Oliver Nelson – Black, Brown And Beautiful (1970/2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Oliver Nelson – Black, Brown And Beautiful (1970/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:50 minutes | 713 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ace Records

After years of creating pop soul with hip swinging big bands, Oliver Nelson returned with the true successor to his classic “Blues & The Abstract Truth”. A jazz journey through racial politics and pride. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio featuring many top musicians, it was produced by Bob Thiele for his Flying Dutchman label.

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Oliver Nelson Sextet – Screamin’ The Blues (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1960/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Oliver Nelson Sextet – Screamin’ The Blues (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1960/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:54 minutes | 498 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prestige

Posterity remembers Oliver Nelson (1932-1975) primarily as an arranger/conductor. When he first began to attract attention with a series of albums for Prestige and its subsidiaries, however, Nelson was hailed as a versatile leader of small groups and a composer/instrumentalist who could refresh the music’s traditional verities while also looking ahead. There is no better showcase for these skills among his initial sessions than Screamin’ the Blues, a rousing set of funky modernism interpreted by a sextet of players who shared Nelson’s allegiance to both virtuosity and vision. The pairing of saxophonist Eric Dolphy with Nelson was particularly inspired as both men were adept on more than one instrument, and allowed this sextet to create an uncommon diversity of colors. Nelson and Dolphy would reunite a year later on both the classic Blues and the Abstract Truth and (with the band heard here minus trumpeter Richard Williams) on the looser yet intense Straight Ahead.

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Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961/2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:33 minutes | 728 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve Reissues

Blues And The Abstract Truth is Oliver Nelson’s triumph. Featuring his all-time classic “Stolen Moments”, Nelson assembled 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 form 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.

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Oliver Nelson, Johnny Hodges, Leon Thomas – Three Shades of Blue (1970/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Oliver Nelson, Johnny Hodges, Leon Thomas - Three Shades of Blue (1970/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Oliver Nelson, Johnny Hodges, Leon Thomas – Three Shades of Blue (1970/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:02 minutes | 838 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ace Records

They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Oliver Nelson, one of the great composer/arrangers of his generation, brings 20 or so guys with invincible swing in their DNA into a studio with some killer charts to play, and Johnny Hodges stands in front of them and does what Johnny Hodges does. The result was a classic album that’s given me great pleasure.
Recorded almost a year before his death this album would be Hodges last as a leader. It features an all star band that includes seven members from Ellington’s band plus Ron Carter, Randy Brecker and Hank Jones. This album both swings and has some blues. It’s an excellent recording and if you’re a Hodges fan it’s for you.
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Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Oliver Nelson – The Blues And The Abstract Truth (1961) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2011]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 36:43 minutes | Scans included | 1,52 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 792 MB

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 form 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. “Stolen Moments” really needs no comments, as its undisputable beauty shines through in a three-part horn harmony fronting Hubbard’s lead melody. It’s a thing of beauty that is more timeless as the years pass. The “Blues” aspect is best heard on “Yearnin’,” a stylish, swinging, and swaying downhearted piece that is a bluesy as Evans would ever be. Both “Blues” and “Abstract Truth” combine for the darker “Teenie’s Blues,” a feature for Nelson and Dolphy’s alto saxes, Dolphy assertive in stepping forth with his distinctive, angular, dramatic, fractured, brittle voice that marks him a maverick. Then there’s “Hoedown,” which has always been the black sheep of this collection with its country flavor and stereo separated upper and lower horn in snappy call-and-response barking. As surging and searing hard boppers respectively, “Cascades” and “Butch & Butch” again remind you of the era of the early ’60s when this music was king, and why Hubbard was so revered as a young master of the idiom. A must buy for all jazz fans, and a Top Ten or Top Fifty favorite for many.

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