Sonny Clark - My Conception (1959) Blue Note, 2021 Tone Poet pressing

 

To be blunt, the Blue Note Tone Poet and Classic (and its predecessor Blue Note 80) vinyl reissue series are the best things since sliced bread. Taking some of the best jazz of the 20th century, having it remastered by one of the best mastering engineers in Kevin Gray, then having it pressed on 180g vinyl at two of the better pressing plants--RTI for the Tone Poet series and Optimal for the Classic series--and finally pricing those releases at $35 and $25 (now up to $26 for the most recent releases), respectively, is a god-send for jazz junkies like myself. Never mind that I spent gobs of money years ago building up an extensive CD collection of a lot of these titles, particularly those now in the Classic and Blue Note 80 series, getting to re-hear them after Gray's mastering, which brings out much more detail and expands the sound stage,  while not having to pay the exorbitant prices now commanded for equivalent Music Matters releases is a bargain not to be passed up. I was not yet in the audiophile loop when the original Music Matters 2 x 45 RPM releases hit the market, nor was I on board when they began reissuing a lot of the same titles on single disc 33 RPM, so by the time I was ready to jump in, most of those titles had sold out or were commanding way-above-list-price figures due to Music Matters' unconventional escalating price scale as titles became scarcer. I did, however, snatch up a few of the more obscure Music Matters titles when they went on sale in an effort to reduce inventory, but I figured I would never be able to touch any of the true Blue Note cornerstones, until the Classic and Blue Note 80 series came along.

However, the Tone Poet series was designed to delve into some of those more obscure titles that Music Matters had never issued, perhaps not the crown jewels of the Blue Note catalog, but with Blue Note even the B-grade material would pass for A prime just about anywhere else. This Sonny Clark title, just released on vinyl this year, may not be his iconic Blue Note masterpiece, Cool Struttin' (which I also snagged when it was released in the Classic series), but with a lineup that includes Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Blakey executing his trademark thunderous drum rolls, this is an all star cast that compares favorably with just about any lineup you could name. Clark's career at Blue Note tends to get overshadowed by bigger names on the label's roster, like Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, and Horace Silver, but Clark, more a contemporary of Silver than the others, can hold his  own amongst the best post-bop pianists of the late 1950s. Clark's compositions are stellar as well, particularly on the shuffling "Blues Blue" and the pensive closing title track. While the crowded bandstand doesn't give Clark as much room for soloing as on his sparer trio sessions, who in their right mind would complain about having to listen to solos from Byrd and Mobley? While recorded just one year after Cool Struttin', this session was not released until 20 years later, long after Clark died at just 31 from what is believed to have been a heroin overdose. Like most of the Tone Poet and Classic releases, these vinyl gems sell out fast and may not be offered again for several years.

Do I Really Need This record?  I suppose that technically I could say I did not need this record. As mentioned above, I had already scored the vinyl reissue of Clark's Cool Struttin', considered his best record, and I have a couple other of his Blue Note albums on CD. Also, I own a ton of Blue Note jazz in a variety of formats, so I don't play any single title more than a couple times a year at best. But given the sonic bliss afforded by all these Tone Poet releases, added to their eventual scarcity, and a 20% discount off list price during a Blue Note Labor Day sale, how could I resist? Not buying it would have been a dereliction of duty, right?