Billboard : 03/12/1966
Four Stars

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Billboard : 07/16/1966
Why Worry, Sooner or Later Good Jazz Sells

The people at Blue Note Records aren’t too concerned about how well one of their albums will sell. They also don’t worry over the lack of commercialism in their artists repertoire.

Alfred Lion, co-founder of the jazz record company 28 years ago, believes that “something good will sell, whether it’s immediate or a little later. Some artists are ahead of their time, but in time their music will be accepted as commonplace if it has merit.”

Blue Note, one of the oldest jazz labels in the business, is noted for its avant-garde type material and recording artists. “As jazz swings towards pop, its also going the other route of the ‘way out.’ The market is good right now and is steadily growing,” Lion said.

“The true artist shouldn’t worry about commercialism. If he’s got something to say he shouldn’t be confined to two minutes and 28 seconds. For example, Herbie Hancock in his Maiden Voyage LP takes time to explore new ground, but the album is still selling well.”

“Of course, length is the major stumbling block to winning over new listeners, so we try to keep the time moderate.” Most Blue Note records have two or more cuts per side. “We feel it gives the performer enough time and also provides variety for the public. If someone doesn’t like one song, he is given several others on the same album.”

Promotion isn’t a problem to the company. With an artist list including Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Jimmy Smith, Hank Mobley and Cecil Taylor, Blue Note relies on advertising in jazz magazines, trade papers for dealer information, and newspaper and magazine critical reviews. “Mouth to mouth recommendations are a keynote to our sales,” Lion says.

Lion calls some of his label’s records avant-garde as a matter of convenience and simply because most other people do. “Tastes vary and styles change. What’s looked at as avant-garde at one moment can be completely common the next. The same holds true with jazz. Ornette Coleman‘s style was thought of as far out just a few years ago, but today his records are doing well. Time has a way of catching up with good music that’s ahead of its time.”

Lion expects sales to spark now that Liberty has bought the previously independent company last April. Lion looks to a stepped up promotion campaign and improved national distribution now that Bernard Block, former New York sales manager for Liberty, has become Blue Note’s national sales manager. Under Liberty, the company plans more releases, with 11 coming in August.

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Asbury Park Press
Don Lass : 03/12/1966

The albums produced under the name and direction of pianist Hancock continue to improve. This is his fifth and it represents one of the most satisfying and original modern jazz albums of the past year. Hancock is an excellent soloist and a jazz composer of great promise. On this outing he goes a long way toward fulfilling that promise and documenting his already respected work on the keyboard. There are five long tracks, the themes of which were written by the leader to capture the many moods of the sea; its vastness, turbulence, grace, and the effects it has on man and the creatures it holds. The themes themselves are good, but it is the improvisation on Hancock’s impressionistic lines that best achieves the moods the pianist is striving to convey. Hancock’s statements are continuously provocative, ranging from relatively simple comments to the complex and highly effective solo on Survival of the Fittest. The most rewarding solos, however, come from trumpeter Freddie Hubbard who produces his most consistently imaginative work on record. Tenor saxophonist George Coleman also has some interesting things to say, but his work is far less stimulating than that of Hubbard and Hancock. The bass of Ron Carter, Tony Williams‘ drums, and the leader’s piano comprise a tightly integrated, driving rhythm section. Overall the music on this album is modern jazz that sometimes borders on the avant garde, but never becomes deeply involved in that area of jazz. Much of what is said here is highly advanced and extremely imaginative, however. Also included are Maiden Voyage, The Eye of the Hurricane, Dolphin Dance, and Little One.

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Saturday Review
Martin Williams : 09/17/1966
Music on Blue Note (not specifically about M.V.)

When Blue Note Records was founded twenty-seven years ago, it was one of about three independent labels exclusively devoted to jazz. The company was at first the part-time project of Alfred Lion, together with his associate, Frank Wolff. Its earliest sessions included Sidney Bechet, on recordings that are still in print, and boogie-woogie piano solos by Mead Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson. Those latter recordings are, unfortunately, no longer in print, but it was their popularity which made Blue Note a full-time proposition.

Blue Note recorded guitarist Charlie Christian when Christian was easily the most advanced instrumentalist in jazz. But it was not until 1947, a few years after modern jazz began to reach records, that Blue Note began working with modernists such as trumpeter Fats Navarro, composer Tadd Dameron, and pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, in sessions that, now transferred to 12-inch LPs, are among the glories of the Blue Note catalogue.

Similarly, the label has approached the new thing, avant-garde music of the 1960s, with a bit of caution. It had an able second-generation modernist, Jackie MacLean, under contract, and when MacLean moved into freely modal experimental areas, Blue Note recorded the results. As the label continued to sign promising young talent, it inevitably recorded the new music as played by younger men such as pianist Andrew Hill, trombonist Gracham Moncur III, vibist Bobby Hutcherson and others. By 1966, however, Blue Note had signed such leaders of the movement as pianist Cecil Taylor and alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Coleman’s first Blue Note releases, as already noted in this space, are excellent, but so far there are no releases by Taylor.

