The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Remastered) Oliver Nelson Sextet feat. Eric Dolphy

• 1Stolen Moments08:45
• 2Hoe Down04:43
• 3Cascades05:31
• 4Yearnin'06:22
• 5Butch And Butch04:34
• 6Teenie's Blues06:38
• Total Runtime36:33

Info for The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Remastered)

As Oliver Nelson is known primarily as a big band leader and arranger, he is lesser known as a saxophonist and organizer of small ensembles. Blues And The Abstract Truth is his triumph as a musician for the aspects of not only defining the sound of an era with his all-time classic 'Stolen Moments,' but on this recording, assembling one of the most potent modern jazz sextets ever. Lead trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is at his peak of performance, while alto saxophonists Nelson and Eric Dolphy (Nelson doubling on tenor) team to for an unlikely union that was simmered to perfection. Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums) can do no wrong as a rhythm section.

In February of 1961, the sessions that later constituted the album Blues and the Abstract Truth were recorded for a new jazz label distributed by ABC-Paramount, Impulse Records. The sessions were produced by Creed Taylor, who would go on to produce classic recordings on the Verve label, and his own CTI label. Oliver Nelson had a career full of highlights by 1961. Originally from St Louis, Missouri, he had played in the bands of Louis Jordan, Louis Bellson, Erskine Hawkins, Wild Bill Davis and Quincy Jones. He had also been a house arranger at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem in New York City. Nelson had made some albums under his own name as well.

But it was this album that became his first masterpiece. An all-star ensemble was assembled: with Nelson were Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, George Barrow, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Roy Haynes. One of the compositions on the album became a standard: Stolen Moments. The album received ecstatic reviews from the jazz press and has rarely been out of print since its original release. Nelson went from success to success, making big band and small group albums in a variety of settings under his own name and accompanying jazz and pop artists. He composed symphonic music as well, and toured extensively even after he moved to Los Angeles in 1967 and became established in the film and television world. He also gave workshops and seminars. He was only 43 when he died in 1975.

'You can afford only one Oliver Nelson album? This is the one. Why?....Because there are few perfect records. This is 36 1/2 minutes of perfection, an album as fresh as the day it was born 33 years ago. Long may it be reissued.' (JazzTimes)

The Blues and the Abstract Truth is one of my favorite jazz recordings. What a group of heavy-weight performers! Besides Oliver Nelson on tenor sax, you've got the incomparable Bill Evans on piano, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, Roy Haynes on drums, and Eric Dolphy on flute and alto sax. This is the jazz equivalent of a super-group.' (Jim Hannon, AVguide.com)

Oliver Nelson, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
George Barrow, baritone saxophone
Paul Chambers, bass
Eric Dolphy, flute, alto saxophone
Bill Evans, piano
Roy Haynes, drums
Freddie Hubbard, trumpet

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on February 23, 1961
Produced by Creed Taylor

Digitally remastered

Oliver Nelson
Born June 4, 1932 in St. Louis, Oliver Nelson came from a musical family: His brother played saxophone with Cootie Williams in the Forties, and his sister was a singer-pianist. Nelson himself began piano studies at age six and saxophone at eleven. In the late Forites he played in various territory bands and then spent 1950–51 with Louis Jordan’s big band. After two years in a Marine Corps ensemble, he returned to St. Louis to study composition and theory at both Washington and Lincoln universities.

After graduation in 1958, Nelson moved to New York and played with Erskine Hawkins, Wild Bill Davis, and Louie Bellson. He also became the house arranger for the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Though he began recording as a leader in 1959, Nelson’s breakthrough came in 1961 with The Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse), featuring an all-star septet that included Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, and Freddie Hubbard. With the success of that deservedly acclaimed LP, Nelson’s career as a composer blossomed, and he was subsequently the leader on a number of memorable big-band recordings, including Afro-American (Prestige) and Full Nelson (Verve). He also became an in-demand studio arranger, collaborating with Cannonball Adderley, Johnny Hodges, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine, and others.

During the Sixties, Nelson became one of the most strongly identifiable writing voices in jazz. In 1967, he moved to Los Angeles, where he became involved extensively in scoring for television and films. Though Nelson continued to write for jazz record dates and play (he focused on alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones at different times during the Sixties and Seventies), the demands of writing commercial music increased. The accompanying stress ultimately may have been his undoing; on October 28, 1975, he died suddenly of a heart attack. (Bill Kirchner) Excerpted from Oliver Nelson Verve Jazz Masters 48. (Source: Verve Music)

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