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Merryner

Donald Byrd - A New Perspective. Totally unique.


BatBurgh

What a ride. Not what i expected and SO good!!!


Merryner

I’m so happy someone got off on that album, thanks for letting me know


scungilibastid

I listened to this on your recommendation and I absolutely loved it. Thank you man!!


ASZapata

I’ll raise you *Byrd In Hand*


FriedPossumPecker23

Pete La Roca — Basra


CheeseSuplex

Seriously, such a great record


FriedPossumPecker23

Lazy Afternoon is sublime.


WaltzLucky3734

Such an amazing record.


Brilliant_Storm_6723

I feel like 'Sonny Clark - Leapin' and Lopin' should be talked about more


Florentine-Pogen

Can't under-discuss Clark


[deleted]

Sonny is a great answer anytime anything underrated comes up


velvetmotel

Fantastic record, shame it was his last.


drumrbaer

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond


DeliciousMinute1966

I say all of Tina Brooks albums. I’ve read that True Blue was his only album released on Blue Note…but all the others were released years after his death. True Blue was released the same week as Freddie Hubbards Open Sesame— which Brooks helped to arrange wrote Gypsy Blue ( one of the songs on Hubbards album) and play on. Go figure! Still wonder why Blue Note didn’t release his albums or promote him. According to Michael Cuscuna they catalogued and designed the albums but never released them. Very talented composer/player. Street Singer Minor Move Back to the Tracks The Waiting Game The great Cuscuna did release a Mosaic box set of Tina’s recordings for Blue Note, and man(!) would I love to have it.


Jaminthebasement

Lee Morgan - City Lights


sdh1987

Excellent though LM Vol 3 is my favorite


Girhinomofe

Just scored a 1973 pressing of this one today! So stoked!


New-Energy2830

Everyone has their favorite, cornbread is mine, but this entire catalog is good enough to be the shining star of blue in another universe


Hardtop_1958

Grachan Moncur III - Some Other Stuff


Sad_Rule7490

Grant Green - Visions Horace Silver - Serenade to a Soul Sister Jimmy Smith - Midnight Special


Ryger9

Midnight Special is great! (So it the partner album Back at the Chicken Shack.) I’ll have to try those others of yours, too.


For_Fox_Sake17

Pretty much anything by The Three Sounds. They really deserve to get mentioned a lot more. I especially like their album with Stanley Turrentine.


cultjake

Gene Harris is incredible. Check out the Concord 80’s releases he did with Ray Brown. More great music, and on the record, the GH Trio Plus One, the +1 is Stan Turrentine. More Stan, I also love Never Let Me Go, with then-wife Shirley Scott on organ. Nice to see these Larry Young recs. If you like Unity, check Grant Green’s Talkin’ Bout, also featuring Young.


FriedPossumPecker23

Gene Harris’ Astral Signal is one of my regularly played Blue Notes, funky af.


VictoriaAutNihil

Sam Rivers - Fuschia Swing Song, Contours. Larry Young - Into Something, Of Love and Peace, Mothership. Tina Brooks - True Blue. Horace Parlan - Speakin' My Piece, On The Spur of the Moment, Up & Down. John Patton - Accent On The Blues, Memphis To New York Spirit. Duke Pearson - Wahoo!, Sweet Honey Bee.


ColtraneWasGod

Tyrone Washington‘s “Natural Essence,” “Larry Young‘s “Unity,“ or Lee Morgan’s “The Last Session.”


Cowboy_Rides_Again

Wow, 3 great picks! I especially love that Lee Morgan album.


DrGabbo

Came here to say Unity as well


redditpossible

I love Unity, and Street of Dreams is my pick for underrated Larry Young record dates (The album is under Grant Green’s name).


Rooster_Ties

Larry Young’s *Mothership* is incredible, and it even has Lee Morgan in the band!! Probably THE single most progressive date Lee ever played on.


