Lou Donaldson – Mr. Shing-A-Ling: Blue Note Tone Poet Series

Tone Poet offer is available only for in-store purchases or pick-up.

Funky funky Lou Donaldson – and one of the first albums to feature the tight drum work of Idris Muhammad behind Lou’s horn – so early, in fact, that Muhammad’s listed here on the label as Leo Morris, which was his original name! The group also features Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Jimmy Ponder on guitar, and Lonnie Smith on organ – and they all wail together in a sound that bridges the gap between Lou’s earlier Blue Note soul jazz, and the later funky mode of his jazz funk years! Tracks include “The Humpback,” “Peepin’,” “The Kid” and the fantastic cover of “Ode to Billie Joe” that’s as much a sample cut as “Pot Belly”!

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. The label brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), aka the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels. Extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the deluxe gatefold jacket graphics and printing quality to superior mastering (all analog direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180-gram audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. Every aspect of these Blue Note/Tone Poet releases is done to the highest-possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version.

“The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come though unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session.”
– Joe Harley

Musicians:
Lou Donaldson, alto saxophone
Lonnie Smith, organ
Blue Mitchell, trumpet
Jimmy “Fats” Ponder, guitar
Leo Morris aka Idris Muhammad, drums