35220

Duke Pearson - I Don't Care Who Knows It

Released - 1996/2018

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, June 24, 1968
Jerry Dodgion, flute, alto flute; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes; Duke Pearson, piano, arranger; Sam Brown, acoustic guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Mickey Roker, drums.

3053 tk.30 Theme From "Rosemary's Baby"

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, May 5, 1969
Duke Pearson, piano; Dorio Ferreira, guitar, percussion; Bebeto Jose Souza, bass; Mickey Roker, drums; Airto Moreira, percussion; Flora Pulim, vocals.

6202 tk.29 Upa Neguinho

A&R Studios, NYC, October 3, 1969
Burt Collins, trumpet; Al Gibbons, flute; Jerry Dodgion, alto sax; Frank Foster, tenor sax; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes; Duke Pearson, piano, electric piano; Al Gafa, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Mickey Roker, drums; Airto Moreira, percussion, vocals; Stella Mars, vocals.

5220-5 Once I Loved (O Amor Em Paz)
5221-5 Xibaba

A&R Studios, NYC, November 21, 1969
Burt Collins, trumpet; Al Gibbons, flute; Jerry Dodgion, alto sax; Lew Tabackin, tenor sax; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes; Duke Pearson, electric piano; Ralph Towner, guitar; Wally Richardson, electric guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Mickey Roker, drums; Airto Moreira, percussion.

5566-9 Dialogo
5567-1 Captain Bacardis
5568-5 I Don't Know

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 13, 1970
Burt Collins, trumpet; Kenny Rupp, trombone; Jerry Dodgion, alto sax, alto flute; Lew Tabackin, tenor sax, flute; Frank Foster, tenor sax, contra-alto clarinet; Duke Pearson, piano, electric piano; Ron Carter, bass; Mickey Roker, drums; Andy Bey, vocals #1.

5921 tk.2 I Don't Care Who Knows It
5922 tk.6 Canto Ossanha
5923 tk.15 A Beautiful Friendship
5925 tk.33 Bloos
5926 tk.36 Horn In

Session Photos

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
I Don't Care Who Knows It	Buddy Johnson	February 13 1970
Bloos	Duke Pearson	February 13 1970
A Beautiful Friendship	Stanley Styne/Donald Kahn	February 13 1970
Side Two
Horn In	Frank Foster	February 13 1970
Canto Ossanha	Baden Powell/Vinicius de Moraes	February 13 1970
Xibaba	Airto Moreira	October 3 1969
Side Three
I Don't Know	Airto Moreira	November 21 1969
O Amor En Paz (Once I Loved)	Antonio Carlos Jobim/ Vinicius de Moraes	October 3 1969
Upa Neguinho	Eduardo Lobo/ GianFrancesco Guarnieri	May 5 1969
Side Four
Captain Bacardi	Antonio Carlos Jobim	November 21 1969
Theme From Rosemary's Baby	Christopher Komeda	June 24 1968
Dialogo	Duke Pearson	November 21 1969

Liner Notes

Columbus Calvin Pearson, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on August 17, 1932. A jazz-loving uncle nicknamed him Duke after Ellington, of course. During the next four decades, he'd earn the nickname daily. A natural musician, Duke learned the piano from his mother and went on to master the bass, the trumpet and various other brass instruments before entering high school.

Throughout high school, college and an army stint that brought him into contact with trumpeter Louis Smith and pianist Phineas Newborn and Wynton Kelly, he concentrated on trumpet. When he returned to Atlanta, he was so inspired by his exposure to Wynton Kelly that he returned to the piano.

A major force on the Atlanta scene, he was constantly encouraged to try his luck in the Big Apple. Finally, in 1959, he took the big step. But at that time, the musicians union had all too strong a foothold on the music scene. Someone from another city had to wait three months before getting a union card that would only allow work on a limited basis. Duke was forced to take a job peddling religious books while barely competent barbers and bank tellers got the union gigs. After jumping through hoops and dodging trap doors, he finally got the union's blessing to pursue the right to make a living.

That October, he joined Donald Byrd's quintet with Pepper Adams. Byrd's eye for talent is uncanny, and he quickly gave Duke an opportunity to contribute originals and arrangements to the group. Blue Note's Alfred Lion heard what Byrd heard and signed Pearson as an artist in his own right. (Two years later, Byrd would hire a young Chicago pianist named Herbie Hancock to replace Duke and Lion astutely followed suit.)

Duke's extraordinary talents as a composer and arranger first came to the forefront on Donald Byrd's A New Perspective, recorded in 1963 featuring a jazz septet and vocal choir. Duke arranged all the music and contributed two haunting, gospel-tinged tunes, Chant and Christo Redentor, named after the gigantic statue of Christ on a mountain overlooking Rio De Janiero, Brazil had already made its first impression on this musical mind.

Upon tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec's death in 1962, Duke Pearson was hired by Alfred Lion as Blue Note's resident A & R man, co-producer and all-around musical fixer. Aside from leading his own dates like Wahoo, Sweet Honey Bee, and The Right Touch, he also lent his skills as pianist, composer and organizer to countless sessions.

In the late forties and early fifties, as jazz was evolving into R & B and ultimately rock 'n roll, there were a handful of craftsmen who could voice four or five horns to sound like a big band. This tradition was carried back into jazz by Ray Charles and Hank Crawford in the late fifties and by Oliver Nelson and Pearson in the sixties.

Besides his own sextet and septet dates, Pearson created wonderfully soulful and intelligent charts for such Blue Note artists as Johnny Coles, Lou Donaldson, Hank Mobley and Stanley Turrentine. Duke was fast and creative with a pen.

Gospel music and funk were a part of Duke Pearson's music from the start. But in a series of sessions with Stanley Turrentine in 1967 his interest in Brazilian music began to show itself by his choice of material. At the time however, his own artistic focus was his big band, which he recorded twice for Blue Note.

By 1969, Duke had come into contact with many authentic Brazilian musicians, including drummer/percussionist/vocalist Airto Moreira and pianist/flutist/vocalist Hermeto Pascoal. His recording career took a more lyrical direction. Albums like The Phantom, How Insensitive and It Could Happen To You are heavily flavored with Latin and Brazilian rhythms and melodies.

This collection of previously unissued performances is drawn primarily from Duke's second-to-last Blue Note session on February 13, 1970, which shows both sides of his musical nature. On one hand, Andy Bey is belting out a backbeat-driven Buddy Johnson tune. On the other, Duke is scoring Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell's haunting Canto Ossanha for alto flute and alto clarinet. From October, 1969, on his own Xibaba (Brazilian slang for marijuana), Airto is wailing with both his voice and hands. Soul music from another part of the world.

Pianist, composer, arranger, producer, talent scout and trend setter, Duke Pearson is one of those whose talents are so pervasive that the artist becomes almost invisible in the face of his vision and contributions. Let's remember.

— Michael Cuscuna, 1995