Three recent Blue Note albums are by musicians directly associated with the ensemble of Miles Davis. Spring (Blue Note 4216) is led by Davis’s young drummer, Anthony Williams, Speak No Evil (4194) is by his current tenor saxophonist, Wayne Shorter. The pianist on both of those albums is Davis’s man Herbie Hancock, and on Maiden Voyage (4195) Hancock leads the Davis rhythm section – former Davis saxophonist George Coleman, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

But the question of sidemen does not end the matter, for a great deal of this music stems directly and indirectly from the more experimental pieces in the Davis repertory of the past few years, pieces such as Milestones (on Columbia CL 1193), pieces like those on the enormously influential Kind of Blue LP (Columbia CL 1355) by Davis and featuring John Coltrane, and pieces like those contributed by Shorter and Williams to the more recent (and I think less successful) Davis recording E.S.P. (Columbia CL 2350). The familiarity of those Davis records, and the subsequent exploration that Coltrane, particularly, has given to some of their ideas, gives some of the music on these Blue Note LPs an air of déjà entendu.

For me, much of it also has the air of calculated experiment without complete artistic success. Wayne Shorter, for one, is clearly Davis’s best saxophonist in many years and a dedicated musician, but – at least on records – he has never realized the talent and potential that are clearly implicit in almost everything he does. There is one particularly heartening moment on his LP, however, a slow-ballad called Infant Eyes, which shows Shorter undertaking a mood that some young saxophonists seem almost afraid of.

There is a great deal to say about young Anthony Williams and I have said some of it in this space before. For now I will mention only that, while still under twenty, he had an astonishing resourcefulness and originality on his cymbals that, in itself, should grant him leadership among jazz drummers. Freddie Hubbard is unquestionably a fine trumpet player, but the most encouraging thing about his performance here is the evidence, asserted most clearly on a piece called Survival of the Fittest that he has broken away from his influences and is forming, particularly in rhythm, a personal and truly contemporary trumpet style. Hancock is a skillful pianist, and in the past some of his recorded performances have been conceived with real daring, but I confess that for me the results are sometimes bland. Perhaps in him the “new thing” has found, if not its Ahmad Jamal, then its Billy Taylor.

By far the most interesting of the Blue Note releases under review is Complete Communion (4226) by Ornette Coleman’s ex-partner, cornetist Don Cherry, with Argentinian Leandro Barbieri on tenor saxophone, Henry Grimes on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums. The LP offers two long, four-part works, Eliphantasy and a more successful title piece, Complete Communion.

Cherry has used his four instruments resourcefully and imaginatively. Each of the horns, as in Coleman’s music, is allowed to interpret even a written passage so that in a “unison” ensemble the enunciation of a theme may be simultaneously varied. Cherry also uses counterpoint, written and improvised; he uses both the bass and the drums melodically, and the players respond marvelously. His themes and his improvised sections change tempo and flow logically one to the next; little phrases from each part of the work echo through the rest of it. The solos are frequent but relatively brief, and some of them do rush toward their climaxes a bit prematurely. But in Complete Communion Cherry, one of the prime movers on his instrument in contemporary jazz, has offered one of the new music’s most interesting efforts at extended composition, a work of many delights, indicative, I hope, of more delights to come.

So far I have been speaking of recordings from a label which has maintained its independence for over a quarter of a century. But it was recently announced that that independence has come to an end and that Blue Note has been bought by the expanding West Coast label, Liberty. Blue Note insists on its continuing autonomy in policy. One therefore can hope for the best, the best being that it does hang onto Coleman and Taylor and the others, and record them as they wish to be recorded. For, some day, the results will probably be among the established glories of the catalogue, just as those mid-Forties modern sessions are now.

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San Francisco Examiner
Ralph J. Gleason : 03/13/1966

Pianist Herbie Hancock has been with Miles Davis off and on during the past couple of years and his LP, Maiden Voyage, (Blue Note 4195) presents him with three other Davis sidemen George Coleman, tenor; Ron Carter, bass and Anthony Williams, drums, plus trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

These are all virtuoso soloists and, in addition, they have had the benefit of playing together on the Davis band for long periods of time; so they share a deep common experience. Hubbard, who joined them for this date, is a brilliant young trumpeter and given the support of these men performs admirably.

The music is exciting, varies in mood markedly and always has the strong pulse and wide tonal pattern of Anthony Williams’ drums to give it an individual flavor. Williams is simply the best drummer of his generation, a new force on that instrument.

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San Francisco Examiner
Philip F. Elwood : 03/26/1966

Pianist Herbie Hancock (Blue Note 4195) never falters. It is an outstanding example of the best of contemporary jazz expression both in composition and performance.

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard has never sounded better on a full album: his tone and figures are wonderful. Bassist Ron Carter‘s long solo on Little One and his contributive role to the delightful experimental excursions on Survival of the Fittest (best of the all-fine renditions) are matched by his strong supporting role elsewhere.

Hancock’s piano and his sensitive compositional flavors sparkle, and are reflected, throughout. On Dolphin Dance, a loose waltz, drummer Tony Williams solos with elegance and grace and then joins in a flowing ensemble conclusion.