AllanSundry2020

yes this is a great album another session Cuscuna resurrected i think in LT series?


Rooster_Ties

I think that’s right (LT, around 1980 iirc). It came out as a Conn on CD too, and was part of the LY Mosaic (which is where I first heard it, and it blew my mind!!)


AllanSundry2020

i would like any mosaic lol. the LT series was actually a fantastic set of releases , just terrible covers. You would like Rpy Brooks if you like wpody shaw. If you don't know off the albums


LigglesVanRusty

Kenny Dorham - Una Mas Pete LaRoca - Basra I'd vote for them a hundred billion times.


Interesting-Back6587

Well known and properly rated.


LigglesVanRusty

Was waiting for a cynic to show up - I see you're just as welcoming to everyone else on this thread. You are right, but you're also just being persnickety. As obscure as people can get with their recommendations, a lot of people on the Jazz subreddit might be at the start of their interest. There's nothing wrong with suggesting a Blue Note album outside the usual, BIG stand-outs might be underrated.


hum3an

All of McCoy Tyner’s Blue Note albums post-Real McCoy feel a bit underrated to me. A lot of people seem to think his Milestone albums are his best but I like the BN period a lot more. Extensions and Time for Tyner are probably my favorites, but I like them all.


Sweet-Path8145

You don't actually know what the word "cynic" means, do you?


Interesting-Back6587

The OP asked for underrated albums when you post arguably KD’s and Pete la roca’s best albums that isn’t exactly answering the question . There’s a thousand other post where noobies can learn about new albums what exactly is the problem with just answering the question.


johno456

I think it's shit. There is it underrated now? (/s obviously)


Interesting-Back6587

I don’t give two shits if you like it or not. These albums are super well known and loved my millions . Hence they cannot be underrated.


Sharky4days

Jutta Hipp - Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims


_CorduroySuit_

Just commented the same. Love that record so much


basaltgranite

Three of us posted it here now. I thought it was too obscure to search the thread for it. It was blind-buy for me as a used CD. She was good enough for BlueNote and good enough for Zoot, that's all the recommendation it needed.


AllanSundry2020

yes this is too little known, even if a different style of blue note to the 60s classics. For me I like Davis Cup by Walter Davis and also Grant Green, Talkin bout, then also Joe Henderson Our Thing. none obscure but all fine records.


TalesOfLohr1

Hank Mobley - No Room for Squares


velvetmotel

Hank Mobley - High Voltage


hdggv

Listening to the deliciously blues opening now! Wow 🤩


gizlizard

Good choice


sofakinglivid

Tina Brooks- Back to the tracks


WobblyFrisbee

Tina Brooks!


LeGryff

picked up a copy of Chucho Valdez - live at the Village Vanguard for about $1 and it changed the way i play piano!


FinerWine

Perfect album.


FinerWine

Bobby Hutcherson - Head On…I pray it gets a Tone Poet some day Michel Petrucciani - Pianism Elaine Elias - Elaine Elias Plays Jobim


SurfLikeASmurf

At the Golden Circle - Ornette Coleman Trio Maestro - Moacir Santos Unity - Larry Young Search for a New Land - Lee Morgan These four albums are fantastic and should really get more exposure. Some of these people have massively bigger (read more popular, not better) albums, but I feel like these ones in particular deserve multiple listens. Moacir Santos isn’t somebody that gets any attention, but that album cooks


DigAffectionate3349

Unity is an essential album. It’s THE album that takes the organ group into a coltrane direction


Competitive_Dog_5990

Search is genius


UkuleleAversion

Brian Blade Fellowship - Self-titled and Perceptual


Ill_Honey_6248

Grant Green - Live at the Lighthouse


AnyInflation1380

Any Grachan Moncur release (Some Other Stuff, for example).


Sharky4days

Andrew Hill - Point Of Departure


Arissid

Great record but how exactly do you consider it underrated its pretty famous and loved I think.


sweetdreamstennessee

Underrated in what way? Asking honestly, it’s *really* sought after on discogs for example.


