Miroslav Vitous - Infinite Search

 When I was just a young lad, still held in the throes of prog, and other lesser 70s ilk, I was the first of my friends to turn my eye in the direction of jazz. At first it was the relatively accessible lps of CTI, then of course the Blue Notes and Impulses but even then these were rarities in the used bins, my main source of records. Easier to find were fusion records and they were the hot item at the time. I fell in line...for awhile. Eventually found the records too...busy for my herbal induced lifestyle, and they fell by the wayside.
 Funny thing about life is everything seems to cycle back through at some point. 30 something years later, and I find I'm listening to fusion again, albeit in a much more particular manner. I've been through free jazz and world music and this stuff doesn't seem as frantic as I remember.
 That's one long winded tale to show off this record which I really dig.
 Released a year after Bitches Brew, with this crew, this can be classified as nothing but fusion. Add to the fact that the session leader plays bass, even though this is his first date as such, you know where you stand before you drop the needle.Still it must have been a buzz being so young and landing this gig, and playing your own tunes as well.(The opener is by Eddie Harris, a fusion dude himself.) It is passionate and awesome. Easily one of my favorite lps of the genre and I am glad I snatched it up when I did, wherever that may have been. Still a bit lost in that herbal cloud.

Infinite Search

1. Freedom Jazz Dance

2.  mountain In The Clouds

3. When Face Gets Pale

4. Infinite Search

5. I Will Tell Him On You

 6. Epilogue*

Miroslav Vitous - bass
Joe Henderson - tenor sax
John McLaughlin - guitar
Herbie Hancock - piano
Jack DeJohnette - drums
Joe Chambers - drums*


recorded NYC 1970
Embryo Records SD 524

The Blue Note Lost Sessions comp.

Embarrassingly I am offering up another cd copy. Once again though, I don't believe it ever saw light as a vinyl release.
It was also apparently made available as part of a 7 disc set for the Connoisseur series. Popular opinion is that this disc is the only only one really worthwhile.
There are many fine players spread across these tracks as one might expect from what made have been the world's most "perfect" label at one time.
Any flaws these tracks may have that kept them from being released originally are beyond my scope.

A few observations... apparently the opening Charlie Rouse track was the only thing salvageable from his two sessions. I have always enjoyed his work with Monk so I am surprised. I also have a Charlie Rouse lp that I will share soon that I think is swell.
Tadd Dameron's arrangements always astound me, and Ike Quebec is highly under rated.

Blue Note Records presents
THE LOST SESSIONS

1. One For Five
2. The Elder Speaks
3. Bevan Beeps
4. Lament For The Living
5. Aloof Spoof
6. For All We Know
7. I See Your Face Before Me
8. Sweet Slumber
9. Lady Be Good
10. Blues On Trial
11. Cowbell Boogie
12. Don't Even Go There

1. Charlie Rouse - tenor; Freddie Hubbard - trumpet; McCoy Tyner - piano; Bob Cranshaw - bass; Billy Higgins - drums 1/22/65
2 -5. Tadd Dameron - piano; Donald Byrd - trumpet; Curtis Fuller; Julius Watkins - french horn; Sam Rivers - tenor sax; Cecil Payne - baritone; Paul Chambers - bass; Philly Joe Jones - drums 12/14/61
6-8. Duke Pearson - piano; Ike Quebec - tenor; Israel Crosby - bass; Vernel Foournier - drums 6/26/60
9. Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon - tenor sax; Don Patterson - organ; Paul Weeden - guitar; Billy James - drums 5/14/62
10. Ike Quebec - tenor sax; Gene Harris - organ; Andrew Simpkins - bass; Bill Dowdy - drums 2/4/62
11. Fred Jackson - tenor sax; John Patton - piano; Grant Green - guitar; Herbie Lewis - bass; Ben Dixon - drums 6/12/62
12. Herbie Hancock - piano; Melvin Lastie - cornet; Stanley Turrentine - tenor sax; Eric Gale, Billy Butler - guitars; Bob Cranshaw - bass; Bernard Purdie - drums 7/19/66

BN 21484


I'm betting many of these tracks have ended up tacked to individual lps as bonus cuts. The "leader" of each date is in bold.

Herbie Hancock Trio - NYC 1993

Here's another recording supplied by Six String - make sure you thank him.

This is actually a very good live date by Hancock, a player I had given up on many years before.

Not that I thought any less of Hancock, anyone with a career as long lived as his is gonna be susceptible to ups and downs. I just really hadn't given him much thought at all.

Of course he had a string of classic BN lps and that is where these performances are mined from. Bookended with a pair of Cole Porter classics...we're gonna need some help with track 4.

Herbie Hancock Trio
NYC 1993

1. I Love You
2. One Finger Snap
3. Maiden Voyage
4.
5. Cantaloupe Island
6. Just One Of Those Things

HH - piano
Jeff Littleton - bass
Gene Jackson - drums

unknown venue

Here Tis