The Best of Blue Note 2-CD Set | Get it Now!

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The 2014 collection starts with Sidney Bechet’s cover of “Summertime”, the label’s first hit. A very old recording indeed, and by track two the sound quality already improved dramatically. After some choice cuts from Monk, Powell and Clifford Brown, we’ve already arrived at the seminal John Coltrane record Blue Train. The title track from that record and the title track from Art Blakey’s classic Moanin’ occupy 20 minutes of the first CD. Factor in Sonny Clark’s essential cut “Cool Struttin’” and the compilers really have to watch themselves. “Back at the Chicken Shack” recorded by the sly organist Jimmy Smith concludes the first disc. (It’s worth noting that the trumpeter Prince of Darkness only shows up as a guest on Cannonball Adderley’s “Somethin’ Else”).

The second disc starts conservatively enough. Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins Con Carne”, Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder”, Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil”, Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” and Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” helps The Best of Blue Note stay the course. But much like the college professor who realized they burned up too much of the semester on a particular subject, Blue Note quickly picks up the pace through ‘70s into the present day. From the funky “Black Byrd” by Donald Byrd, the compilers jump 20 years into the future for Us3’s breakthrough hit “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”. A commercially successful blend of jazz and hip-hop if there ever was one, this is a chance for Hancock to get a second say on The Best of Blue Note since his piano riff is the main sample.