Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' (1978 Japanese Pressing, Blue Note Vinyl LP)

Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' | Vinyl LP - 1978 Blue Note Japanese Pressing (GXK 8043 / BST 81588, King Records, includes obi and insert)

Sonny Clark recorded Cool Struttin' on January 5, 1958 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. It was his fifth Blue Note session as a leader in seven months. He was 26 years old and had already made Dial "S" for Sonny, Sonny's Crib and the Sonny Clark Trio album for the label, each one with different personnel. For this session Alfred Lion assembled a quintet from the top of the roster. Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones were Miles Davis's rhythm section, available for Blue Note dates between Davis engagements. Art Farmer had played on Dial "S" for Sonny the previous July. Jackie McLean, the same age as Clark, played alto saxophone with the slightly tart edge that set him apart from every other Bird-influenced altoist of his generation. Clark wrote the title track and "Blue Minor," two slow-to-medium pieces built on blues harmony that became standard jam session material. Miles Davis's "Sippin' At Bells" and Henderson and Vallee's "Deep Night" round out the four tracks. All four run between eight and ten minutes, long enough for everyone to solo at length, and the rhythm section holds a groove under each one that justifies the album's title.

Clark died on January 13, 1963 at the age of 31. He left behind eleven sessions as a leader for Blue Note and appeared as a sideman on dozens more. Reid Miles's cover design, built around Francis Wolff's photograph of Ruth Lion's legs walking down a city street, became one of the defining images of jazz, reproduced on posters, T-shirts and tote bags for decades. This is the 1978 Japanese pressing (GXK 8043 / BST 81588), manufactured by King Record Co. Ltd as part of the Blue Note Masterpiece Selection 150 series. It includes the original obi strip and a Japanese liner note insert by the critic Shoichi Yui. The original American liner notes are by Nat Hentoff.