Music

Certain record labels – like Studio One, Chess, Sun, Factory, Sugarhill, Fania or ECM – define how we hear and think about music, instantly conjuring a time, a place or a sound, be it Chicago blues, early rap or ’70s salsa. Blue Note is perhaps the most iconic of them all. Encased in über-cool sleeves, their back-catalogue represents what many regard as jazz’s ’60s golden era, one that’s provided fertile ground for DJs and hip hop producers.

This two-CD set is part of four excellent new Blue Note collections, compiled by Dean Rudland and packaged in classic looking sleeves. Blue Note started creatively exploiting their back catalogue in this way around 15 years ago, but the likes of Soul Jazz Records have, perhaps, forced them raise their game. Each release here is themed – ‘Sharp Shades & Fingersnaps’ comprises finger-popping hard bop; ‘Hip Hammond & Soulful Grooves’ is organ funk; ‘Back To The Tropics’ is Latin jazz; but the best of the lot is ‘Righteousness’. It collects the label’s rarely explored late ’60s output from the likes of Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner and Wayne Shorter, all of it influenced by rock, funk, psychedelic and gospel. The best tracks (Duke Pearson’s spacey ‘The Phantom’, Donald Byrd’s brooding riff-driven ‘The Emperor’ and Andrew Hill’s string-laden broken beatish ‘Illusions’) sounds almost suspiciously contemporary. Essential.