Exploring vintage jazz vinyl with a focus on label and pressing details, discographical information and critical musings on the music found within the grooves.
On Unity Larry Young showed the world he was no longer simply a Jimmy Smith clone, but instead revealed that his creative spirit was more aligned with the adventurous post bop and avant garde leanings that were emerging in jazz in the mid-1960s. Joined by Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones and a young Woody Shaw, Unity is a truly adventurous classic from the latter stages of the Blue Note catalog.
Read MoreThe jazz world generally looks at Herbie Hancock's 1973 jazz-funk opus Head Hunters as the keyboardist's first foray into combining the world of funk, soul and R&B rhythms with jazz improvisation, but in fact it was four years earlier with Fat Albert Rotunda that Herbie showed how funky jazz music could really be
Read MoreA Little Night Music was recorded live in 1981 at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco, although it wouldn't see an official release until nearly two years later in 1983. The recording date is significant, as it follows a period of lackluster attempts at commercial recordings by Hubbard for Columbia, none of which can possibly be looked upon as highlights of his long and distinguised discography. Night Music marks a return to "genuine" jazz music for him, and the joy of reuniting with a couple of his former Blue Note cohorts in front of an appreciative audience is clear in his strong playing.
Read MoreSweet Honey Bee is an all-star outing that is about as good as it gets when it comes to an example of the soul jazz and hard bop music that Blue Note was putting out in the mid to late 1960's. This is the music that many folks associate with the label and why it has remained so relevant and popular to this day.
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