1961 studio album by Oliver Nelson
The Blues and the Abstract Truth is an album by American composer and
jazz saxophonist
Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961 for the
Impulse! label. 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.
[8] The album is often noted for its unique ensemble
arrangements
[9]
[10] and is frequently identified as a progenitor of Nelson's move towards arranging later in his career.
[11]
Music
Among the pieces on the album, "
Stolen Moments " is the best known and has become a
jazz standard : a 16-bar piece with solos in a conventional 12-bar
minor blues structure in
C minor . "Hoe-Down", inspired by the fourth section of
Aaron Copland's
Rodeo , is built on a 44-bar structure (with 32-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).
[8]
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
DownBeat 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' ".
[3]
The
Jazz Journal International cited the album as "one of the essential post-bop recordings."
[2]
It was voted number 333 in the third edition of
Colin Larkin 's
All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).
[12]
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 . The first eight bars of Nelson's solo on the bridge of "Hoe-Down" were quoted by
Ernie Watts and
Lee Ritenour in the song "Bullet Train" from their 1979 album Friendship .
[13] "Teenie's Blues" was used as a 2009 show-opener by
Steely Dan .
[14]
In 2008 pianist
Bill Cunliffe released the tribute album
The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take 2 , featuring new arrangements of the original pieces.
Jews and the Abstract Truth was the debut album by experimental
klezmer band
Hasidic New Wave (whose members included improvisers trumpeter
Frank London and saxophonist Greg Wall), released on
Knitting Factory in 1996.
[15]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Oliver Nelson.
Side one Title Order of solos 1. "
Stolen Moments " Hubbard, Dolphy, Nelson, Evans 8:47 2. "Hoe-Down" Hubbard, Dolphy, Nelson, Haynes 4:43 3. "Cascades" Hubbard, Evans 5:32
Side two Title Order of solos 1. "Yearnin' " Dolphy, Hubbard, Evans 6:24 2. "Butch and Butch" Nelson, Hubbard, Dolphy, Evans 4:35 3. "Teenie's Blues" Dolphy, Nelson, Evans, Chambers 6:33
Personnel
Production
Charts
References
^ Khan, Ashley (2007).
The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records . W. W. Norton & Company. p. 44.
ISBN
9780393330717 .
^
a
b Palmer, Richard (1990). "The Nelson Touch".
Jazz Journal International . London: 10.
^
a
b
DownBeat : December 21, 1961, Vol. 28, No. 26.
^ Nastos, Michael G. "The Blues and the Abstract Truth: review"
AllMusic. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985).
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.
151 .
ISBN
0-394-72643-X .
^
Larkin, Colin (2007).
Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.).
Oxford University Press .
ISBN
978-0195313734 .
^
Cook, Richard ;
Morton, Brian (2008).
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.).
Penguin . p. 1070.
ISBN
978-0-141-03401-0 .
^
a
b Oliver E. Nelson: Liner notes from Impulse! A-5, March 1961.
^
"Hard Bop Heaven: Oliver Nelson - "The Blues And The Abstract Truth" . The Jazz Record . jazzrecord.com. 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2020 .
^ Shadwick, Keith (2007).
"Oliver Nelson - The Blues & The Abstract Truth" . Jazzwise Magazine . Mark Allen Group. Retrieved October 2, 2020 .
^ The Music Aficionado (2018).
"The Blues and the Abstract Truth, by Oliver Nelson" . The Music Aficionado: Quality articles about the golden age of music . The Music Aficionado Blog. Retrieved October 2, 2020 .
^
Colin Larkin , ed. (2006).
All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.).
Virgin Books . p. 134.
ISBN
0-7535-0493-6 .
^ Electra Records album number 6E-241.
^ Rob Tannenbaum (August 4, 2009).
"Tasty! Steely Dan Brings the Guitar Solos, Male Ponytails" . vulture.com. Retrieved January 5, 2014 .
^
"Hasidic New Wave, Jews and the Abstract Truth " . allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 April 2022 . Jews and the Abstract Truth may owe little to Oliver Nelson, but it is a fine recording and an excellent introduction to the genre.
^
"Offiziellecharts.de – Oliver Nelson – The Blues and the Abstract Truth" (in German).
GfK Entertainment Charts . Retrieved July 9, 2021.
^
"Swisscharts.com – Oliver Nelson – The Blues and the Abstract Truth" . Hung Medien. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
External links
Years given are for the recording(s), including the soundtrack albums, not first release.
