Sonny Rollins - What Is There to Say (1957)
Sonny Clark’s first New York City recording session was a very successful date with another, slightly better-known Sonny.
Clifford Jordan with Art Farmer in the background during Jordan’s Cliff Craft session, Hackensack NJ, November 10 1957 (photo by Francis Wolff)
One can now definitively ascertain why Art Farmer was not included on the original Blue Note sleeve art.
Art Farmer with Clifford Jordan during Jordan’s Cliff Craft session, Hackensack NJ, November 10 1957 (photo by Francis Wolff)
Lee Morgan and Johnny Griffin at Griffin’s A Blowin’ Session, Hackensack NJ, April 6 1957 (photo by Francis Wolff)
Thad Jones during his The Magnificent Thad Jones session, Hackensack NJ, February 2 1957 (photo by Francis Wolff)
George Morrow, Hank Mobley, Max Roach and Kenny Dorham at one of the December 1957 Max Roach Plus Four Plays Charlie Parker sessions.
Happy Born Day to Max Roach!
Credit: Scanned from the Complete Mercury Max Roach Plus Four Sessions booklet by Mosaic Records.
Kenny Burrell and Horace Silver at Burrell’s K.B. Blues session, Hackensack NJ, February 10 1957 (photo by Francis Wolff)
Lee Morgan - Since I Fell For You (1957)
Lee Morgan and Sonny Clark flourished for Blue Note Records during the late 1950s, infusing their hard bop sensibilities, youthful vigor, and blues-drenched approaches to a series of seminal, must-have recordings for the label.
It seems obvious in hindsight for Alfred Lion to have placed them together (see bread/butter, peas/carrots, peanut butter/jelly, and other applicable metaphors) as often as possible, so it is a shame that this LP and a recording with Tina Brooks remain the only extant recordings of these two geniuses together; to be sure, they do not disappoint.
Horace Silver - My One And Only Love (1957)
Every time this cut comes on the stereo, I can’t help but play it twice.
- Cover note: this LP is Blue Note’s first cover featuring a color photograph by Francis Wolff.
- Photo note: Hank Mobley and Art Farmer at Silver’s May 8, 1957 session.
Curtis Fuller and John Coltrane during ‘Trane’s Blue Train session, Hackensack NJ, September 15 1957 (photo by Francis Wolff)
Thelonious Monk - Well, You Needn’t (1957)
From Robin Kelley’s Thelonious Monk - The Life and Times of an American Original:
[B]ut the eleven-and-a-half-minute “Well, You Needn’t” stands out for the way each soloist asserts his individual voice. The master take is infamous for another reason: Monk shouts “Coltrane! Coltrane!” just before his sax solo. Ray Copeland convinced himself years later that ‘Trane was nodding off, high on junk, and Monk had to wake him up. The truth is a little more mundane. Monk had not planned out the sequence of soloists, so he was merely letting ‘Trane know that he was next. And the recording is evidence that he was poised to play.
Curtis Fuller - Quantrale (1957)
More deep cuts and obscurities from the Blue Note catalog.
This Fuller track simmers with Afro-Cuban beats provided by a crack rhythm section led by the criminally underappreciated Sonny Clark. The horn work from both trumpeter Art Farmer and living legend Curtis Fuller is spicy and scintillating.
For more of Fuller’s Afro-Cuban rhythms, may I suggest a track from his first LP, featuring sublime solos from Hank Mobley and Bobby Timmons.
Thelonious Monk - (I Don’t Stand) A Ghost of a Chance with You (1957)
Here’s the next installment in an ongoing exploration of Thelonious Monk’s standard interpretations.
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
