Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4176-4185]

 

...The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series).  Most of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###

BN.4176- Dexter Gordon- 1964- One Flight Up {RVG Remaster}
BN.4177- Grachan Moncur III- 1964- Some Other Stuff {RVG Remaster}
BN.4178- Blue Mitchell- 1964- The Thing To Do {RVG Remaster}
BN.4179- Jackie McLean- 1964- It's Time
BN.4180- Anthony Williams- 1964- Life Time {RVG Remaster}
BN.4181- Kenny Dorham- 1964- Trompete Toccata {RVG Remaster}
BN.4182- Wayne Shorter- 1964- JUJU {RVG Remaster}
BN.4183- Grant Green- 1964- Talkin' About
BN.4184- Sam Rivers- 1964- Fuchsia Swing Song {RVG Remaster}
BN.4185- Horace Silver- 1964- Song For My Father {RVG Remaster}

Sam Rivers & The Rivbea Orchestra - Trilogy : Mosaic Select 38 (3 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

By the time Sam Rivers was able to document his orchestral writing in 1974 (on the Impulse album "Crystals") at the tender age of 51, he was best known for leading a magnificent, purely improvised trio devoid of all written music. But composition was (and is) as much a part of his incessantly fertile mind as improvisation.

His densely-layered and beautifully voiced multi-sectional orchestra pieces burn with an intensity that never forsakes the music's beauty. Rivers seamlessly integrates improvisation into the written score. Solos are distributed democratically as effective, concise statements.
In 1992, Rivers moved to Orlando, Florida where he quickly formed another powerful improvising trio and set about seeking personnel to form an orchestra for the music that he was constantly writing. After two all-star albums for RCA Records in 1998 ("Inspiration" and "Culmination"), recorded in New York, an Orlando edition of the Rivbea Orchestra started to emerge.

Drawn from teachers and students at surrounding colleges, frustrated members of various Walt Disney World aggregations and retired veterans of orchestras like Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman, Sam Rivers crafted a first-class orchestra to realize his music. In 2005, he issued the new Rivbea Orchestra's first recording "Airora" on his own Rivbea label.

When we heard the album, we called Sam to offer our jaw-dropping praise, he told us essentially there is plenty more where that came from and set about sifting through hours of studio and live recordings to cull the three CDs of previously unreleased material contained in this set. The results are forward-thinking and electrifying.

CD1 - Offering:

01. Spice (8:52)
02. Ganymede (9:05)
03. Crux (8:13)
04. Aura (15:48)
05. Perkin (9:39)
06. Pulsar (14:13)

CD2 - Progeny:
01. Robyn (6:21)
02. Cindy (5:47)
03. Monique (6:45)
04. Traci (5:10)
05. Iisha (4:43)
06. Tamara (5:21)
07. Tiffany (5:41)
08. Jessica (7:32)
09. Destiny (6:54)

CD3 - Edge:
01. Ridge (10:28)
02. Brink (11:05)
03. Precipice (9:29)
04. Verge (10:32)
05. Point (10:13)
06. Visions (11:39)
07. Pulsar (8:25)

CD1:
Sam Rivers (soprano sax, tenor sax),
Jeff Rupert (1st alto sax)
Chris Charles (2nd alto sax)
David Pate (1st tenor sax)
George Weremchuk (2nd tenor sax)
Brian Mackie (baritone sax)
Tom Parmenter (1st trumpet),
Brian Scanlon (2nd trumpet)
Mike Iapichino (3rd trumpet)
David Jones (4th trumpet)
Keith Oshiro (1st trombone)
Tito Sanchez (2nd trombone)
Steve Smith (3rd trombone)
Josh Parsons (4th trombone, tuba)
Doug Mathews (bass)
Rion Smith (drums).
Recorded live at the Plaza Theatre, Orlando, Florida on November 12, 2008

