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Art Blakey: 1950s and ＆60s Blue Note 每 Is It All the Same?

1950s and ‘60s Blue Note – Is It All the Same?

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By Marc Davis
December 15, 2014
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A few years ago, a reader from California named Charlie F. started a provocative discussion in the All About Jazz forums with the title: "I've decided not to buy any more Blue Note albums." Oh boy.

He began, "Recently, I came to notice something about Blue Note albums of the 50s-60s, which was that they tended to sound pretty much the same." He acknowledged that "this is a good example of a label finding a particular formula and sticking to it" but concluded "it kinda gets old after a while."

Well.

You can guess where the discussion went from there, and it went on a long time. (Check it out) But it got me thinking, and I'm still thinking about it years later. Why? Because, as a Blue Note fan, I'm embarrassed to say I sometimes think Charlie is right. But lately, as I've begun seriously collecting Blue Notes from the '50s and '60s, I can see where he is also terribly wrong.

So let's start at the beginning. Literally, the very beginning.

Blue Note's classic period starts with the 1500 series of albums in the mid-1950s. And the very first album in that series is Miles Davis Volume 1. Anyone who knows Miles is tempted to say, "Well, no one sounds like

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis. He was unique." Yeah, maybe later. But not this early in his career. At this stage, Miles sounded a lot like every other bop trumpeter. So sure, there's a sameness to this record compared with other Blue Note hard bop records of the era.

And it gets worse. On Blue Note—hell, on any jazz label in the 1950s and '60s—there was a serious case of inbreeding. Everybody knew everybody, and they all played on each other's records. Want proof? On Miles Davis Volume 1, Miles played with pianist

Horace Silver

piano
1928 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Silver, who co-founded the

The Jazz Messengers

" data-original-title="" title="">The Jazz Messengers with

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey and appeared on a lot of Blue Note hard bop records. Trumpeter

Kenny Dorham

trumpet
1924 - 1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Dorham played on those records with Blakey and Silver, then led his own hard bop band, which included guitarist

Kenny Burrell

guitar, electric
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Burrell, who later played with organist

Jimmy Smith

organ, Hammond B3
1925 - 2005

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Smith, who also played with saxman

Stanley Turrentine

saxophone, tenor
1934 - 2000

" data-original-title="" title="">Stanley Turrentine, who is practically synonymous with soul-jazz, just like fellow Blue Note label-mate and saxman

Lou Donaldson

saxophone
1926 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Lou Donaldson.

Whew! Quite a family tree. And no wonder the Blue Note sound was more than a little homogenous. Talk about six degrees of separation. Many folks on the early Blue Note records were practically kissing cousins.

So yeah—I hear a lot of

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey in a ton of Blue Note recordings. Yep, they all share the same genes and they all sound kinda sorta alike. You really could get bored with them.

But...

One thing I've learned from six months of consciously hoarding—OK, you say "collecting," same thing—and listening to 1950s Blue Note CDs is the subtle differences among them. And sometimes the differences are not so subtle.

For example, take

Gil Melle

saxophone
1931 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Gil Melle. Not a familiar name—and definitely not part of the usual-suspects in the hard bop tradition. And yet there he is, in the bosom of Blue Note. In 1956—same year as Kenny Dorham at the Caf谷 Bohemia, a year after the Jazz Messengers at the same venue—Melle recorded Patterns in Jazz. This is not your grandpa's Blue Note. It's a cerebral cool-jazz record that could be a movie soundtrack, which is not surprising since Melle went on to compose for films and TV.

Or consider

Herbie Nichols

piano
1919 - 1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Herbie Nichols. Here's a pianist who sounded a lot like

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk, but less quirky, though equally interesting. And in a trio setting—piano, bass, drums—which was definitely not the usual Blue Note thing. When did he record his first Blue Note album? In 1955-56, same time as Gil Melle and the Jazz Messengers and Kenny Dorham.

And then there are differences among the classic Blue Note hard bop players. Did Kenny Dorham sound like

Clifford Brown

trumpet
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Clifford Brown or Miles Davis? Yeah, maybe a little. Maybe more than a little. But it's like the difference between Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Sure, both guitarists played British blues-rock and came from the Yardbirds. But you'd never say Cream was Led Zeppelin. Close cousins, sure. And for certain I've never heard anyone say, "Nah, I've had enough blues-rock. Cream was nice, but no Led Zep for me, thanks."

Same with Blue Note.

Yes, the similarities are there. If you played six 1950s Blue Note records in a row, you might get bored. Hell, I'd get bored, and I love Blue Note. So listen to something else—

Fats Waller

piano
1904 - 1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Fats Waller,

Benny Goodman

clarinet
1909 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Benny Goodman, the Clash, Vivaldi, Hank Williams. Or go read a book. Watch TV. Unless you really are on a desert island, you don't have to listen to the same music over and over.

So... if you're tired of Blue Note, go fly a kite. I mean literally. Get out of the house. Do something different. And if you can't (or don't want to) hear the difference between, say, Horace Silver and

Tommy Flanagan

piano
1930 - 2001

" data-original-title="" title="">Tommy Flanagan, then just stop listening.

But it's there, and the more you listen, the more you hear. That's the pleasure of collecting. I don't care if it's jazz or rock or opera. The more you hear, the more you understand and appreciate, and the more you enjoy.

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