Donald Byrd - Slow Drag (Blue Note Tone Poet 180g Gatefold Vinyl LP)

Donald Byrd - Slow Drag | Vinyl LP - Blue Note Tone Poet Series, all-analog 180g reissue (gatefold, Kevin Gray mastering)

By 1967 Donald Byrd, the Detroit trumpeter who had been one of Blue Note's most dependable leaders through the hard bop years, was near the end of his straight-ahead run, a few years before Black Byrd and the jazz-funk records that made him a star. Slow Drag catches him still in the older mode, cut at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in May 1967 with a strong quintet: Sonny Red on alto, Cedar Walton on piano, Walter Booker on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. It is hard bop with a relaxed, bluesy roll to it, soul-jazz around the edges. The title track stretches out over nine minutes on a slow, greasy groove, Sonny Red contributes the blues "Jelly Roll", and the ballads "Secret Love" and "My Ideal" let Byrd show off the warm, rounded tone he was known for. You can hear the music starting to loosen toward the modal and the funky, but it swings the whole way.

Byrd would soon leave hard bop behind almost entirely, and Slow Drag became one of the quieter gems near the end of that chapter, a favourite among Blue Note collectors precisely because it is less famous than his big sellers. This is the Blue Note Tone Poet edition, the audiophile reissue series overseen by Joe Harley. It is an all-analog pressing, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and housed in a heavyweight Stoughton gatefold jacket with Francis Wolff's session photographs and Nat Hentoff's original notes. It is about as good as this music has ever sounded at home.