Insane music that's unlike anything else on Blue Note – and unlike anything else we can describe! Gile Melle was a baritone sax player who was heavily involved with the Blue Note label in the early 50's. He recorded four 10" LPs, and one full length album for the label – and he also used his talents as a graphic designer to create many of the label's classic early covers. This amazing 2 CD set brings together all of Melle's recorded output for Blue Note, and the tracks are otherworldly mix of strange instrumentation that includes bass, guitar, baritone, and spooky vocals. The music is sublime and moving, and this short space hardly gives us room to let you know how much it affects us. Hopefully, the titles will give you some sort of a hint – and they include wistful ones like "Four Moons", "Cyclotron", "Mars", "Spellbound", "A Lion Lives Here", and "Weird Valley". A real treat – and a superb packaging job! CD

We've got a long-standing love affair with the music of Gil Melle, and this CD's a perfect example of why we think he's so great! Melle was an enigmatic baritone player who recorded for Blue Note and Prestige in the 50's, and his recordings for both labels have a strange other-wordly quality that's very difficult to describe, and which sets him apart from any other practitioner of the instrument at the time. Far from the clunky sounds you might expect from such a giant instrument, Melle produces these amazingly light waves of sound, which are interpolated by the members of his quartet – guitarist Joe Cinderella, bassist Vinnie Burke, and drummer Ed Thigpen – in a tangled web of spooky delights. The group's augmented here by some famous guests that are perfect choices for Melle's sound – like Art Farmer, Hal McKusick, Julius Watkins, and Don Butterfield – and the CD's filled with great compositions like "Soudan", "Block Island", "Funk For Star People", "Herbie", "Tomorrow", and "Ghengis". Also includes 3 bonus tracks, for a total of 9 tracks in all! CD

Excellent Japanese LP that combines 2 of Gil Melle's rare 10" LPs for Blue Note: New Faces – New Sounds and The Gil Melle Quintet. The first LP features 2 different groups, and has Melle's haunting tenor playing amidst other bop-era modernists like Eddie Bert, Tal Farlow, George Wallington, and Max Roach. Tracks on this session include "The Gears", "October", "Cyclotron", and "Venus". The Quintet LP features Melle on tenor and baritone, playing with Tal Farlow and Urbie Green – and it includes the tracks "Timepiece", "Spellbound", and "Transition". Both sets are amazing, and the music is out-of-this world – with a sound that's unlike anything Blue Note ever did again, and which transcends any sort of traditional descriptions of jazz from the time. Very nice, and just about the only way you'll find this material on LP! LP, Vinyl record album

Incredible stuff – the only full length LP recorded by Gil Melle for Blue Note – after a series of groundbreaking 10" sessions during the early 50s! The album's got a sound that's almost impossible to describe – bringing Melle's modern baritone sax work into play with a lightly rhythmic group that includes Eddie Bert on trombone, Joe Cinderella on guitar, Oscar Pettiford on bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums. The use of baritone and trombone next to guitar is especially striking – and even more so when matched by the inventively sprightly rhythms of Pettiford and Thigpen – making for a sound that's sublime and moving, with an otherworldly approach that's beyond description! Tracks include "Nice Question", "Set Break", "Weird Valley", and "Long Ago & Far Away". CD

An incredible record from an incredible group – one of the most unique-sounding combos of the 50s – headed by baritone saxophonist Gil Melle, and featuring a very compelling combination of instruments! Melle's horn is hardly the heavy honker you might expect – and instead he's sometimes as fluid and soulful as a tenor, other times even more spacious and modern than some of his most impressive 50s contemporaries on the instrument – matched here in brilliance by the amazing guitar work of Joe Cinderella – a player who seems to use the instrument more as a way to generate fast ringing tones, than any sort of usual groove! The mix of colors and tones is completely sublime – and sent homeward by the brilliant drumming of a young Ed Thigpen, and the bass of Billy Phillips. All tunes are originals, and mighty compelling – and titles include "Ironworks", "Dominica", "Mark One", and "Dedicatory Piece To The Geophysical Year Of 1957". Coupled with this album is another great quartet album, Quadrama – one that has more of a straight jazz feel, but which is also great. Titles on that one include "Full House", "Quadrama", "Rush Hour In Hong Kong", and "Walter Ego". Great stuff all round! CD