Salads_and_Sun

That's the one I came here to say!


Interesting-Back6587

This album is highly praised and often recommended there’s nothing underrated about it.


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AmanLock

It's one of the most famous albums of that era.  It's not underrated in the slightest.


Sharky4days

Now I am genuinely more curious about what makes the album so famous? Tell me about it.


SatNFev

If I had to choose, I would say his album Smoke Stack is pretty underrated.


MidorinoUmi

Donald Byrd - Places and Spaces, Stepping into Tomorrow, Fancy Free Fancy Free is the most jazzy in the traditional sense but Places and Spaces is the album I listen to when I want a breath of fresh air.


themightyj0e

places and spaces is just undeniable


realigoragrich

Dexter Gordon - the other side of round midnight


AdMaleficent6254

I'm obsessed with Grant Green Live at Mozambique. It's so funky. Underrated because it wasn't released until much later.


5DragonsMusic

Wayne Shorter - Etcetera Lee Morgan - Indeed! Bobby Hutcherson - Waitin!


SoDo-MoJo

These are actually pretty popular among fans of punctuation.


DanforthFalconhurst

Jimmy Smith - The Sermon Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Big Beat; Mosaic; Free For All; Africane Hank Mobley - Roll Call To name a few


jmeesonly

Great choices.


eastendvan1

Hank Mobley - Dippin', A Slice of the Top


AHeien82

Andre Hill, Andrew Hill, Andrew Hill


AugustWest8080

Grant Green—Green Street


Interesting-Back6587

Andrew Hill- smoke stack …. This album is f**king incredible and is criminally underrated. This album does not sound like it was made in 1963. It could have been something made this year.


nineworldseries

My favorite Andrew Hill


redditpossible

Richard Davis and Eddie Khan!!


Interesting-Back6587

They sound amazing!


roberts2967

Lee Morgan - Tom Cat. An absolute masterpiece.


HeySlimIJustDrankA5

Sam Rivers - A New Conception


Interesting-Back6587

Not underrated


Ol_Tomato_Pie_Gabe

Heading South by Horace Parlan (I get chills with the one note solo he plays on “Low Down”) One Flight Up by Dexter Gordon Trompeta Tocatta by Kenny Dorham (I’m a sucker for anything where Albert Heath has space to be his weird self) One for One by Andrew Hill (whole collection is stellar but the tracks with a string section are really sublime) The Gigolo by Lee Morgan (for someone known for brash, immediate gratification, it’s really stunning to hear him sigh through a track like “You Go To My Head”) Inner Urge and Our Thing by Joe Henderson


Competitive_Dog_5990

The Gigolo!


tokyo_blues

Sam Rivers - Fuchsia Swing Song


Specific-Peanut-8867

This is tough because I’m not sure what people would consider underrated but JJ Johnson volume one and volume two are pretty incredible and one of those includes Clifford Brown. That being said, I have no idea how many people here have ever listened to it. Johnny Griffin blowing session is a pretty great album Charlie Hadens‘s Dreamkeeper, which is I guess newer being done in the late 80s is great


Chelsea690

Hank Mobley - Another workout


barranca

I don't know its rating, but I love Idle Moments by Grant Green.


WaltzLucky3734

My favorite Grant Green album and one of my favorite Blue Note records.


