# From vibraphonists Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson to pianist Geri Allen and trumpeter Terence Blanchard

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/09/27/vibraphonists-milt-jackson-bobby-hutcherson-pianist-geri-allen-trumpeter-terence-blanchard/
- Published: 2017-09-27T21:02:00+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Blue Note Records artists have been participating in the Monterey Jazz Festival
throughout its much-admired history. At MJF’s 60th anniversary weekend, held at 
the Monterey County Fairgrounds Sept. 15–17, the illustrious label had its own tent,
where Blue Note artists and others wre featured daily. Fittingly, it was captained
by Don Was, the label’s president and affable spokesman.**

[https://bluesjazzscenes.com/](https://bluesjazzscenes.com/)In addition to hosting
events such as one-on-one interviews between Was and label artists like Wayne Shorter
and Joe Lovano, the label also provided exclusive details for the deluxe Blue Note
Review subscription-only series. Was said the first volume, due out in the fall,
will be a box set consisting of an exclusive double-vinyl compilation of unreleased
tracks, a set of frameable photographic prints, a special edition magazine, a Blue
Note scarf by fashion designer John Varvatos and a CD version of the album.

Was excerpted some of the tracks, which were heard by V.I.P. attendees and later
general public audiences via wireless headphones. Selections included a live recording
of vocalist Gregory Porter with the Blue Note All-Stars that was captured aboard
a Blue Note Cruise, and vocalist-pianist Kandace Springs performing with trumpeter
Ambrose Akinmusire.

DownBeat sat down with Was immediately following his Blue Note Review presentation
to discuss the new subscription series.

**You talked about how you couldn’t afford to buy a lot of records when you were
a new jazz fan, and how you and a friend would read the liner notes off the back
of albums at record stores instead. How would the 14-year-old Don Was react to the
first Blue Note Review box set?**

Being a fan of Blue Note vinyl as a teenager in the 1960s has totally informed the
process of coming up with Blue Note Review. The Blue Note Review was really meant
to be the 12-inch vinyl experience—tactile and just loaded with vibe. It’s meant
to be that experience on steroids, really.

**Can you describe the “vibe?”**

It wasn’t just the music. I used to look at the photos, the Francis Wolff photos.
And they looked so fucking _cool_. [The musicians are] all smoking cigarettes and
holding saxophones and wearing these cool clothes, and you could never see the walls
in the room in the pictures. So I couldn’t tell where they were, but I just want
to be part of that.

**The Blue Note Review packaging and design elements of the box are really sharp.**

That’s an extension of the Reid Miles graphics on those covers. They made a strong
statement and just made you feel like you were part of something bigger and cooler,
and that you belonged.

**The first set has a nice collection of veteran artists, newcomers and rare tracks
from both.**

I wanted people to have a sense of discovery. As a teenager, you couldn’t afford
to _buy_all the albums that looked appealing to you. I remember that Impulse! did
a sampler called _The New Wave In Jazz_. John Coltrane and Archie Shepp and Albert
Ayler and Roswell Rudd had tracks on it, and I got that early on. Just hearing a
lot of music at once, it turned me on to all different kinds of things. And I wanted
to be able to do that with Blue Note Review.
 **_Video Exclusive: Don Was reminisces
about his first encounter with the Blue Note sound, and discusses how a sense of
nostalgia fueled his desire to launch Blue Note Review. (Video by Holly Wallace)_

**Given the amount of unreleased music in the Blue Notes Records vaults, it must
have been daunting at first to narrow down your track listing.**

It came together pretty organically. We just sat around and talked about it. (_laughs_)
It’s not dissimilar to writing a song or producing a record or being a musician.

**You didn’t have much precedent in terms of this type of subscription series, which
could have been both an advantage and disadvantage.**

It took us a long time. I knew from the day that I took the gig [in January 2012]
that I wanted to compensate for the lack of liner notes. Our initial thought was
to do a magazine with a CD pocket in it.

Then we started thinking about it, and we said, “Let’s make it more experiential.”
We started seeing some really nice luxury subscription boxes. Then I saw some of
the stuff that Jack White, who’s a good friend of mine, was doing —some of the Third
Man [Records] vault stuff.

So we took all that information in and tried to come up with our own original approach
to it. And I can’t think of anything else that’s like it currently.

**Talk about some of the box set’s non-musical content.**

There’s a poem in there. But it seems like it would appeal to people who love the
music. And there’s a comic strip. Kandace Springs did a painting of Louis Armstrong,
and there’s a great interview that [comedian, actor and jazz enthusiast] Jeff Garlin
did with Wayne Shorter. Charles Lloyd wrote a beautiful piece about his old friend,
Billy Higgins, who appeared on so many Blue Note albums.

**With so much music available through streaming, this package takes the opposite
approach and really pulls the focuses in on something specific.**

It was meant very much to turn people on to different artists and different approaches
to music. So it’s quite varied. But I thought when we heard some of the tracks played
today, there’s a sensibility running through all the music. I felt that on this 
first set.

I think that in today’s culture, you’re starting to see more and more of, “OK, do
we need more things? Or are we looking for something that actually touches your 
soul?” —_Yoshi Kato_

![Image](https://i0.wp.com/downbeat.com/images/news/_full/DonWas_edit2.jpg?w=640)

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