Tenor saxophonist George Coleman, a bit heavy on the Middle-Eastern minor mode in the slower numbers, comes through with powerful work on the up-tempos of Survival and Eye of the Hurricane.

This is a colossus among recent jazz releases.

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Down Beat : 05/05/1966
Michael Zwerin : 5 stars

The music is free and together. Hubbard is fat, strong, happy, and intelligent. I’ve never heard Coleman sound this imaginative. Hancock is clear, using space well. That rhythm section is perfect, as usual.

This is about the sea, and the feeling comes through.

The title tune is peaceful, nicely conveying the feeling of a cove at dawn. Hubbard plays well-paced modern melodies sensitively. Williams stops, starts, crescendos, decrescendos.

Hubbard is particularly strong on Eye. He growls and trills – plays noises with control. He tells a confident story. Carter plays beautiful notes behind Hancock’s clear sound.

Little One is slow but with lively agitation by Williams. Carter plays a calm bass solo with fine intonation, sound, and imagination. Fittest suggests a battle-dialog throughout.

Hubbard plays slithering sequences on it. The line comes back between solos – nice form.

Hancock is particularly exciting in his Fittest solo. He trills in the left hand, while playing an abstract single line in the right; then he trills in the right, chords with the left. One section sounds like a Chopin etude. Sophistication without pedantry. A duet with Williams, and a counterpoint between hands, his solo is consistent, strong, and varied. There is a world inside of it.

All the tunes are just the right length. The soloists stop playing when they have finished what they have to say. The unison lines are perfectly in tune, and the ensembles have a subtlety that is possible only after much work – and a lot of time – together.

This music communicates something good to me.

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Liner Notes by Nora Kelly
Introduction by Herbie Hancock

The sea has often stirred the imagination of creative minds involved in all spheres of art. There still exists an element of mystery which surrounds the sea and the living aquatic creatures which provide it with its vital essence. Atlantis, the Sargasso Sea, giant serpents, and mermaids are only a few of the many folkloric mysteries which have evolved through man’s experiences with the sea.

This music attempts to capture its vastness and majesty, the splendor of a sea-going vessel on its maiden voyage, the graceful beauty of the playful dolphins, the constant struggle for survival of even the tiniest sea creatures, and the awesome destructive power of the hurricane, nemesis of seamen. – Herbie Hancock

Before the dawn the water is clear and quiet, the small movement of the waves so rhythmic it is a stillness in itself. The birds are silent, and the beach is as empty as the sky, except for a few small crabs that poke among the rocks, looking for food tinier than they.

As the first hint of gray suffuses the horizon and imperceptibly lightens the deep black waters, a light wind ruffles the tips of the wavelets, whitening their crests with tongues of foam. Slowly the sand gains life, the grayness of the starry night becoming faintly yellow, a forerunner to the blazing white of noon.

In this empty hour the busy world is shrouded in loneliness. Half-buried beer cans glint weakly in the diffused light, and as the day grows broader, the whole length of the beach slowly becomes visible, vast and silent, the discarded residue of humanity scarring its desert purity. Metal wastebaskets are dotted over the landscape as far as the eye can see, looking strange and useless, as desolate as gravestones.

A single ship, perhaps on her maiden voyage, her mast a black spike against the sky, hovers near the horizon, until the curving waters sink her sail from view. The sand twinkles in the growing day, but all too soon the sea will break on a shore of people. Gone will be the huge, secret silence, as the masses stream from the city behind, scurrying madly like lemmings to the waiting strand.

But though the land may submit, the sea is yet implacable, changeless, and though the people, deeming themselves brave, tiptoe out from the edge of the land and splash in the shallows, tasting the salt, they can but shiver on the fringes of her mystery. Her vastness remains dark and secret, a misty world of silence and beauty and fluid grace. From the great sluggish sea turtles gliding in slow motion through the depths, to the swift and playful dolphins, jesters and intelligentsia of her kingdom, everything in the sea moves constantly in flight or pursuit.

To us a playground or a symbol of peace, to her creatures the sea is a watery jungle, a world of swift life and swifter death, whose silence cloaks a lurking danger. Killer whales, cruel kings of the sea, cruise slowly about, slaying for the love of blood and battle. Sea anemones, beautiful and deadly, wave their tentacles, beckoning small fish to death by poison. Like the land, it is a world where the small and timid must be swift and clever at hiding, where the strong prey on the weak, the weak on those more defenseless than themselves, a world where only the fittest survive.

Ancient tales speak of its beauty and danger, of nameless terrors that lurk in the shadows, awaiting the unwary, of fantastic monsters rearing vast and hideous heads from the depths, crunching ships in two with one snap of their jaws.

They speak too of the wondrous cities built by men of old under the sea, that appear only once in a hundred years, on to sink beneath the surface again, leaving no trace. Yet in truth, no cities of man exist beneath the sea, and lost Atlantis is but a woman’s tale. The sea yet holds her secrets, and it will be many a long year ere man plumbs her depths, ravaging her beauty, imprisoning her creatures, usurping her throne with a savage hand.