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Blue Mitchell & Sonny Red – Baltimore 1966 – Uptown

by Audiophile Audition | Jul 31, 2016 | Jazz CD Reviews

A perfect blend of sweet and sour… Blue Mitchell & Sonny Red – Baltimore 1966 – Uptown UPCD.83, 70:52 ****: (Blue Mitchell- trumpet; Sonny Red- alto sax; John Hicks- piano; Gene Taylor- bass; Joe Chambers- drums) For lovers of straight-ahead jazz and hard bop in particular, Uptown Records has continued to release superb live sessions based out of Baltimore from the 1960s through the 70s. These were Sunday afternoon concerts put on by the Left Bank Jazz Society. Due to the fact that the sessions were on Sunday afternoons and not too far away from New York City, the Society could bring in the best talent and first rate backing musicians. Recorded sound quality could be a bit “iffy” but many of the Uptown issued Left Bank dates feature a nicely mixed full sound stage. Such is the case with the new Blue Mitchell/Sonny Red quintet recording from March 20, 1966. (We typically hear Mitchell backed by Junior Cook, former mates with one of Horace Silver’s best hard bop aggregations.) Blue is noted for his warm, lyrical tone that is fully expressed on ballads. Sonny Red was a bop-oriented alto saxist who had a relatively short career, passing away in […]