Ike Quebec – The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions: BN Tone Poet (180g Vinyl 3LP)

All-Analog 180g Vinyl 3LP of Ike Quebec’s The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions: Blue Note Tone Poet Reissue Mastered From the Original Master Tapes by Kevin Gray and Pressed at RTI

The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions of Ike Quebec collects a phenomenal body of work produced between 1959-’62 by a key player in the Blue Note Story. The saxophonist had recorded a series of 78s for Alfred Lion in the 1940s and also served as a talent scout who encouraged Lion to record important figures of the emerging bebop scene including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. After a difficult period through the 1950s during which Quebec fell off the scene, Lion reconnected with his friend and began to reintroduce Quebec’s music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and revealed a formidable stylist very much at the top of his game. His full-throated yet utterly relaxed sound was ideally suited to a wide range of material from ballads to blues. The success of Quebec’s comeback inspired Lion to keep going, capturing four sessions of material with a revolving cast of musicians that yielded classic tracks including “A Light Reprieve,” “Blue Monday,” and “What a Difference a Day Makes.” Quebec would also go on to record several album sessions including the timeless soul jazz classics Heavy Soul, Blue & Sentimental, and Bossa Nova Soul Samba, capping a prolific end to a career that would be tragically cut short with his death from lung cancer at age 44 in 1963.

This Blue Note Tone Poet Edition is produced by Joe Harley. The 3-LP vinyl set is all-analog and cut directly from Rudy Van Gelder’s original master tapes by Kevin Gray. Pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, the LPs come packaged in a deluxe tip-on trifold jacket which includes a booklet with never-before-seen photos by Francis Wolff and an insightful, in-depth essay by scholar Loren Schoenberg.

Musicians:
Ike Quebec – tenor saxophone
Edwin Swanston – organ (LP 1)
Skeeter Best – guitar (LP 1)
Sonny Wellesley – bass (LP 1)
Les Jenkins – drums (LP 1)
Sir Charles Thompson – organ (LP 2)
Milt Hinton – bass (LP 2)
J.C. Heard – drums (LP 2)
Willie Jones – guitar (LP 3)
Earl Van Dyke – organ (LP 3)
Sam Jones – bass (LP 3)
Wilbert Hogan – drums (LP 3)

• Ike Quebec’s Complete 1959-1962 Jukebox Recordings
• LP 1 Recorded July 1, 1959, Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
• LP 2 Recorded September 25, 1960, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
• LP 3 Recorded February 5 & 13, 1962, Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey

Side 1:

1. A Light Reprieve
2. Buzzard Lope
3. Blue Monday
4. Zonky

Side 2:

1. Later for the Rock
2. Sweet and Lovely
3. Dear John
4. Blue Friday

Side 3:

1. Everything Happens to Me [Short Version]
2. Mardi Gras
3. What a Difference A Day Makes
4. For All We Know
5. Ill Wind

Side 4:

1. If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)
2. I’ve Got the World on a String
3. Me ‘N Mabe 4. Everything Happens to Me [Long Version]

Side 5:

1. How Long Has This Been Going On
2. With A Song in My Heart
3. Imagination
4. What Is There to Say?

Side 6:

1. There Is No Greater Love
2. All of Me
3. Intermezzo
4. But Not for Me
5. All the Way