Horace Parlan Quintet - Speakin' My Piece (2023 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series Vinyl LP)

Horace Parlan Quintet - Speakin' My Piece | Vinyl LP - 2023 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series 180g (4859550, Kevin Gray/Cohearent Audio, Optimal Media GmbH)

Horace Parlan had spent 1959 inside Charles Mingus's band, appearing on Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots. By 1960 he was leading his own Blue Note dates. Speakin' My Piece, his third for the label, brought in Tommy and Stanley Turrentine on trumpet and tenor — brothers from Pittsburgh, where Parlan had grown up. Alfred Lion produced; Rudy Van Gelder engineered.

Six tracks, each running between six and eight minutes. Three are Parlan originals: "Wadin'," "Up in Cynthia's Room" and the title track. "Borderline" is by Stanley Turrentine; "Rastus" by Tommy. "Oh So Blue," the ballad that anchors Side B, is by Leon Mitchell. The register throughout stays unhurried and blues-grounded. Parlan had limited mobility in his right hand from childhood polio, and it shaped his playing into something economical and direct — heavy on left-hand figures, with the right used precisely where it lands hardest. Stanley Turrentine's large tone fills the space Parlan's piano opens up. Tommy's trumpet is harder-edged. George Tucker on bass and Al Harewood on drums hold everything steady.

Kevin Gray mastered this Classic Vinyl Series edition at Cohearent Audio from the original analog master tapes; Optimal pressed on 180g vinyl in Germany.