Customer Reviews

Best Blue Note Album in the World Ever

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though I've never been a big jazz fan, the intriguing title as well as the fact that I found this in the local library served to inspired me to give it a go. Basically I'd say that this is truly a great collection of vintage jazz from the Blue Note label. Whether it's the "greatest ever" I really couldn't say, but definitely top-notch in my book. Some of the highlight classics are Horace Silver's "Song For My Father", Herbie Hancocks's "Watermelon Man" and Jimmy Smith's "Back At the Chicken Shack" as well as a couple of excellent vocals by Cassandra Wilson and Lou Rawls. The only clunker is a ridiculous acapella by Bobby McFerrin called "Thinkin' About Your Body". Even if you somehow liked "Don't Worry, Be Happy", this one is sure to turn off all but the most fanatical McFerrin fan. In a nutshell, two thumbs up (As long as you skip over the McFerrin track)!

There are not many CDs like this in the world. A lot of the albums from which these songs are taken would be worth the purchase price of the whole album just because of the one song.

"Watermelon Man" for example is Herbie Hancock's most memorable song and one could never go wrong buying a whole Herbie Hancock album. Ditto for Horace Silver ("Song For My Father").

So, these are all songs from groundbreaking albums that have stood the test of time. What more could you want in a compilation CD?

(One more thing that is good-- though trivial-- is that the CD has a track listing printed on the CD itself if you are not a person that likes to keep CD covers. I'm not.)

This CD is even worth the purchase price NEW.

Blue Note's got the artists, so this album is a logical extension of their catalog. Many of these artists and songs are classics in their own right and deserve attention. For myself, I have a tendency to use these "best of" compendiums to find something I think I would like to buy, which I then usually do go out and get. Eventually, I no longer have to return to the "best of" collection, but this one I do. Sometimes you just don't want to hear all Herbie Hancock or Kenny Burrell, in which case, it's nice to use this compilation to get a "dose" and then move on. I especially like "Cantaloop", which does a jazz classic with some funky cutovers and mixing to make a modern jazz/rap classic. Very neat. Serious jazz listeners will not have much use for this collection, but casual jazz fans and those who want to keep the size of their CD collection within reason will certainly get a lot of play out of this.

This is a great starting place for any jazz collection. Blue Note is probably the top jazz label and here you have a wide selection of their artists on 2 discs. This is the perfect way to see what type of jazz you like and what artists you like before you go out to buy some albums by them. It's also great for when you can't be bothered to choose one album, but are in the mood for some jazz.

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This is the answer to my prayers! I've always wanted an album that just had one great Blue Note hit after another and here it is! Silver, Coltrane, Blakey, Us3, and more make this the quintessential Blue Note compilation. This album captures the essence of Blue Note Records to a tee and keeps kicking away with the "Class A" jazz for which they are famous.

Wishing NOT to waste my or your time, I do not want to write a bunch of silly words that do not do anyone, any good, in deciding if this is a Platter they want to add to their collection....What could I add that has not been stated by folks in the past..?..I guess the only thing would be, This is "BLUE NOTE"....That's all that need be said....

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