Blue Note Perfect Takes (CD + DVD)

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B0007DBJ4G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,644 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. FOUR IN ONE - Thelonious Monk

2. BUDO - Miles Davis

3. REMEMBER - Hank Mobley

4. ARIETIS - Freddie Hubbard

5. MIDNIGHT BLUE - Kenny Burrell

6. MODE FOR JOE - Joe Henderson

7. CHRISTO REDENTOR - Donald Byrd

8. FOOTPRINTS - Wayne Shorter

9. MOON RIVER - Art Blakey

10. SEE SEE RIDER - Jimmy Smith

Disc: 2

1. Interview with Rudy Van Gelder (DVD)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rudy takes it all, October 1, 2005

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Note Perfect Takes (CD + DVD) (Audio CD)

I came across this CD while looking for something else and Amazon has this wonderful habit of throwing up similar material that might be of interest. What caught my eye here was disc two, a DVD with an interview with Rudy Van Gelder and having listened to his work for the last fifty years this has got to be a 'must have' for me.

The CD (fifty-five minutes) has ten good solid jazz tracks, eight originally recorded by Van Gelder and two he re-mastered in 2004. I always enjoy listening to sessions he recorded, somehow the music has depth and a sort of sonic punch that seems unique to his work. Perhaps 'Moon River' by Art Blakey was a strange choice though and slightly out of keeping with the other obvious jazz arrangements.

The DVD (twenty-five minutes) has Van Gelder talking about the jazz musicians he recorded for Blue Note, Prestige and other labels and fortunately he comes across as a no-nonsense professional so we are spared any boring small talk but I would have liked to see a bit more of his studio and equipment, it only has a minute or so. The rest of the DVD has text pages about Van Gelder, a history of Blue Note, a photo gallery of fifty-two Francis Wolf photos, biographies of the musicians on the CD and finally an ad (predictably) for some Blue Note t-shirts.

Overall a pretty good package I thought except for the appallingly designed CD booklet and back cover. For some reason these use type so small as to be nearly unreadable, plus some of it is white out of black, especially the back cover (needless to say the bar code is fine) and I am surprised that something so pathetically amateurish has been allowed to be printed and distributed by a major record company.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Takes, January 3, 2008

By 

Timothy D. Shaw (East coast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Note Perfect Takes (CD + DVD) (Audio CD)

Interesting interview with Rudy, and worth it to see him and hear him talk about making hard bop recordings in the 50s and 60s. Cuscuna, despite all his stirling qualities, isn't a very good interviewer, and he doesn't draw out as much as I'd like from Van Gelder, who isn't naturally talkative. It would be great to hear Terry Gross interview him. Still, it's well worth it to see the studio and the old mastering equipment and hear Rudy talk about the old days. The tunes are a great sampler of the RVG remasters, a great, great program.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely for Blue Note lovers, March 16, 2006

By 

C & G Geder (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blue Note Perfect Takes (CD + DVD) (Audio CD)

Enough said.

This is for the Blue Note collector.
To hear and see both Rudy Van Gelder and Michael Cuscuna is an absolute treat. Also, this CD & DVD package is priced right.

G Geder