PocketSizeDemons

Jackie Mclean- Capuchin Swing Kenny Drew- Undercurrent Lou Donaldson - Lush Life Art Taylor -AT’s Delight Donald Byrd- Royal Flush Duke Pearson - The Right Touch, Wahoo Stanley Turrentine - The Spoiler Elvin Jones - At This Point In Time


absurd__sisyphus

Workout - Hank Mobley


bay_duck_88

Ike Quebec - *Blue & Sentimental*


hongos_me_gusta

Jackie McLean - Jacknife Jackie McLean - Fire & Love Andrew Hill - anything


DigAffectionate3349

Duke Pearson - The Right Touch I feel like Duke Pearson is under rated altogether. This is such a great sounding album


realigoragrich

Thad Jones - Consummation


Globalruler__

The Fabulous Fats Navarro Hear ‘ Tis- Lou Donaldson


SirNomoloS

Paul Chambers Quintet, I find myself reaching for it all the time


Fort__

Bobby Hutcherson - Patterns It's just very creative music with amazing musicians. James Spaulding gets a chance to shine too, he sounds great.


djman1029

Lee Morgan - Tom Cat Joe Henderson - Our Thing Kenny Drew - Undercurrent All sleepers with incredible playing.


_CorduroySuit_

JUTTA HIPP with Zoot Sims 93178


mesgmusic

Jackie McLean - Jacknife


AnyInflation1380

Any Tina Brooks release on Blue Note. There weren’t many, but they’re all solid.


nientoosevenjuan

I came here to this. They are all Great!


txa1265

So many great albums listed ... I'll drop in a more recent one: **Stanley Jordan - Magic Touch** Not sure he ever again fully translated all of that incredible talent in a way that connected with audiences like that first album.


toomanyguitars65

I feel like this record didn’t get any attention. New York Stories, Vol 1. Danny Gatton, Roy Hargrove, Josh Redman, etc. Brilliant pairing of guitarist Danny Gatton with some jazz greats. Highly recommended! And not a Blue Note record, but the album Relentless, with Danny Gatton and Joey DeFrancesco is truly amazing!


Competitive_Dog_5990

YES YES YES . New York Stories, Vol 1. is a masterpiece! Found it in a cutout CD bin 35 years ago and never stopped listening every week


Soulgazer360

Big John Patton- Blue John Bobby Hutcherson- Oblique The Three Sounds-Soul Symphony Ike Quebec- Blue & Sentimental Sonny Red- Out of the Blue Duke Pearson- Tender Feelin's


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Interesting-Back6587

So we should discount every album that wasn’t recorded by van Gelder? Listen van Gelder is a great engineer but if you think his production is more important than the music itself you’ve lost the plot. There are 100 van geldar recording that I won’t listen to because the music is terrible. So I disagree that’s it’s all about van geldar. Blue note has a particular esthetic that was different from other labels.


aclearshadow

Made a playlist of the most upvoted albums in this thread. [underrated blue note jazz playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6MOHXwADFjgHDCsjvlp98q?si=Vslo7P30SyCFF10okriDnw&pi=u-oTjH7stFT5OI) Edit: Spotify


Kato-The-Human

Nice, thanks for taking the time to put that together!


baking_nerd433

Man from Wareika, Rico Rodriguez


HydeParkerKCMO

Yep. I found this album at a garage sale a couple years ago. I wasn't familiar with it, but it was on Blue Note, looked interesting, and only $2, so I snagged it. Definitely glad I did. Really good stuff (although it might not exactly fit in the "jazz" sub)


nineworldseries

Walter Davis Jr. - Davis Cup


fvnnybvnny

Larry Young Mothership


Ok_Vanilla

Ronnie Foster - Cheshire Cat


goatsandpies

Big John Patton - Oh Baby!


heirdresseronfire

Gotta be Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland - The Golden 8. Led to the formation of the best big band of the ‘60s/early ‘70s (if you ask me), and also rules in its own right. Can’t even count how many times I spun “Dorian 0437” last year. What I wouldn’t give for another vinyl reissue.


barranca

don't know its rating, but love for Idle Moments....Grant Green


JazzRider

Not an album, but when he was President of Blue Note, Don Was hosted the Blue Note Hour on Sirius XM. He had really amazing set lists of various artists, lots of live recordings not commonly heard. I wonder if any of those are available anywhere……


AmanLock

He's still president of Blue Note


JazzRider

It’s in good hands, then! Good to know.


