What?
There's something very precise and neat about Blue Note. Organised, sequential, all records kept and lined up. Oddities exist, like why the 1500 series morphed into the 4000 rather than continuing further into 1600...but that's for another day.
What is BLP1553?
BLP 1553 is the catalogue number of a Blue Note album that was just...never issued. There's nothing unique about that, but it is unusual and it makes a hole large enough to stuff all kinds of nonsense down.
Like this...
Quite...
Sounds ripe for an April Fool's
Funny you should mention that. Both the excellent Raggy Waltz and London Jazz Collector sites have done just that
So, any ideas?
Let's look at some possibilities:
1) A session was recorded but not issued
2) A session was planned but not even recorded
3) They just forgot about it
4) One of the 5000 series sessions would be reissued
1)
Not releasing some material wasn't entirely without precedent for Blue Note. 78 rpm 12" BN 52/53, 10" BN523, 529, 568/ Gig Gryce's BLP 5051, leased from Vogue, never made it, nor did BLP 7030.
So, some dates for sessions in sequence prior to and after BLP 1553.
BLP 1550 - recorded 3rd August 1957
BLP 1551/2 - recorded 12th and 13th August 1957
BLP 1553 - nope
BLP 1554/5 - recorded 3rd July 1957
BLP 1556 - recorded 11th and 13th February 1957
So, any sessions recorded in 1957 that never got released? K.B. Blues by Kenny Burrell was recorded in February, but not released until 1979.
2)
It's possible, of course, that this cat number was lined up for some other purpose. John Coltrane, for example, was a frequent visitor around this time, Blue Train being recorded in September of 1957 with guest appearances on releases by Johnny Griffin, Sonny Clark, and frequent accomplice Paul Chambers the year before. Cannonball Adderley, too would perform as a pseudonymous sideman and leader in the months ahead.
Also possible, though less likely by this point in their history, was a leased or purchased session. Here Comes Louis Smith was purchased from Transition, hence the latter day Donald Byrd/Doug Watkins/Kenny Dorham Transition LPs bearing some kind of Blue Note imprint.
Sessions may have included:
Jimmy Smith - No Pussy Blues
Art Blakey w/ L'il Anthony - Bang!
Herbie Nichols - Impenetrable
Horace Silver Quintet - Feelin's'
3)
Hmm, they just forgot about this one? A coffee stain on a ledger, the accidental oversight, the move swiftly past?
4)
To be poked at more on another day, but there were a lot of artists passing through Blue Note in the early- to mid- 1950s that never made it to the difficult second (or third) album.
Wade Legge
Fats Sadi
Elmo Hope
Wynton Kelly
Lou Mecca
George Wallington
Tal Farlow
Sal Salvador
Urbie Green
Julius Watkins
That's a large number of one-offs, poor sales, dropped artists. And in most cases, not even part of the future Blue Note repertory.
So?
Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff were running a rapidly expanding empire in 1957. As they did most of everything themselves, it's a remarkable feat that they were able to press and distribute so many extraordinary pieces of music. BLP 1553 will remain a mystery, and for now a cipher upon which we can hang our witless imaginings.
See Also:
The Happy Sounds of Charles Mingus at Hackensack - Solo Piano (Atlantic)
Alfred Lion - Al! - Showtunes (Blue Note / Tone Poet)