CD2:
Sam Rivers (tenor sax),
Jeff Rupert (1st alto sax)
Chris Charles (2nd alto sax)
Charlie DeChant (1st tenor sax),
George Weremchuk (2nd tenor sax)
Brian Mackie (baritone sax)
Tom Parmenter (1st trumpet)
Brian Scanlon (2nd trumpet),
Mike Iapichino (3rd trumpet)
David Jones (4th trumpet)
Keith Oshiro (1st trombone)
David Sheffield (2nd trombone)
Claire Courchene (3rd trombone)
Josh Parsons (4th trombone, tuba)
Doug Mathews (bass)
Rion Smith (drums)
Recorded at Sonic Caldron Studios, Casselberry, Florida on February 27, 2008

CD3:
Sam Rivers (soprano sax)
Jeff Rupert (1st alto sax)
Chris Charles (2nd alto sax)
Charlie DeChant (1st tenor sax)
David Pate (2nd tenor sax)
Brian Mackie (baritone sax)
Tom Parmenter (1st trumpet)
Brian Scanlon (2nd trumpet)
Mike Iapichino (3rd trumpet)
David Jones (4th trumpet)
Keith Oshiro (1st trombone)
David Sheffield (2nd trombone),
Steve Smith (3rd trombone)
Josh Parsons (4th trombone, tuba)
Doug Mathews (bass)
Rion Smith (drums)
Recorded live at the Plaza Theatre, Orlando, Florida on April 8, 2009

Sam Rivers - Complete Blue Note Sessions (3 CD, 1996/FLAC)

 From the time of his first Blue Note recording in 1964 to his final session for the label in 1967, Sam Rivers made stunning progress as an avant-garde innovator. Starting with an inside/outside hard bop foundation, Rivers quickly took his music as far out as he could while maintaining a recognizable structure; his work fearlessly explored wildly dissonant harmonies and atonality, dense group interaction, cerebral rumination, and passionately intense, free-leaning solos. 

The Complete Blue Note Sam Rivers Sessions traces that development chronologically (and flawlessly) over the course of three discs, including the entirety of his four albums as a leader: the relatively straightforward Fuschia Swing Song [sic], the avant-bop masterpiece Contours, the radical standards album A New Conception, and the galvanizing, brilliant avant-garde classic Dimensions and Extensions (which also comprised Rivers' half of the split double-LP Involution with Andrew Hill). Five alternate takes are also added to the program, including three of "Downstairs Blues Upstairs." What amazes just as much as Rivers' imaginative originality is how consistently rewarding all three discs are. Rivers may not be quite as much a household name as some of his equally forward-thinking peers, but any jazz fan remotely interested in the avant-garde should know that this set constitutes some of the finest avant-garde jazz Blue Note ever released -- the music here should be considered a cornerstone of any self-respecting avant-garde collection. 

Larry Young - The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Larry Young (6 CD, 1991/FLAC)

 Larry Young, one of the most significant jazz organists to emerge after the rise of Jimmy Smith, is heard on this limited-edition six-CD set at the peak of his creativity. Formerly available as nine LPs, the set includes the original Larry Young albums Into Somethin', Unity, Of Love and Peace, Contrasts, Heaven on Earth, and Mother Ship, while drawing from the compilations 40 Years of Jazz, The History of Blue Note (Dutch), The World of Jazz Organ (Japanese), and The Blue Note 50th Anniversary Collection Volume Two: The Jazz Message, and also including guitarist Grant Green's Talkin' About, Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand. Young was still very much under Smith's influence on the first four sessions released as Talkin' About, Into Somethin', Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand (all featuring a trio with Green and drummer Elvin Jones plus guests Sam Rivers or Hank Mobley on tenor and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson). However, starting with the monumental Unity session (a quartet outing with Joe Henderson on tenor, trumpeter Woody Shaw, and Jones), Young emerged as a very advanced and original stylist in his own right. Young's final four dates (Of Love and Peace, Contrasts, Heaven on Earth, and Mother Ship) are generally pretty explorative and feature such notable sidemen as altoist James Spaulding and Byard Lancaster, guitarist George Benson, and trumpeter Lee Morgan along with some forgotten local players. This definitive Larry Young set is highly recommended.