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Duke Pearson
Duke Pearson was an American jazz pianist and composer. All Music Guide notes him as being a "big part in shaping the Blue Note label's hard bop direction in the 1960s as a producer.
Born Columbus Calvin Pearson, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia, Pearson first studied brass instruments at the early age of five, but dental issues forced him to pursue another instrument and he started to learn the piano. His budding talent moved his uncle to give him the nickname Duke, a reference to jazz legend Duke Ellington. He attended Clack College while also playing trumpet in groups in the Atlanta area before joining the United States Army in the early 1950s.
Pearson continued to perform with different ensembles in Georgia and Florida, including with Tab Smith and Little Willie John, before he moved to New York, New York in January of 1959. After moving to New York, Pearson gained the attention of Donald Byrd who saw Pearson performing with the the Art Farmer/Benny Golson Sextet (also known as Jazztet). Shortly afterwards, Byrd asked him to join his newly formed band, the Donald Byrd-Pepper Adams Quintet. Pearson was also the accompanist for Nancy Wilson on tour in 1961. During that same year, Pearson became ill before a Byrd-Adams show when and a newcomer named Herbie Hancock took over for him. This eventually led to Hancock taking over the position permanently.
On the 1963 Byrd album A New Perspective, Pearson arranged four tracks, including "Cristo Redentor", which became a big hit. The song, Pearson later commented, was inspired by a trip he took to Brazil while touring with Wilson. Also that year, after the death of Ike Quebec, Pearson took over his position as A&R man of Blue Note. From that year until 1970, Pearson was a frequent session musician and producer for numerous Blue Note albums while also recording his own albums as band leader. This was odd, since Pearson also recorded with his co-led big band with Byrd for Atlantic Records, a stipulation he made sure was in his Atlantic contract. The Byrd-Pearson band consisted of musicians such as Chick Corea, Pepper Adams, Randy Brecker, and Garrnet Brown; the latter three were members also of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band that played the same night club, The Village Vanguard, but on different nights. Between the two ensembles, the musicians performed at their own discretion.
Pearson eventually retired from his position with Blue Note in 1971 after personnel changes were made; co-founder Alfred Lion retired in 1967 after the label was sold to Liberty Records the previous year and co-founder Frank Wolff died in 1971. Pearson opted to teach at Clark College in ’71, toured with Carmen McRae and Joe Williams through 1973, and eventually reformed his big band during that time.
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Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions
by Scott Gudell
If an artist stamps his jazz passport with any one of these labels--Blue Note, Verve, Milestone--it's pretty much a guarantee that you've arrived in style. Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson has traveled with all three and more. The 2021 reissue from the prestigious Mosaic Records focuses on Henderson's 1960s tenure with Blue Note offers a new opportunity to experience an abundance of rich and creative jazz from the decade. Big band and bop were duking it out in the ...
read moreHank Mobley: The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-70
by C. Andrew Hovan
The music world has changed considerably since Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie founded their boutique reissue label Mosaic Records back in 1983. From its inception, vinyl was still the preferred format, shortly to be overtaken by the popularity of the compact disc. At the cusp of vinyl's recent resurgence, Mosaic briefly got back into that format only to find themselves on the brink of closing up shop. Fortunately, the powers that be have forged on and recent CD boxed sets ...
read moreBlue Note 50th Anniversaries: December 1968 & More
by Marc Cohn
Alrighty then. It's the first week of a new month. Our regulars know it's time for Blue Note 50th anniversary salutes. We've got three for you from Duke Pearson and the big band, Detroit pianist Kenny Cox, and Jack Wilson. Continuing a series we started at few months ago, we have BN-4, two sides of a 12-inch 78 from 1939. And then there's our chronological Sonny Rollins celebration with a session with Miles Davis and a handful of 21st century ...
read moreDuke Pearson: WAHOO!
by Greg Simmons
Duke Pearson occupied an unusual position within Blue Note Record's roster of artists. In addition to recording as both leader and sideman he also served as the label's A&R man, following in the footsteps of Ike Quebec. Pearson also served as the arranger on many albums, including sessions--Stanley Turrentine's Rough 'n' Tumble, comes to mind--where other pianists took over the keys. Pearson's own WAHOO! carries an exuberant title for what turns out to be a pretty laid back ...
read moreDuke Pearson: The Right Touch
by Hrayr Attarian
Don't judge a book by its cover the old saying goes, but how about judging a record by its title? Rarely a title is as appropriate for a recording as with pianist Duke Pearson's The Right Touch, recently reissued by Blue Note as part of the Rudy Van Gelder (RVG) Edition series.
