Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.
Harold Floyd "Tina" Brooks was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer best remembered for his work in the hard bop style.
Pete "La Roca" Sims was an American jazz drummer and attorney. Born and raised in Harlem by a pianist mother and a stepfather who played trumpet, he was introduced to jazz by his uncle Kenneth Bright, a major shareholder in Circle Records and the manager of rehearsal spaces above the Lafayette Theater. Sims studied percussion at the High School of Music and Art and at the City College of New York, where he played tympani in the CCNY Orchestra. He adopted the name La Roca early in his musical career, when he played timbales for six years in Latin bands. In the 1970s, during a hiatus from jazz performance, he resumed using his original surname. When he returned to jazz in the late 1970s, he usually inserted "La Roca" into his name in quotation marks to help audiences familiar with his early work identify him. He told The New York Times in 1982 that he did so only out of necessity:
I can't deny that I once played under the name La Roca, but I have to insist that my name is Peter Sims with La Roca in brackets or in quotes. For 16 or 17 years, when I have not been playing the music, people have known me as Sims....When I was 14 or 15, I thought ["La Roca"] was clever; right now, it's an embarrassment. I thought that it would be something that people would probably remember - boy, was I ever right on that one! I can't make my conversion.
Blue Train is a studio album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey on September 15, 1957 and released on Blue Note in January 1958—Contrane's only session as leader for the label.
Milestones is a studio album by Miles Davis. It was recorded with his "first great quintet" augmented as a sextet and released in 1958 by Columbia Records.
Monk's Music is a jazz album by the Thelonious Monk Septet, which for this recording included Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane. It was recorded in New York City on June 26, 1957, and released in November the same year.
Vertigo is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean, recorded in 1962 and 1963 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980. The initial release contained only the five tracks from 1963, while the later 2000 limited CD edition, released as part of the "Connoisseur Series", added six tracks from a 1962 session originally marked for release as Jackie McLean Quintet, first issued in 1978 as part of a double LP entitled Hipnosis.
Pithecanthropus Erectus is a studio album by jazz composer and bassist Charles Mingus. It was released in August 1956 through Atlantic Records. Mingus noted that this was the first album where he taught arrangements to his musicians by ear instead of putting the chords and arrangements in writing.
Whims of Chambers is a studio album by the Paul Chambers Sextet, recorded on September 21, 1956 and released on Blue Note circa January 1957. The sextet consists of trumpeter Donald Byrd, saxophonist John Coltrane, and rhythm section Kenny Burrell, Horace Silver, Chamber and ”Philly” Joe Jones.
Settin' the Pace is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in December 1961 by the Prestige label. It is assembled from previously unissued tracks from a recording session at the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1958. Coltrane on tenor saxophone is accompanied by Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. With Garland and Chambers, Coltrane had played together since at least October 1955 in Miles Davis' band. With Art Taylor they were part of the Tenor Conclave recordings in September 1956. As a quartet they had already recorded two albums for Prestige, John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio and Soultrane. The material the quartet recorded on this session were extended interpretations of three popular songs and "Little Melonae", a classic bebop tune written by Jackie McLean. Of note is Coltrane's use of the sheets of sound technique, particularly on "Little Melonae".
Mal/2 is an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron released on the Prestige label in November 1957. The CD reissue added two additional recordings from the same sessions originally released on The Dealers (1957) as bonus tracks.
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk is a box set by American jazz pianist Thelonious Monk compiling his recordings for Blue Note first released as a limited four-LP box set on Mosaic Records in 1983 before being issued as a four-CD box set by Blue Note for the first time in 1994 as The Complete Blue Note Recordings.
Open Sesame is the debut album by then 22 years old trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, recorded on June 19, 1960 by Rudy Van Gelder at his studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ and released on the Blue Note label in 1960 in mono as BLP 4040 and in stereo as BST 84040. It features performances by Hubbard, Tina Brooks, McCoy Tyner, Sam Jones and Clifford Jarvis. In 1988, Capitol Records issued it on compact disc with Michael Cuscuna as reissue producer and in 2001, they released a version remastered by Rudy Van Gelder.
Sonny Clark Trio is an album by American jazz pianist Sonny Clark recorded on October 13, 1957 and released on Blue Note the following year. The trio features rhythm section Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
Sonny's Crib is an album by American jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded on September 1, 1957 and released on Blue Note in March 1958. The sextet features horn section Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, and John Coltrane and rhythm section Paul Chambers and Art Taylor.
Dial "S" for Sonny is the debut studio album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark recorded in 1957 for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Hank Mobley, Wilbur Ware, and Louis Hayes. The album title is an allusion to Frederick Knott's play Dial M for Murder, which was first produced in 1952 and then made into a successful film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1954.
Sonny Clark Quintets is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label, featuring performances by Clark with two different studio quintets. The first session, from late 1957, featured Clifford Jordan, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, and Pete LaRoca, and produced three tracks. The LP's remaining two tracks were recorded a few weeks later with group including Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. The three pieces recorded with Burrell and Jordan were originally scheduled to be released on album given the catalog number "BLP 1592". Blue Note decided not to complete the album begun with Jordan and Burrell, and the tracks remained unreleased during Clark's lifetime. In 1976, Blue Note combined these three tracks with two outtakes recorded in early 1958 as part of the session for the Cool Struttin' LP. The resulting LP was released in Japan as Sonny Clark Quintets. The same five pieces were subsequently re-released on a 1983 Japanese LP titled Cool Struttin' Volume 2. Sonny Clark Quintets has been reissued numerous times on compact disc.
My Conception is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, recorded for the Blue Note label and performed by Clark with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. It was originally released in 1979 in Japan, as GXF 3056, featuring six tracks recorded in 1959 including an alternate take of "Royal Flush", a track that had appeared on the album Cool Struttin'. The 2000 limited CD reissue also comprised the three additional tracks originally recorded for Sonny Clark Quintets, an album which never saw the light of the day until being released later only in Japan.
Cool Blues is a live album by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith featuring performances recorded at Small's Paradise in New York City in 1958 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980. The album was rereleased on CD with three bonus tracks recorded at the same performance.
Central Avenue Reunion is a live album by Art Farmer and Frank Morgan recorded in Emeryville, CA in 1989 and originally released on the Contemporary label.
