For this unusual CD, eight songs from the prime years of Blue Note (compositions by
Horace Silver,
Hank Mobley,
Bobby Timmons,
Sonny Clark,
Kenny Dorham,
Freddie Hubbard,
McCoy Tyner and the standard "If Ever I Would Leave You") are revisited. What is different from the original versions are not the styles of the solos, but the instrumentation. Although tenor saxophonist
Craig Handy is on six of the songs (two of which find trombonist
Papo Vazquez blending with
Handy to create a
Jazz Crusaders feel), the dominant forces are organist
Lonnie Smith (who with drummer
Lenny White is on every selection) and a variety of guitarists. There are no trumpeters, and it is the guitarists (either
John Scofield,
David Fiuczynski or
Hiram Bullock) who make it obvious that these recordings are not from 1965; they generally take solo honors, particularly
Scofield. Organist
Smith avoids getting into the cliched boogaloo rhythm that he often played on his Blue Note recordings of the late '60s, and the overall music is quite satisfying and swinging in its own way. ~ Scott Yanow