Blue Note Reissues
Blue Note Reissues

DONALD BYRD – BYRD IN HAND
LOU DONALDSON – THE NATURAL SOUL
FREDDIE HUBBARD – HUBCAP
CLIFFORD JORDAN/JOHN GILMORE – BLOWING IN FROM CHICAGO
JACKIE MCLEAN – JACKIE’S BAG
HORACE SILVER – FINGER POPPIN’

With the reissues in Blue Note’s Rudy Van Gelder series, quality never seems to be the issue; only the depth or breadth of it.

The twice-yearly half-dozen titles re-released in the renowned sound engineer’s name are remastered and repackaged discs bringing back out-of-print records, sessions that never left the vaults, import-only titles, or simply updated masterpieces. Each reissue adds new liner notes and candid studio photos shot by label co-founder Frances Wolff.

On occasion, the reissued sessions span the lifetime of the first incarnation of the Blue Note label: from Sidney Bechet’s late '30s sides to '70s fusion. Other batches, like the current set of releases, offer less scope but make up for it with a depth of quality that reminds jazz fans why this label was the undisputed house of hard core hard bop.

The new reissues — Donald Byrd’s "Byrd In Hand," Lou Donaldson’s "The Natural Soul," Freddie Hubbard’s "Hub Cap," Clifford Jordan’s and John Gilmore’s "Blowing In From Chicago," Jackie McLean’s "Jackie’s Bag," and Horace Silver’s "Finger Poppin’" — span just five years, from 1957-62. But that half-decade was arguably the zenith of the hard bop movement, judging by this mostly marvelous set of dates.

The strongest session in this set is the aptly titled "Blowing In From Chicago," an immensely engaging, no-fooling-around hard bop encounter between tenor players Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore, which has been out of print far too long.

Recorded in one day in March, 1957, it was a time when jazz studios throughout New York and environs were the venues for several notable tenor blowing sessions, most famously Prestige’s "Tenor Madness," which matched giants Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane in their only studio recording together. Blue Note had its share of tenor battles, too, including the memorable Johnny Griffin date -- "A Blowing Session," recorded just one month after the Jordan/Gilmore date – featuring the diminutive (in all but sound) Griffin, Coltrane, and Hank Mobley on tenors.

"Blowing In From Chicago" gives either of those famous dates a run for the money by virtue of the musicianship and the strength of the compositions (in this department it actually exceeds the others). The overwhelming depth of this era is reflected in the notion that Jordan and Gilmore -- two exciting, inventive tenors with long careers – were considered "second tier." On this date, there’s nothing "second tier" about anything.

This was Jordan’s first session as a leader, and one of Gilmore’s few recorded dates before he joined the Sun Ra Arkestra, where he was a fixture for decades and subject to the whims of his mercurial bandleader, who rarely let his sidemen do side projects. Both tenors benefited on this session from what was easily the hardest swinging rhythm section of the time: pianist Horace Silver, bassist Curly Russell and drummer Art Blakey, the trio that formed the backbone of Blakey’s famous "A Night At Birdland" live set with star-crossed trumpeter Clifford Brown.

With that trio propelling them, the tenors burst from the gate with "Status Quo," a John Neely (another Chicagoan) composition. Gilmore is the more aggressive and imaginative, and takes the first solo with Silver comping smooth, solid blocks beneath him, Russell plucking a thick, walking-bass line, and Blakey urging everyone to even greater heights with his trademark press rolls, cymbal crashes and bass-drum bombs. This is hard bop at its most infectious.