John Zorn is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, Jewish music, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music. Rolling Stone noted that "[alt]hough Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".
Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing.
Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom.
Henry Mobley was an American tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone, that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Lester Young, and his style that was laid-back, subtle and melodic, especially in contrast with players such as Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. The critic Stacia Proefrock claimed him "one of the most underrated musicians of the bop era." Mobley's compositions include "Double Exposure", "Soul Station", and "Dig Dis".
Edward Rudolph "Butch" Warren Jr. was an American jazz bassist who was active during the 1950s and 1960s.
Douglas Watkins was an American jazz double bassist. He was best known for being an accompanist to various hard bop artists in the Detroit area, including Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean.
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.
The Big Gundown is the third studio album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn. It comprises radically reworked covers of tracks by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone.
At the Cafe Bohemia, Vols. 1 & 2 are a pair of separate but related live albums by the Jazz Messengers recorded at the Café Bohemia jazz club in Greenwich Village on November 23, 1955 and released on Blue Note in April 1956.
John Zorn appears on over 400 recordings as a composer or performer. This is a selection of recordings released under his name, bands he was/is part of, collaborations with other musicians, and significant albums to which he has contributed. The year indicates when the album was first released and any subsequent years if the following release included additional material.
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is an album by Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers compiling two 1955 10" LPs—Horace Silver Quintet, Vol. 3 and Horace Silver Quintet, Vol. 4 —recorded on November 13, 1954 and February 6, 1955 respectively and released on Blue Note in October 1956—Silver’s debut 12". The quintet features horn section Hank Mobley and Kenny Dorham and rhythm section Doug Watkins and Art Blakey.
News for Lulu is an album of hard bop compositions performed by saxophonist John Zorn, trombonist George Lewis and guitarist Bill Frisell.
Yankees is an album of improvised music by Derek Bailey, John Zorn and George Lewis. The album was released as an LP by Celluloid in 1983 and was reissued on CD by Celluloid and Charly. It was the first recorded meeting of John Zorn and Derek Bailey. The two men would later release the album, Harras, with William Parker in 1993. Zorn and Lewis would collaborate further on News for Lulu (1988) and More News for Lulu (1993) with Bill Frisell.
Before We Were Born is the first album by Bill Frisell to be released on the Elektra Nonesuch label. It was released in 1989 and features performances by Frisell, cellist Hank Roberts, bassist Kermit Driscoll and drummer Joey Baron. Guests include guitarist Arto Lindsay, keyboardist Peter Scherer, alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill and baritone saxophonist Doug Wieselman.
Goin' Up is an album by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard released on the Blue Note label in 1961. It features performances by Hubbard, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
The Complete Blue Note Hank Mobley Fifties Sessions is limited edition box set that was released by Mosaic Records in 1998. Included are Mobley's recordings for Blue Note in the late 1950s from the albums The Hank Mobley Quartet, Hank Mobley Sextet, Hank Mobley & His All-Stars, Hank Mobley Quintet, Hank, Hank Mobley, Curtain Call, Peckin' Time and Poppin' . The albums were recorded with Art Blakey, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, Sonny Clark, Kenny Dorham, Art Farmer, Bill Hardman, Milt Jackson, Philly Joe Jones, Wynton Kelly, Lee Morgan, Charlie Persip, Jimmy Rowser, Horace Silver, Art Taylor, Bobby Timmons, Wilbur Ware, and Doug Watkins.
"The Preacher" is a composition by Horace Silver. The original version was recorded by Silver's quintet on February 6, 1955. It was soon covered by other musicians, including with lyrics added by Babs Gonzales. It has become a jazz standard.
"Doodlin'" is a composition by Horace Silver. The original version, by Silver's quintet, was recorded on November 13, 1954. It was soon covered by other musicians, including with lyrics added by Jon Hendricks. It has become a jazz standard.
Take One is an album by the American musician T. S. Monk. It was released on the Blue Note label in 1992. Monk supported the album with a European tour.
