Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Back on the Blue Notes

After a long (too long) while I have removed all but the best of the music that I want to and enjoy listening too.

All those special finds, oddities, rare pressings, stamp collecting obsessions that I used to have as well as the strange years worth of misdirected interest in ECM Jazz and World music as well as odd collections which have admittedly been a distraction for a few years now have been put to rest.

CDs sold or given away and space left to get on and enjoy the simple things. A realisation that both less is more and the simple things are the best were hammering inside my head.

A long hard think about how long ago it was I sat and really enjoyed and immersed myself in music ended up reading a nice gift from last year (2014) at Christmas.

This little treat was just that. Still available and well worth the money if you want to treat someone..even yourself.



This gorgeous book albeit a little large to hit you on the head in bed as you drift off to sleep was to be frank just an absolute treat.


With gorgeous photos and notes from Alfred Lion himself dotted through I was spell bound and inspired. Very soon I was reaching for each CD that was presented- like this:




I for one have never seen all the contact sheets from the photo shoot for Jimmy Smith's classic Midnight Special let alone all the wonderful Reid Miles art work that went into the final design

Then of course as it was from the label themselves were the rare treats for the people like me that used to collect everything

Everything!

One thing was for sure. I was back on a Blue Note swing and that I would have to make more room in my life for listening and enjoying and immersing.

Have a look at how two classics came about:






See what the Guardian had to say as they were impressed.

Anyway. I am back. On Blue Note. When I started they were less than 50 years old and now it is 75. Next up - some rare Tina Brooks