This is really hard actually! 1. Andrew Hill 2. Wayne Shorter 3. Joe Henderson 4. Art Blakey and the jazz messengers 5. Kenny Dorham So hard, Morgan and Dorham would be interchangeable on that list. McLean and Green are extremely close and if it wasn’t for the singular records as lead I’d likely have Eric Dolphy and Pete La Roca as number 1 and 2.
Very nice listing Blakey with the Jazz Messengers...a clever way of allowing more names in the top 5. Good stuff!
Like you, I cannot think of a BN top five. It would change by tomorrow and again the next day. It's also why I gave up participating in the top X Tone Poet roll calls.
A top 5 BN artist would be really tough. When considering their total output (leader and sideman), the two I absolutely could not leave off would be Herbie and Henderson. After that it is much tougher for me.
I mean, I obviously know what he released on Blue Note, specifically said I’m not considering his work on other labels in my rankings, and still place him at #1. I think Alfred Lion was clearly before his time in recognizing Monk’s genius and recording him that early. And I think you don’t get so much of post-Monk jazz without Monk in the ‘40s.
Absolutely. If I recall correctly, Lorraine Gordon (er, I guess Lion at the time) was a huge champion of Monk and helped rescue him from obscurity.
I don’t think there’s ever been a good explanation for why Blue Note shelved the ‘62 session by Nate Jituaqqua. The Japanese “unissued” pressing is impossible to find, so it would be a perfect candidate for a Tone Poet.
My top five, on any given day, in no particular order: John Patton Lee Morgan Joe Henderson Grant Green Hank Mobley 2nd five: Larry Young Freddie Hubbard Tina Brooks Kenny Burrell Herbie Hancock
Speaking of top artists in the BN lineup, I’m playing my MMJ45 of Larry Young Into Something. Larry Young, Sam Rivers, Grant Green, Elvin Jones. What a stellar cast!
Since I'm reading more and more about the LT series, what titles do you see in the near future as potential candidates for the TP series besides Andrew Hill's Dance with Death? I hope Taru and Tom Cat by Lee Morgan, New Time Shuffle by Stanley Turrentine. Luckily Solid from Grant Green is announced (via LJC) as a future classic reissue release .
Top guys are impossible. There are too many. How about top personal discoveries in the Tone Poet series? 1. Lou Donaldson 2. Curtis Amy 3. Chick Corea 4. Tina Brooks
If one focuses on the artists that made the BN sound what it was rather than on personal preferences, the choice becomes easier, I think: 1. Hank Mobley - I think is the one tenor most identified with BN hardbop 2. Art Blakey/Messengers - At times it was 'his' label more than anyone else's 3. Grant Green - Made it through BN 4. Jackie McLean - The 'new thing' sound of the mid sixties was his doing 5. A tough call between Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. If I had to vote which of them is 'most BN' I think I would go for Morgan's short bursts on the trumpet There are other players I love at least as much and Joe Henderson was my favourite tenor on earth, but I think these five are most representative
1. Horace Silver - long tenure, great working bands, helped define the BN sound. 2. Ike Quebec - early and late, the only one to do that from the 78rpm era. 3. Stanley Turrentine - recorded in more different settings than anyone else on BN, and always sound like himself. 4. Grant Green - the most natural groove player on the label, and he could do other things too. 5. Andrew Hill - the only one to be on the label 3 separate times. Feels weird to omit Art B. and Lee Morgan. Would be interesting to see the top 5 in terms of numbers of sessions. Horace and Grant might be in the running there, maybe Stanley, and Joe Lovano from the modern era.
Spontaneously I picked "Open Sesame" for morning tea and it's spinning for the second time now. Another Tone Poet, that felt under my radar. Brilliant and engaging album. I think this whole series suffered a lot as I bought around 25 albums at once at the 3 for 2 sale on Amazon. That was just too much at once. Anyway, I am finally on my way to discover and appreciate the individual releases way more, giving them more room and space, instead of just flipping them quickly one after the other. Anyway, another Highlight for me!
