[Left to right] Grachan Moncur III (in front of producer Alfred Lion), Jackie McLean, and Duke Pearson (present, did not play) at Moncur’s Evolution session, Englewood Cliffs NJ, November 21 1963 

(photo by Francis Wolff)

Duke Pearson - For All We Know (1960)

From the liners:

The June 1960 Duke Pearson session did not produce spectacular music, but it is interesting in two respects. We get to hear Blue Note’s present (Ike Quebec) and future (Duke) A & R men playing together, and we hear the Israel Crosby/Vernell Fournier team that had contributed so much to Ahmad Jamal’s trio and George Shearing’s group in a new context. A young, precocious Crosby had first recorded for Blue Note with Edmond Hall, Meade Lux Lewis and Charlie Christian in 1941. — Michael Cuscuna

This could not sound better.

Bobby Hutcherson - Mirrors (1963)

Friday afternoon vibes care of Bobby Hutcherson, recorded one month after and with the same personnel as Grant Green’s seminal Idle Moments. 

This would have been Bobby Hutcherson’s first LP as a leader for Blue Note, but it wasn’t released until 1999 as part of the Blue Note Connoisseur Series. This Joe Chambers piece offers a premonitory glimpse at the type of sound that Hutcherson and Chambers would cultivate throughout the 60s together.

Duke Pearson during the production of Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, Englewood Cliffs NJ, March 17, 1965

Bobby Hutcherson - The Kicker (1963)

This bright, soon-to-be-made-famous-by-Horace-Silver tune by Joe Henderson would have featured on Bobby Hutcherson’s first Blue Note LP, recorded just a month and a half after the exact same personnel came together for Grant Green’s groundbreaking Idle Moments. Bummer these tracks didn’t see the light of day for another 36 years.

Johnny Coles - Hobo Joe (1963)

Little known in his day but much in demand as a sideman, trumpeter Johnny Coles recorded only one LP for Blue Note, although it should really have Duke Pearson’s name on it, since Pearson wrote five of the six cuts on the album.

Nothing against Pearson, but the one cut he didn’t write is the one you’re listening to. A young Joe Henderson makes his fourth appearance for the Blue Note label here and pens this catchy, pulsing tune that blends right in with the inventive playing and writing Henderson was crafting in the early 60s.

(See Kenny Dorham - Una Mas, Blue Mitchell - Step Lightly, and Joe Henderson - Blue Bossa if you want to mine this Henderson vein.)

Stanley Turrentine - Wahoo [aka Stanley’s Blues] (1964)

Yet another lost recording from the cramped confines of the Blue Note vault. Look at the lineup. Two-thirds of Coltrane’s rhythm section, Lee Morgan (in his only appearance alongside Turrentine) and the ubiquitous Bob Cranshaw, who is seemingly always present on major Blue Note LPs.

This is a Duke Pearson tune, featured on his LP of the same name. I like this version a little more because the quickened tempo injects a little more swing into the proceedings. Congas!

Donald Byrd - Elijah (1963)

An all-star jazz band and a gospel choir, together? Yes. I was dubious, but this sonic experiment provides for some startlingly satisfying results. Duke Pearson lends his masterful arranging hand to the proceedings. This LP is like nothing else in the Blue Note catalog, and a must for any jazz fan.