Released August 1961 (1961-08) Length 36:33 Artist Oliver Nelson Producer Creed Taylor | Recorded February 23, 1961 The Blues and the Abstract Truth
(1961) Straight Ahead
(1961) Release date 1961 Label Impulse! Records | |
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Studio Van Gelder Studio
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Genres Hard bop, Jazz fusion, Post-bop Similar Oliver Nelson albums, Hard bop albums, Other albums | ||
The Blues and the Abstract Truth is an album by American composer and jazz saxophonist Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961. It remains Nelson's most acclaimed album and features a lineup of notable musicians: Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy (his second-to-last appearance on a Nelson album following a series of collaborations recorded for Prestige), Bill Evans (his only appearance with Nelson), Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes. Baritone saxophonist George Barrow does not take solos but remains a key feature in the subtle voicings of Nelson's arrangements.
Contents
Oliver nelson stolen moments
Music
The album is an exploration of the mood and structure of the blues, though only some of the tracks are structured in the conventional 12-bar blues form. In this regard, it may be seen as a continuation of the trend towards greater harmonic simplicity and subtlety via reimagined versions of the blues that was instigated by Miles Davis's Kind of Blue in 1959 (Evans and Chambers played on both albums).
Among the pieces on the album, "Stolen Moments" is the best known: a sixteen-bar piece in an eight-six-two pattern, even though the solos are in a conventional 12-bar minor-key blues structure in C minor. "Hoe-Down" is built on a forty-four-bar structure (with thirty-two-bar solos based on rhythm changes). "Cascades" modifies the traditional 32-bar AABA form by using a 16-bar minor blues for the A section, stretching the form to a total of 56 bars. The B-side of the album contains three tracks that hew closer to the 12-bar form: "Yearnin'", "Butch and Butch" and "Teenie's Blues" (which opens with two 12-bar choruses of bass solo by Chambers).
Nelson's later album, More Blues and the Abstract Truth (1964), features an entirely different (and larger) group of musicians and bears little resemblance to this record.
Reception
Writing in the December 21, 1961 issue of Down Beat magazine jazz critic Don DeMicheal commented: "Nelson's playing is like his writing: thoughtful, unhackneyed, and well constructed. Hubbard steals the solo honors with some of his best playing on record. Dolphy gets off some good solos too, his most interesting one on "Yearnin'."
The Jazz Journal International cited the album as "one of the essential post-bop recordings."
Other versions/Influences
The composition "Stolen Moments" has been recorded and performed by numerous musicians including Phil Woods, J.J. Johnson, Frank Zappa, Ahmad Jamal, Booker Ervin, the United Future Organization and the Turtle Island Quartet.
"Teenie's Blues" was used as a 2009 show-opener by Steely Dan.
The first eight bars of Oliver Nelson's solo on the bridge of "Hoe-Down" was quoted by Ernie Watts and Lee Ritenour in the song "Bullet Train" from their 1979 album Friendship.
In 2008 pianist Bill Cunliffe released the tribute album The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take 2, featuring new arrangements of the original pieces.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Oliver Nelson.- "Stolen Moments" – 8:46
- "Hoe-Down" – 4:43
- "Cascades" – 5:32
- "Yearnin'" – 6:24
- "Butch and Butch" – 4:35
- "Teenie's Blues" – 6:33
Musicians
Production
Songs
1Stolen Moments8:47
2Hoe-Down4:43
3Cascades5:31