Description

1LP Vinyl – NEWLAND002

After recording for Blue Note as both a leader and noted sideman for seven years, Blue Mitchell recorded and released his self-titled debut for Bob Shad's Mainstream label in 1971. (The trumpeter had spent the last year of his BN contract not as a leader, but as a sideman on dates by Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, and Bobby Hutcherson). This date — also known as Soul Village — is somewhat of a retrenchment from the more R&B-infused sounds of 1969's underrated Collision in Black and Bantu Village (both produced by Monk Higgins), and featured his working live quintet with Jimmy Forrest on tenor, Walter Bishop, Jr. on piano and Fender Rhodes, bassist Larry Gales, and drummer Doug Sides. While the sound reflects more of his hard bop roots, it also engages readily with soul-jazz, too. As a whole, it offers evidence of a renewed creativity by Mitchell as composer — he wrote two tunes here — and soloist.