December 2, 2022

Blue Note (Tone Poet Series)

1xLP

In only a few years, Blue Note’s Tone Poet series has gone a long way in reconnecting listeners with mid-century classics, delivering audiophile quality pressings at a reasonable cost. While pressing their fair share of well known musicians and bonafide albums, it’s always an extra pleasure when perhaps more overlooked titles make the Tone Poet roster. Like turning over a rock you’ve walked by many times, only to discover an extra richness to the environment previously inconceivable, we are reminded that here we are treading in very fertile soil. Blue Mitchell, despite an impressive legacy including a stint in the Horace Silver Quintet, and an enviable resume as sideman and bandleader, has always been in the shadow of the other trumpet greats of the day. Bring It Home To Me, recorded in the period following the dissolution of the Horace Silver Quintet, is a lively and swinging session which contrasts Mitchell’s classical tendencies against the seeping influence of funk and soul. It’s the kind of set that would work in a handsomely appointed ballroom or the tiniest of dives. The highlight for this listener was the evocative ballad Portrait of Jennie, as romantic a tune as you’re likely to find.