Blues & The Abstract Truth (Reis) (Rstr) [Original recording remastered]

Oliver Nelson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 1961
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Verve
• ASIN: B000VS6OXS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,999 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

NELSON OLIVER THE BLUES AND THE ABSTRACT TRUTH

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hubbard, Dolphy and Debussy play the blues, July 7, 2009

By 

John Palmer (Scarsdale, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blues & The Abstract Truth (Reis) (Rstr) (Audio CD)

Ok, I'm kidding about the Debussy part. But Oliver Nelson uses an impressionistic vocabulary of harmonies to create the abstract truth of the blues. Within these arrangements, Nelson, Freddie Hubbard and Eric Dolphy play outstanding blues solos.

In a way, the three are like Cannonball, Miles and Coltrane on "Kind of Blue." However, Nelson plays the Miles role. His solos are restrained and concise. To further the connection to Debussy, Nelson's solo's are enormously infused with a classical music sensibility. Hubbard plays the Cannonball role: unbelievably fluent and fluid running of the changes without losing blues feel. Dolphy plays the Coltrane role. However, he goes way further out in space while keeping the blues connection strong.

In fact, for me, Dolphy is the real unexpected joy of this album. It sounds like he's taking a Charlie Parker solo and, in the process, flipping the music upside down and playing right to left. Then, in the middle of some really "outside" playing, he'll segue into and out of a musical quote from "Camptown Races." Do dah indeed! 20 or more years later, you could hear The World Saxophone Quartet do that kind of stylistic pastiche. Free jazz, ragtime, bop...Dolphy just had a really scary mind for improvisation.

Oh yes, I forgot: the rhythm section is Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes. It doesn't get any better than that! I like Haynes crisp, driving style especially here.

As for the tunes, "Stolen Moments" is a jazz classic that you have to have if you like jazz. Butch and Butch is a great up tempo rave. Yearnin' and Teenie's Blues are great slow blues tunes that showcase Oliver Nelson's genius for arranging.

If you know someone who likes jazz and doesn't have this album, this is a slam dunk good gift.

Interestingly, given the mix of classical, blues, bop and free jazz, this is a good album to get someone who's new to jazz. It's all there and it all works.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Much Under rated Artist and Album, June 3, 2008

By 

Herbert L Calhoun "paulocal" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blues & The Abstract Truth (Reis) (Rstr) (Audio CD)

Known more for his arranging and composing than his playing, Oliver Nelson demonstrates here that he is equally facile in both arenas.

The title of the album is accurate; this is the abstract blues. That is to say, it is the blues reduced to its pure musical essence. The now famous tune: "Stolen Moments," which is often the sound track for various movies and advertisements, has become famous in its own right, but is only a scratching of the surface of Nelson's immense talents.

I failed to keep up with him in his later musical life, but here is a beautiful summary of all of his talents on display, and with a cast of young musicians who would later go on to becomes giants in their own right: And here I am of course speaking primarily of Eric Dolphy and Freddie Hubbard.

Five stars

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant bebop., February 14, 2011

By 

Eugene T. Carroll "bumblebeast" (SE PA.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blues & The Abstract Truth (Reis) (Rstr) (Audio CD)

I've always loved this album, and after years of playing it, I still play it frequently. I do not hold it in quite as high esteem as Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue," but Oliver Nelson's "Blues And The Abstract Truth" is way up there on my jazz favorites list.