Details

There may not be a more apropos album title in all of recorded music than tenor saxophonist Ike Quebecs 1961 classic Heavy Soul. The session marked a comeback for a crucial player in Blue Note history. Quebec 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, Lion began to reintroduce Quebecs music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and inspired Lion to put the saxophonist back into the studio for a full album session. So, in November 1961 Quebec brought a 4-piece band into Van Gelder Studio that included Freddie Roach on organ, Milt Hinton on bass, and Al Harewood on drums. The resulting 8-song set is a soul jazz masterclass with Quebecs robust tenor conjuring a variety of moods from the rhythmic drive of swinging originals like Acquitted and Ques Dilemma to slow-tempo stunners including Just One More Chance, Brother Can You Spare a Dime, and I Want A Little Girl. A remarkable reading of The Man I Love leads into the sultry title piece, which practically drips with soul, but its the album closer which delivers a showstopper. With Roach and Harewood laying out Quebec and Hinton converse in a duo setting on a spellbinding performance of Nature Boy that reverberates in the listeners soul long after the last note has faded.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Tracklist:
A1: Acquitted
A2 Just One More Chance
A3: Que's Dilemma
A4: Brother Can You Spare A Dime

B1: The Man I Love
B2: Heavy Soul
B3: I Want A Little Girl
B4. Nature Boy