... CD

A fantastic bit of modernism from Gil Melle, and a record that has his playing with guitarist Lou Mecca and tuba player Don Butterfield. Now we know you probably have a bias against tubas in jazz (we do, too) – but put all that aside for this one, because instead of playing clunky bop solos on the instrument, Butterfield plays in a way that uses the tuba's best bass-like properties to provide stunning washes of sound, in a matter that's in keeping with the tonal properties hinted at in the "impressions of color" title of the record. Titles include "Spectrum Violet", "Ebony", "Sea Green", "Royal Blue", and "Life Begins At Midnight". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal work from the legendary Gil Melle – one of his early 10" sessions for Blue Note, prime 50s modern jazz from the original Melle cover right down to the music in the grooves! The session features 2 different groups, and has Melle's haunting tenor (not baritone) playing amidst other bop-era modernists like Eddie Bert, Tal Farlow, George Wallington, and Max Roach – coming together on tunes that are as magical as the titles might imply – "Mars", "Four Moons", "Sunset Concerto", "The Gears", "October", "Cyclotron", and "Venus". Monica Dell also sings some incredible wordless vocals on a few tunes! LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible record from an incredible group – one of the most unique-sounding combos of the 50s – headed by baritone saxophonist Gil Melle, and featuring a very compelling combination of instruments! Melle's horn is hardly the heavy honker you might expect – and instead he's sometimes as fluid and soulful as a tenor, other times even more spacious and modern than some of his most impressive 50s contemporaries on the instrument – matched here in brilliance by the amazing guitar work of Joe Cinderella – a player who seems to use the instrument more as a way to generate fast ringing tones, than any sort of usual groove! The mix of colors and tones is completely sublime – and sent homeward by the brilliant drumming of a young Ed Thigpen, and the bass of Billy Phillips. All tunes are originals, and mighty compelling – and titles include "Ironworks", "Dominica", "Mark One", and "Dedicatory Piece To The Geophysical Year Of 1957". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing little album from the legendary Gil Melle – a set that's billed as the first album of "electronic jazz", and which features Gil working with his Jazz Electronauts combo! Although Melle's perhaps best known for his baritone sax modern sides of the 50s for Blue Note and Prestige, his influence on this album is possibly a far greater one on modern music – because Gil creates a sublime blend of jazz roots and more sophisticated instrumentation – cast out in ways that are complicated, yet never too harsh or overly-academic! The electronic aspects of the record are sometimes sparing – mixed into the styles of the combo, often through Gil's use of soprano sax – almost as a magic wand to shape the sound of the rest of the music. Other instruments are electrified too – a bit of cello, an effects generator, and "electar" – mixed with more conventional piano, bass, and drums! The album features 4 long tracks – and titles include "Blue Quasar", "Elgin Marble", and "Man With The Flashlight". LP, Vinyl record album

Sal Salvador was one of the 50s more accomplished modernist talents on jazz guitar – and his work ranks up there with players like Tal Farlow, or Gil Melle's great bandmate Joe Cinderella. This is Salvador's rare first album for Blue Note – only issued in a 10" vinyl format! The record features quartet and quintet material, and includes tenorist Frank Sokolow, an icy-toned genius who's never gotten his just dues. Sokolow and Salvador sound great together, and create a haunting sound that's better than anything we've heard on other Salvador records from his later years. Titles include "My Old Flame", "Get Happy", "Too Marvelous For Words", "Gone With The Wind", and "After You've Gone". LP, Vinyl record album

Starkly modernist work from the overlooked Duane Tatro – a wonderful writer with an incredibly fresh voice! Tatro flourished in the LA scene of the 50s, doing work for Stan Kenton and Red Norvo at the time – but oddly, this album is one of the few documents of his work! Tatro's leading a larger group that features well-matched modernists that include Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Gordon, Stu Williamson, Bob Enevoldsen, Lennie Niehaus, Bill Holman, and Shelly Manne – coming together in arrangements that are complex, yet still very nicely swinging – crackling with an electric edge that sets the whole album on fire! The music has the kind of beautiful surprising sparkling modernism that you'd find in the best work of Tatro contemporaries like Jimmy Giuffre or Gil Melle – and titles include "Backlash", "Outpost", "Easy Terms", "Dollar Day", "Low Clearance", and "Turbulence". CD

A rare early 10" session by Wynton Kelly – who's working here in a trio format with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Lee Abrams on drums! The tracks are intimate and introspective, with Kelly holding back his bop chops a bit to break out in other moods on the keyboard – definitely the "new sounds" promised by the cover, as the set's sharp enough to be considered with the best Blue Note piano work from the time. The cover is an excellent Gil Melle abstract design – and titles include "Moonlight In Vermont", "Good Bye", "Born To Be Blue", and "Blue Moon". LP, Vinyl record album

A key 50s session from bassist Oscar Pettiford – one that really displays his best talents for unusual phrasings and arrangements! The group on the album's a great one – with Tal Farlow on guitar, Al Cohn on tenor, and Kai Winding on trombone – and the use of these three instruments together is often done in a way that creates interesting juxtapositions and counterpoint – freshly modern at some moments, almost in line with the work of Gil Melle, but at other times gliding together with a strangely full sound, despite the size of the group – sort of reminding us of Gerry Mulligan. Henri Renaud plays piano on the set, and titles include "Burt's Pad", "Marcel The Furrier", "E-Lag", and "Rhumblues". CD

A split album that combines work from 2 different early 10" LPs on Bethlehem – both led by some of the best bassists to record for the label at the time! The first 6 tracks are classic work by Oscar Pettiford – some of his best as a leader, and cut with a hip group that includes Charlie Rouse on tenor, Duke Jordan on piano, and Julius Watkins on French horn. The tracks swing nicely with a strong modernist bop influence – and titles include "Cable Car", "Tricotism", "Oscar Rides Again", and "Golden Touch". The other 8 tracks are a bit mellower, but still quite modern – and with a really fresh approach. Recorded by Vinnie Burke's quartet, they feature a very unusual lineup of bass, clarinet, accordion, and guitar – the latter of which is played by the enigmatic Joe Cinderella, of Gil Melle group fame, and who gives the record a similar feeling to Melle's strange work for Blue Note. Titles include "For All We Know", "Time Out", "On The Alamo", and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise". CD

A rare early 10" session by Wynton Kelly – who's working here in a trio format with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Lee Abrams on drums! The tracks are intimate and introspective, with Kelly holding back his bop chops a bit to break out in other moods on the keyboard – definitely the "new sounds" promised by the cover, as the set's sharp enough to be considered with the best Blue Note piano work from the time. The cover is an excellent Gil Melle abstract design – and titles include "Moonlight In Vermont", "Good Bye", "Born To Be Blue", and "Blue Moon". CD