Customer Reviews

Boppin at the Blue Note

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Excellent music; it is probably not actually the top of Hendricks' discography but it is a noteworthy collective effort, not just a Hendricks album.
With the entire Hendricks' vocal gang (family), with Marsalis equally effective on trumpet and vocals, with steamin' hot saxes, great trombone and rock-solid rhythm section, the amount of excellent and joyfull modern jazz on this album will warm your heart.

Yes, Hendricks used to be in a bit better form but he is just one of great artists on this CD, presiding over this heated concert (that sounds like a jam session) with regal confidence. Not as good as Freddie Freeloader, this album is still magnificent.

If anyone else had done this album, I might rave. But this is the man who brought us all of those quintessential LH&R albums from the '50's and early '60's, and the vastly superior "Freddie Freeloader" a mere 3 years prior. Jon shows his age on this a bit, never more apparent than on "One O'Clock Jump." There's no way a 75-year-old Jon Hendricks is going to recreate the subliminal mood of "Sing a Song of Basie", especially without a young Annie Ross, and it was a mistake to try. Best cut on this was "Roll 'Em Pete"--basically because the other musicians could stretch out and jam around Mr. Hendricks. He'll still go down in history; just not with this.

For an album that was recorded in the late 50's this recording is incredible. This is what blues and scat are all about. If you have a chance to listen to this on tubed equipment do yourself a favor, and listen. Start with "everybodies boppin'". You'll be smiling at the end of the song!

If Wynton Marsalis was playing trumpet in the fifties that would make him some kind of weird non-existent hindu prodigy who made a mad deal with Satan, in order to be born to Ellis Marsalis 10 years later. (Wynton was born in 1961) As stated above, this album was recorded in the nineties, though I'm sure that doesn't detract from its "tubed" equipment enjoyment.