Among the former are "It's Time," by alto sax man Jackie McLean, who died recently; Solomon Ilori's "African High Life"; thunderous drummer Art Blakey's "A Message from Blakey: Holiday for Skins"; and the "Pax," by Andrew Hill.
"Pax" was a 1965 session that went unreleased for 10 years and this edition also includes two other tunes from the session previously released only on Hill's seven-disc Mosaic Records box set. Why this quintet session featuring trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, drummer Joe Chambers and now-Madison-based bassist Richard Davis languished for so long is a mystery. This line-up was leading the "New Thing" at Blue Note at the time and swings here. The same band -- with Sam Rivers replacing Henderson -- reunited two months later to record Bobby Hutcherson's phenomenal "Dialogue" and if this doesn't shout instant classic like the Hutcherson set, it definitely set the stage, thanks to Hill's engaging compositions and the musicians' fiery spirit.
This still leaves me awaiting a long overdue reissue of Hill's "Compulsion," despite the fact that Jack Grassel assures me it's a low point in Hill's Blue Note oeuvre.
"It's Time" was among a string of discs that McLean recorded for Blue Note in the first half of the 1960s that stand as his best work and one of the best runs any jazz musician has ever had. Once a Bird watcher, McLean jumped head first into new experimentation without discarding his bebop past. The result, on this 1964 session -- and the others -- is that he built a bridge from the old to the new and helped listeners, who can often be leery, get across.
The Blakey and Ilori discs are from 1958 and 1963-'64, respectively, but take similarly percussion-fueled approaches to jazz, exploring the connections between the music's then-modern forms and traditional African influences, something Blakey would do time and again. Ilori, in fact, arrived at Blue Note as a member of one of Blakey's drum ensembles. His disc includes the only releasable material from an unissued 1964 session alongside the original "African High Life" LP, recorded and released in 1963.
Also in the new batch are trombonist Lou Blackburn's "The Complete Imperial Sessions" and "The Complete Pacific Jazz Sessions" by arranger and pianist Gil Evans. These sessions were not originally recorded for Blue Note, of course.
The former includes the entire output of an unusual group of L.A.-based musicians fronted by a trombonist. Much of the group spent days as studio musicians, but these 19 tracks also prove that at least some of those often-nameless musicians were also expressive instrumentalists and in Blackburn's case, talented composers. Pianist Horace Tapscott's distinctive style really jumps out, too, on these sessions.
Finally, the Evans disc -- with 15 tunes -- collects his two LPs for Pacific Jazz. "New Bottle, Old Wine" and "Great Jazz Standards" were first reissued by Blue Note in 1975 and feature large ensembles top-loaded with talent -- from Steve Lacy and Elvin Jones to Art Blakey and Cannonball Adderley and beyond -- rendering Evans' finely-drawn arrangements of familiar tunes (on "Standards") and more radical material on "New Bottle."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
