Blue Note Begins “Artist Selects” Series

Taking a cue from ECM’s :rarum series, Blue Note has initiated their own The Artist Selects series, allowing living legends to hand-pick their own “best-of” compilations and even sequence them. The inaugural portion of the series, launched Oct. 4, features albums from guitarist Kenny Burrell (pictured), also saxophonist Lou Donaldson, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and composer/arranger Gerald Wilson. The musicians cull their Blue Note releases, while Wilson selects from his Pacific Jazz recordings.

Emphasizing the “artist selects” title, the liner notes contain first-person testimony from the artist of how the recordings came to be and how the process developed.

Kenny Burrell: The Artist Selects contains 14 tracks and features musicians including Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Art Blakely, Jimmy Smith and Herbie Hancock. The track listing is as follows:

1. This Time the Dream’s on Me
2. Delilah
3. But Not For Me
4. Phinupi
5. Love, Your Spell Es Everywhere
6. Scotch Blues
7. Weaver of Dreams
8. Swingin’
9. Chitlins Con Carne
10. Soul Lament
11. Midnight Blue
12. These Foolish Things
13. Hackensack
14. Freedom

Lou Donaldson: The Artist Selects contains 13 tracks with musicians including Horace Silver, Art Blakely, George Benson and Clifford Brown. The track list is as follows:

1. Cheek to Cheek
2. Cookin’
3. Lou’s Blues
4. Dorothy
5. Herman’s Mambo
6. The Blues Walk
7. The Masquerade Is Over
8. Funky Mama
9. Caracas
10. What Will I Tell My Heart
11. Alligator Bogaloo
12. Peepin’
13. Caravan

Freddie Hubbard: The Artists Selects contains nine tracks with musicians including Art Blakely (yes, again), Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock. Track list is as follows:

1. The Core
2. Crisis
3. Up Jumped Spring
4. Prophet Jennings
5. Lament for Booker
6. Breaking Point
7. Karioka
8. The Melting Pot
9. Birdlike

Finally, Gerald Wilson: The Artist Selects features a whopping 16 tracks with musicians such as Joe Pass, Roy Ayers, Mel Lewis and Harold Land. The track list is as follows:

1. Blues for Yna Yna
2. Jeri
3. Moody Blue
4. Nancy Jo
5. Teri
6. Viva Tirado
7. Miestones
8. Josefina
9. Paco
10. ‘Round Midngith
11. Eric
12. Lightouse Blues
13. El Viti
14. Carlos
15. The Feather [from The Teotihuacan Suite]
16. The Serpent [from The Teotihuacan Suite]

Originally Published October 21, 2005