The six tunes, all composed and arranged by Duke Pearson, burst with a creative vitality that is complex and accessible at the same time. The compositions are both ...
read moreDuke Pearson: Mosaic Select 8
by Colin Fleming
While even the most successful attempts at blending jazz with bossa nova rarely result in a form of musical expression that moves beyond the tendencies of either, here is a style that does just that--an exploratory music we can confidently term the innovations of Duke Pearson.
Compiled from the pianist's late sixties Blue Note sessions, with a few tracks from 1970 included, there is little in jazz that bears resemblance to what we encounter on these five studio ...
read moreMosaic Select 8: Duke Pearson
by C. Andrew Hovan
Duke Pearson Mosaic Select 8 Mosaic Records
In recent years artists such as Mike LeDonne and Jim Rotondi have brought to light the overwhelming lyrical gifts of composer Duke Pearson in their own recordings of some of his most memorable lines. Unfortunately, too much of Pearson's work lies just under the radar of your average jazz follower, a fact made all the more frustrating by circumstances that find very little of his catalog presently available on ...
read moreDuke Pearson: Merry Ole Soul
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
It's that time of yearwhen I pick my classic holiday jazz or pop album. The rules are simple: It has to be an old recording, it has to have escaped most people's radar, and it has to have retained a certain holiday charmnot too sappy and not too earnest. Just timeless fun that brings to mind crackling fireplaces, the smell of toasted marshmallows and the nip of snow. My 2012 pick? Duke Pearson's Merry Ole Soul. [Photo above of Duke ...
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Swingadelic Big Band Pays Tribute to Duke Pearson on "The Other Duke"
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Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
Swingadelic holds forth at Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ, on selected nights. A regular gig, some decent soloists and some good arrangers plying their craft on a regular basis can do wonders. We have the evidence of that in their tribute to Blue Note pianist, composer and A&R man, the late Duke Pearson, The Other Duke (Zoho 201107). It's a straightforward, straight-ahead little big band outing that features many of Duke's most familiar tunes plus a few related ones from the dusty ...
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Swingadelic - The Other Duke: Tribute to Duke Pearson (2011)
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Something Else!
Better known for helping shape the Blue Note Records hard bop sound as a producer in the 1960s, pianist Duke Pearson also led his own big band before succumbing to the ravages of multiple sclerosis at age 47. Pearson displayed an underrated flair for unconventional arranging in a setting that couldn't have been further from his dates with the likes of Donald Byrd, Grant Green and Bobby Hutcherson. These forgotten contributions are brilliantly explored on The Other Duke, to be ...
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Duke Pearson's Big Band: 1967
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The story of jazz is filled with behind-the-scenes guys who contributed mightily to the music but are little known today. One of these invisible hands was Duke Pearson. In addition to being a fine composer, hard bop pianist and Blue Note record producer, Pearson briefly led a compelling big band in the late 1960s. Top musicians like Lew Tabackin, Frank Foster, Pepper Adams, Benny Powell, Burt Collins, Bob Cranshaw and others were only too happy to be part of Pearson's ...
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Duke Pearson - Mosaic Select 8 + The Most Beautiful Jazz Christmas Album Ever!
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All About Jazz
Just in time for the Holiday's the good folks from Mosaic Records have released a great set, DUKE PEARSON - MOSAIC SELECT 8, that not only includes everything that Duke Pearson recorded for Blue Note, but also the long out-of-print Duke Pearson Christmas album Merry Ole Soul. This is simply one of my all-time favorite jazz Christmas recordings and one of the most beautiful jazz Christmas recordings ever! - Jim Eigo (Jazz Promo Services)
Duke Pearson: Merry Ole Soul
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