, but Idris wasn't inside that. Then there were two more rooms (one empty) on either side of it with windows so you could watch the other guys while you played. Then the front walls also had huge glass windows and Joey DeFrancesco was in this much bigger room facing Idris and Joe to Joey's left. Joey's B3 was facing the glass about 15' back so they could watch one another playing.

    Anyhow, here I was sitting next to Idris while he recorded this album. This was very unusual. Moreover, I can remember Joel Dorn came by because he had heard Idris was recording in the city. Joel had produced Roberta Flack, who Idris was with for about four and a half years after doing "Hair." But Joel didn't make it past the guest area. Ha. By the way, another tangent, but that's how Steve Gadd came into doing some recording dates for Roberta Flack. He came by the studio to watch Idris work. When Idris Muhammad was recording, it was a sanctimonious event. And now Joel Dorn is back to watch Idris making a record.

    Come lunch time we're all sitting around eating sandwiches and I guess Idris decided to explain my presence in the drum booth, where I otherwise stayed the whole time. I wasn't wandering around, although I did meander at one point into the engineer's room because I wanted to watch a bit of that. There were a bunch of Japanese business men standing around with their arms crossed who didn't speak English so I don't know any more about that; but I suspect they were the money behind Venus Records.

    Moving back to the lunch break, Idris tells the guys we were working on a book about him. A book? Yeah, I thought, we could turn this into a book. That idea had floated around in the back of my mind. And we did that. We formatted all these interviews into a book.

    This particular recording date was seventeen years ago. Wow! And the initial interviews of what became the book started several years before that. But really, we were just friends and the book came out of the friendship, not the other way around. None of this is in the book, by the way, I'm just reminiscing.
     
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2019
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  20. webmatador

    webmatador Friend Of The People

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    Idris speaks the truth.
     
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  21. NicoRock

    NicoRock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin
    Great story. Thanks for sharing it and the transcriptions of the book.
     
  22. Rob Zarzecki

    Rob Zarzecki Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
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  23. Rob Zarzecki

    Rob Zarzecki Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
  24. recstar24

    recstar24 Senior Member

    Location:
    Glen Ellyn, IL
    Um yeah the blu Ray is an instant buy for me :)

    The Jutta Hipp is very interesting, I’m probably a stream away from pre ordering that too
     
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  25. AmiV

    AmiV Forum Resident

    Location:
    Israel
    I wonder why Inventions & Dimensions is not up for pre-order yet. It should be in the same batch.
     
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