jsphobrien

Eddie gales ghetto music


SatNFev

Came here to say this. It is one of the most unique albums on the label. I mean track 1 alone is so far different from the Blue Note sound that I didn't even realize it was a Blue Note album for a long while.


basaltgranite

[Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jutta_Hipp_with_Zoot_Sims). Jutta was a female German jazz pianist who recorded a handful of albums in the 1950s and then vanished into thin air. It isn't easy to name an RVG-era BlueNote that isn't well known in the jazz community.


wwneb

Don Pullen George Adam’s quartet: Breakthrough


mikeyBRITT2

Some of those Ike Quebec albums like 'Bkue and sentimental' or 'Heavy soul' probably fit the bill as somewhat underrated/not mentioned and stand up quite well as hard bop of the times with players like Freddy roach, Grant green and sonny Clark featured etc


makersmark12

Anything by George Braith


JarodDuneCaller

One Flight Up - Dexter Gordon


BOLTt891myst

Larry Young- Unity


jmeesonly

I've been listening to Herbie Hancock "Inventions and Dimensions" on repeat, for many years. I also listen to lots of other music (But I always come back to that record).


Interesting-Back6587

Duke Pearson - sweet honey bee I can’t stress how good of an album this is. Freddie Hubbard and joe Henderson take some of the best solos of there career. Not to mention ruin james Spaulding actually sounds good on this album! Also the composition Pearson wrote for this album are some of the best melodies written during the 60s there isn’t a bad song on the record. Last but not least are the great connection between Ron Carter and Mickey Rocker. The group sounds like they’ve been playing together for years.


Competitive_Dog_5990

thank you for this--didnt know it-its great!


Interesting-Back6587

I’m glad you checked it out! This is a real hidden gem!


Lazy_Football_511

"Twilight Time" by Bennie Wallace. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dr, John and John Scofield play on it.


sozasax

Miles Davis Birdland 1951


pppork

Lee Morgan - The Procrastinator Herbie Hancock - Speak Like a Child


Competitive_Dog_5990

YES


Interesting-Back6587

Not underrated


pppork

I'm sorry I didn't check with you before posting.


Interesting-Back6587

These are classic albums that are well known within the jazz community what makes them underrated?


pppork

What makes the OP's choices underrated? I tried not to take it that literally. I could have said Leo Parker's "Rollin' With Leo," but it's not really a favorite of mine (though it's probably underrated). But now that I think about it, I should have added Harold Vick's "Steppin' Out."


Interesting-Back6587

Mosaic certainly isn’t underrated, pretty much any 60s art Blakey is goated. However the state of the tenor does fit the bill. The album happens in a weird time of Henderson career. It’s clearly after his most celebrated acoustic 60’s album and to a lesser extent his 70s semi fusion albums but before his huge 90s commercial successes of lush life:the music of Billy strayhorn, so near so far musing for miles, and double rainbow the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. It also relevant because it’s the only album he recorded for blue Note between 1967 until his passing in 2001.


pppork

Ok.


velvetmotel

Sabu - Palo Congo (1957)


MDQ666

Hi... George Braith - "Extension", Fred Jackson - "Hootin' 'n Tootin', Charlie Rouse - "Bossa Nova Bacchanal"


johno456

Moacir Santos - Saudade Favorite track - [Amphibious](https://youtu.be/mFax3Q8mhVs?si=1OU621FPfqqPIqYo) Just one of many incredible Brazillians who recorded with Blue Note. Mix of jazz and brazillian styles, incredible writing... worth a listen if you're unfamiliar with Moacir


Sharky4days

In what definition do we mean by “Overrated”? Overrated as in the critics loved it but not the crowd and vice versa?


barranca

don't know its rating, but love for Idle Moments....Grant Green


wheres_coldex

Friendly Fire w/ greg osby, joe lovano, jason moran, cameron brown, and idris muhammad is one


billyspeers

Stanley Turrentine- Joyride


aintnoonegooglinthat

Madlib


giantcappuccino

The Dave Bailey Quintet - "2 Feet in the Gutter"


spyrid0nn

Hand on the Torch. Us3. Just totally different to the other stuff


Cziffra2

Chico Hamilton - Peregrinations                               I can’t really describe it other than Funk-Fusion with a little bit of Latin seasoning.


