Album Reviews

While this much-loved Blue Note lists Adderley as the group leader, this pick-up session—recorded in 1958, just before Kind of Blue—sounds, for the most part, as if Miles Davis is in control and was labeled as an Adderley session due to contractual issues.

With Hank Jones on piano and the rhythm section of Sam Jones and Art Blakey, whoever is in charge leads the group through a set of three standards ("Autumn Leaves," "Love For Sale," and "Dancing in the Dark") and two originals (Nat Adderley's funky "One For Daddy-O" and Davis' own "Somethin' Else").

As an introduction to jazz, Somethin' Else can't be beat. With the group reinventing three well-known, tuneful classics, neophytes can come to grips with improvisations on a familiar theme, on group interplay, and on the basics of what jazz is—or at least was in 1958. Of course, this easy-to-digest set holds pleasures for experienced jazz enthusiasts as well.

The opener, "Autumn Leaves," is stretched out and taken at a languid pace, allowing for some juicy solos from both Davis and Adderley, the latter of whom was but 30 at the time and had joined up with Davis only the year before. After a brooding piano intro by Jones tethered to the rhythm section's vamp, and an opening flourish by a raucous plunger mute, Davis's statement of the melody is characteristically spare and stately, and uncharacteristically tethered to the melody line. When he hands it off to Cannonball, the Charlie Parker-schooled alto saxophonist sets off sparks. There's a nice piano interlude, then Davis restates the melody. The track ends as it had begun, with Jones' slinky piano lines playing around the melody while the rhythm section restates the opening theme.

No point in doing a detailed play-by-play of all five tracks: Leonard Feather does that on the liner notes (typical of the times) complete with chords. Just listen for Miles' playful "Is that what you wanted Alfred?" (referring to the uncredited producer, Alfred Lion) at the end of "One for Daddy-O." I heard the album for the first time on headphones back in 1964 and I almost had a heart attack—I thought someone had broken into my apartment and at the time I was unfamiliar with Davis’ rasp.

This is neither a milestone recording nor an essential for every jazz collection, but it is among the most easy-to-love jazz albums. I've been playing it for 50 years and I still enjoy a deep listen, so it was certainly money well spent ($5.98 at Masters Dept. store, Lake Success, NY).

Classic Records reissued this on both 180g and later 200g pressings, in both mono and stereo, switching in the process from the less desirable jacket printing process to the more attractive Stoughton Press “Tip-On”™ paper on cardboard style.

The Classic jacket was authentic to the original in that Blue Note did not originally produce a separate jacket for the stereo release. The jacket back had Blue Note 1595, the original mono catalog number. A gold “stereo” label was stuck on the jacket front for that original issue as my original has it. In addition, on its 200g reissue the label had the “deep groove” as on the original.

When I reviewed the Classic Reissues I wrote:

I compared the stereo to my original Blue Note and to a number of reissues that have come out over the years: one on Blue Note/Liberty but with the RVG mastering stamp on it, one on a solid-blue label non-RVG, a Capitol-mastered reissue of a few years ago, and Classic's recent 180-gram reissue. I also compared the mono version to a Japanese Toshiba-EMI from a decade or so ago.

Look: while some have been critical of some of Classic's classical reissues, Bernie Grundman is a jazz fanatic who acquired his cutting chops doing jazz titles. I think these 200-gram Quiex SV-P reissues sound superb by any standard. They are not bright or edgy, nor are they rolled-off and warm sounding--and nor is my original, though it's been played probably 100 or more times. I think that with these latest Blue Note jazz titles, Classic and Grundman have gotten to the essence of what's on the tapes and what Rudy Van Gelder intended them to sound like. The original is a bit "bigger" sounding and somewhat airier, but the differences are neither epic nor critical.

So here comes yet another reissue of this album, this time from Music Matters in a gatefold “Tip-On” laminated jacket with superbly reproduced original black and white session photos on the inside panels, cut by Kevin Gray on his upgraded mastering system.

The “deep groove” label is gone but I have to retract what I said about the sound on the Classic reissues. They are bright on top, very similar to the sonic signature of the Classic Records Led Zeppelin reissues. If you downloaded those snippets published here you know what I mean.

I have no idea how that ends up sounding on your system, but here on mine, the Classic now sounds bright and somewhat hard on top and this new reissue sounds just right and far closer to the original pressing’s overall tonality. Considering that one was mastered more than 50 years ago and one was mastered within the past year or so, that tape is in insanely good condition given its age. This new Music Matters reissue sounds wonderfully “Blue-Note-y” in every way.

Interestingly, the UMe $20 edition of Somethin’ Else is the mono mix, mastered from the 192/24 Alan Yoshida mastered file cut to lacquer by Chris Bellman and pressed at United. It’s pretty good overall, losing some transparency and adding some opacity and a less than fully extended top end but if you also want the mono document, this version for $20 can’t be beat and the United pressing is quite good physically and sonically (there, I wrote it).

So if you have the Classic reissue, unless you are a Something’ Else fanatic, I’m not saying you should replace it with this new one.

However, even if you have an original copy of Herbie Hancock’s 1965 ocean going epic Maiden Voyage, I strongly recommend you buy the new Music Matters reissue. If you don’t have any version, than this one should be on your “must buy” list for while Somethin’ Else is an fine but non-essential record, Maiden Voyage is a “must have” classic (I have a TP and haven’t seen the jacket so I don’t know what photos are included).

So why should owners of the original or other reissues buy this version? Because it’s the best sounding one I’ve heard. Admittedly I’ve not heard an original, but I’ve heard many later pressings and most of the reissues and I’ve never heard this record sound particularly good. It’s always been “dull and distantsville” or dare I say ”underwater”?

This new Music Matters reissue is the best sounding Maiden Voyage I’ve ever heard, elevating it from a major Blue Note sonic disappointment to a really great sounding BN. How is that possible? According to Music Matters’ Joe Harley and Ron Rambach, the original tape has long been lost in the vault due to its having been mislabeled. This reissue cut from the original tape sounds takes the album from one that sounds underwater to one that will float your Blue Note boat! Both of these reissues are highly recommended but if you are choosing one, get the Maiden Voyage

.