Albums as leader or co-leader
Open Sesame (1960)
Goin' Up (1960)
Hub Cap (1961)
Minor Mishap /
Dedication! (Hubbard/
Duke Pearson , 1961)
Ready for Freddie (1961)
The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard (1962)
Hub-Tones (1962)
Here to Stay (1962)
The Body & the Soul (1963)
Breaking Point! (1964)
Jam Gems: Live at the Left Bank (with
Jimmy Heath , 1965)
The Night of the Cookers (1965)
Blue Spirits (1965–66)
Backlash (1966)
High Blues Pressure (1967)
A Soul Experiment (1968–69)
The Black Angel (1969)
The Hub of Hubbard (1970)
Red Clay (1970)
Straight Life (1970)
Sing Me a Song of Songmy (with
İlhan Mimaroğlu , 1970)
First Light (1971)
Polar AC (1971–73)
Sky Dive (1972)
Keep Your Soul Together (1973)
Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine in Concert Volume One (1973)
In Concert Volume Two (with
Stanley Turrentine , 1974)
High Energy (1974)
Gleam (1975)
Liquid Love (1975)
Windjammer (1976)
Bundle of Joy (1977)
Super Blue (1978)
The Love Connection (1979)
Skagly (1979)
Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 1980 (1980)
The Alternate Blues (with
Clark Terry ,
Dizzy Gillespie &
Oscar Peterson , 1980)
The Trumpet Summit Meets the Oscar Peterson Big 4 (with Terry, Gillespie & Peterson, 1980)
Born to Be Blue (1981)
Keystone Bop: Sunday Night (1981)
Outpost (1981)
Rollin' (1981)
Splash (1981)
Above & Beyond (1982)
Back to Birdland (1982)
Face to Face (with Oscar Peterson, 1982)
Ride Like the Wind (1982)
The Rose Tattoo (1983)
Sweet Return (1983)
Double Take (with
Woody Shaw , 1985)
Life Flight (1987)
The Eternal Triangle (with Woody Shaw, 1987)
Feel the Wind (with
Art Blakey , 1988)
Times Are Changing (1989)
Topsy – Standard Book (1989)
Bolivia (1990–91)
At Jazz Jamboree Warszawa '91: A Tribute to Miles (1991)
Live at Fat Tuesday's (1991)
Blues for Miles (1992)
MMTC: Monk, Miles, Trane & Cannon (1994–95)
New Colors (2000)
On the Real Side (2007)
With
Art Blakey /
The Jazz Messengers With
Dexter Gordon With
Herbie Hancock With
Bobby Hutcherson With
Quincy Jones With
Wayne Shorter With others
The Soul of the City (
Manny Albam , 1966)
The Other Side of Abbey Road (
George Benson , 1969)
Out of This World (
Walter Benton , 1960)
True Blue (
Tina Brooks , 1960)
God Bless the Child (
Kenny Burrell , 1971)
Cables' Vision (
George Cables , 1979)
Droppin' Things (
Betty Carter , 1990)
Free Jazz (
Ornette Coleman , 1960)
Olé Coltrane (
John Coltrane , 1961)
Africa/Brass (John Coltrane, 1961)
Ascension (John Coltrane, 1965)
Muses for Richard Davis (1969)
Outward Bound (
Eric Dolphy , 1960)
Out to Lunch! (Eric Dolphy, 1964)
Undercurrent (
Kenny Drew , 1960)
Leaving This Planet (
Charles Earland , 1973)
Booker 'n' Brass (
Booker Ervin , 1967)
Interplay (
Bill Evans , 1962)
Sonic Text (
Joe Farrell , 1979)
Boss of the Soul-Stream Trombone (
Curtis Fuller , 1960)
Soul Trombone (Curtis Fuller, 1961)
Cabin in the Sky (Curtis Fuller, 1962)
Take a Number from 1 to 10 (
Benny Golson , 1961)
Pop + Jazz = Swing (Benny Golson, 1962)
Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty (1959)
Sister Salvation (
Slide Hampton , 1960)
Drum Suite (Slide Hampton, 1962)
The Quota (
Jimmy Heath , 1961)
Triple Threat (Jimmy Heath, 1962)
Big Band (
Joe Henderson , 1996)
Pax (
Andrew Hill , 1965)
Compulsion (Andrew Hill, 1965)
Sunflower (
Milt Jackson , 1972)
Goodbye (Milt Jackson, 1973)
52nd Street (
Billy Joel , 1978)
Reg Strikes Back (
Elton John , 1988)
J.J. Inc. (
J.J. Johnson , 1960)
Echoes of an Era (
Chaka Khan , 1982)
Essence (
John Lewis , 1960–62)
Water Sign (
Jeff Lorber , 1979)
Doin' the Thang! (
Ronnie Mathews , 1963)
Bluesnik (
Jackie McLean , 1961)
MJQ & Friends: A 40th Anniversary Celebration (
Modern Jazz Quartet , 1994)
Fingerpickin' (
Wes Montgomery , 1958)
Roll Call (
Hank Mobley , 1960)
The Blues and the Abstract Truth (
Oliver Nelson , 1961)
Sweet Honey Bee (
Duke Pearson , 1966)
The Right Touch (Duke Pearson, 1967)
Contours (
Sam Rivers , 1965)
Drums Unlimited (
Max Roach , 1965)
East Broadway Run Down (
Sonny Rollins , 1966)
Numbers (
Rufus , 1978)
Once a Thief and Other Themes (
Lalo Schifrin , 1965)
Giant Box (
Don Sebesky , 1973)
Sugar (
Stanley Turrentine , 1970)
Together (
McCoy Tyner , 1978)
Quartets 4 X 4 (McCoy Tyner, 1980)
Soundscapes (
Cedar Walton , 1980)
Uhuru Afrika (
Randy Weston , 1960)
Blue Moses (Randy Weston, 1972)