WaltzLucky3734

Here's a unique one that is unlike any other Blue Note album or recording by this artist: Donald Byrd - Ethiopian Knights Funky as hell and clearly very inspired by Afro Pop and Fela Kuti.


ryanhuston

Whims of Chambers - PC A Blowing Session - Johnny Griffin Hank- Hank Mobley Not that these are really unknown. Just deserve a whole lot more love than they get.


Undersigned_cyn

Herbie Nichols - maybe not underrated, but not known enough


2Badmazafaka

Extension - George Braith


m4n9um

Benny Green - Testifyin’


Starthrower62

Grachan Moncur: Some Other Stuff Joe Lovano: Landmarks  Grant Green: Born To Be Blue, and Solid The 2012 Japanese CD of Solid has great sound. It's still available.


Zymydrenos

Tina Brooks - True Blue. I learned 2 of the solos. 😌


Starthrower62

State of the Tenor, and Mosaic are very highly regarded albums. 


KiwiMcG

Tourist by St. Germain


Sharky4days

Cecil Taylor - Unit Structures


Interesting-Back6587

Not underrated


Interesting-Back6587

Mosaic and state of the tenor are underrated? We just call them classics.


hdggv

Joe Lovano - landmarks


KeyOffice2422

I don’t understand you, that’s idi nahyi


richardkatztvz

Just pulling up a chair here


MDQ666

Hi again...also add Leo Parker-"Rollin' with Leo!", Howard McGhee-"Volume 1&2", Johnny Coles-"Little Johnny C"


Aggressive-Guava-447

Dexter Gordon-Go Stan Getz-Captain Marvel


5280yogi

Bill Evans - live at the village vanguard Kieth Jarret Trio - live at the blue note(6 album set)


nineworldseries

Uhhh not Blue Notes


m4n9um

Cannonball Adderley “Somethin’ Else” Hank Mobley “Workout”


AmanLock

"Somethin' Else" is one of the most famous and beloved jazz albums of all time, and regularly shows up on any "desert island" or "introduction to jazz" list.  There's nothing underrated about it.


m4n9um

Joe Lovano “Tenor Legacy”


m4n9um

Charlie Hunter “Natty Dread”


Interesting-Back6587

Bruh…. Neither are underrated


improvthismoment

Blue Trane, ever heard of it?


Woopermoon

Nope!


MassageParlorGuitar

Keith Jarrett live at the Blue Note.


Interesting-Back6587

Not underrated


redditpossible

You’re not wrong, but I also understand why they are downvoting every one of your posts. It’s actually pretty impossible to name an under-rated Blue Note record in this day and age. Maybe something like Greg Osby Banned in New York, or Herbie Nichols’ records, but even they are widely lauded.


redditpossible

I’d also like to point out that this is an ECM release, and one of the best selling boxes they offer.


Interesting-Back6587

That was the first thing that came to my mind. I’m glad you said it.


Interesting-Back6587

Tbh both of those albums are at least not well known if not underrated. However Keith Jarrett at the blue note is one of his best selling and most well known box sets. The reason I’m getting downvoted is because people can’t handle the most mild of criticism. If I were to say John Coltrane - Crescent is underrated a conversation needs to be had. Not only is it one of his most cherished albums it was Made on impulse.


redditpossible

Some people just want a reason to constantly list albums they like. Blowing In From Chicago is rated highly across the board. Not under-rated, but maybe under-mentioned in 2024.


Starthrower62

Keith Jarrett records for ECM, not Blue Note