Sir John

Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Wynton Kelly (piano), Sam Jones (bass) and Roy Brooks (drums). From the album Blue’s Moods (1960).

We could describe the history of jazz as the flow of a river whose waters are never the same and that in its path has stops that symbolize the different styles. In this case, the hard bop would be between the previous stops of cool jazz and the West Coast jazz and the later ones of modal jazz and free jazz. However, in the river of jazz things are not so simple, because its waters are turbulent and full of whirlpools, meanders, swamps, backwaters that hide quicksand, and is divided into various courses. This means that most people don’t know what to choose when it comes to listening to this kind of music.

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In this case we have a jovial and carefree theme with a lot of swing, which makes you forget about your problems. The first one to perform his solo is Mitchell, with simple and eloquent phrases that remind us of his refined technique. Afterwards Kelly comes in with a light and spontaneous speech, and then he makes a solo with chords. Next Jones arrives playing clear and well-defined notes that produce a sense of solidity, and finally Mitchell comes back to play a few more sentences and re-expose the theme.

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© Riverside Records