Hackensack / Englewood

Ike Quebec - From Hackensack to Englewood Cliffs

Track Listing

1. A Light Reprieve
2. The Buzzard Lope
3. Blue Monday
4. Zonky
5. Later for the Rock
6. Sweet and Lovely
7. Dear John
8. Blue Friday
9. Cry Me a River
10. Uptight

Session Details

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, July 1, 1959

Ike Quebec, tenor sax; Edwin Swanston, organ; Skeeter Best, guitar; Sonny Wellesley, bass; Les Jenkins, drums.

tk.1 A Light Reprieve
tk.6 Blue Friday
tk.10 Zonky
tk.11 Blue Monday
tk.14 The Buzzard Lope
tk.16 Later For The Rock
tk.22 Sweet And Lovely
tk.23 Dear John

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, July 20, 1959
Ike Quebec, tenor sax; Edwin Swanston, organ; Skeeter Best, guitar; Sonny Wellesley, bass; Les Jenkins, drums.

tk.8 Uptight
tk.12 Cry Me A River
Latin Strain (incomplete)

--------------------------------------------

"Hello?  Hello, Lou?"

    "Hello, this is Ike Quebec speaking."

(pause) "Ike, how are you? This is Rudy."

    "Thank you Rudy, I am well. What problem can I solve?"

"Wait, Lou, Ike. I built this new telephone, it has no wires. I call it a telegon". Amazing, I'm all the way in the stre........."

"Hello?  Hello, Lou?"

    "Hello, this is Ike Quebec speaking."

"Ike, are you working? This is Rudy Van Gelder. I need you to do something for me."

    "Yes, Rudy....."

"Ike, I'm moving my home and my studio and I want to record something so I can tell the difference between the sound in each. Ike, are you playing?"

    "Sure, I'm playing, but a little rusty..."

"That's great. Just come over Wednesday, we'll sort it all out. Bring your band, also, if you have one."

    "Who's paying for this date, Rudy?"

"Just think of it as an experiment, Ike. I'll play it for Alfred once you're done, I'm sure he'll put it out. People have missed you."

                                                                      

"Who's there?"

    "Rudy, it's me, Ike. I'm here for the session."

"Ike, it's late. And you were due here yesterday."

    "I went to your old place and lost your new address, and you're kind of hard to find in here."

"Ok Ike, you and the boys can come in, but we only have time for a couple of tunes. And a lot of the equipment is there is new, or not tested, so you do not touch"

                                                                      

That session was finally released in Japan in 1999. In the liner notes to that release, Michael Cuscuna writes:

"Fittingly it was Ike's sessions that closed the Hackensack chapter of the Van Gelder Studio and opened the Englewood Cliffs chapter for Blue Note. The two tunes recorded on July 20 were probably more of an experimental session for Lion, Francis Wolff and Ike to get accustomed to Rudy Van Gelder's new studio. The change was considerable. The Hackensack studio centered around the living room of Rudy's parents home. The Englewood Cliffs facility was a spacious studio with walls of custom-made masonry blocks and a high, wooden cathedral ceiling, specifically designed by Van Gelder for recording.

Also well worth a read is this by Aaron Gilbreath, a really nice reconstruction of Ike's redemption.