LATEST ADDITIONS

Hendrix's psychedelic morning after pill was a gloriously unfocused affair, at times sprawling and tentative, at times like his “Star Spangled Banner,” timeless, brilliant and classic. At his most tentative that morning, playing with a newly assembled group, Hendrix was still in control, still exploding the limits on what one man can do with an electric guitar.

First issued on Premonition CD in 1994 and later on limited edition LP (licensed by Music Direct, which now owns the Mobile Fidelity name) with three tracks deleted due to space limitations, and then on Mo-Fi SACD, Café Blue now gets the 3 LP 45rpm treatment, _ speed mastered by Paul Stubblebine using Mobile Fidelity's Gain 2 Ultra Analog System™.

The three new Chesky works on this stupendous-sounding disc are easily his boldest, most ingenuous and fully realized compositions yet. One needn't be a classical music critic-and I've never claimed to be one-or even an experienced classical music listener (a claim I can make), to immediately grasp and appreciate both the conceptual audacity of the music, which melds traditional classical motifs with flamenco accents, South American folk music and contemporary jazz, and the skill displayed by the composer in weaving the thread of his concept throughout the three pieces. If you want a high-concept one line “treatment,” how about “Chesky and Stravinsky Joyride South of the Border and Return to New York to write up the trip?”

Time was, and not that long ago (well a decade or so ago), when you could easily find original pressings of this breezy addition to Ella's song book series, either as a double LP set or as two individual volumes. Fitzgerald was as much a popular singer as a jazz great, appearing often on popular venues like The Ed Sullivan Show, so her LP sales were brisk—especially the Verve songbooks. I found my original copies of these at a house in Hackensack, NJ fifteen years ago. What an Ella find that garage sale was! A real fan was jettisoning her LP collection and I was more than happy to oblige for a buck apiece.