Let Him Roll

In 1975, a guy named Guy made a record that does everything I think American music should do. It causes pain, inspires introspection, investigates the depth of the human heart, examines the American experience, records the lives of common men and, perhaps most importantly, doesn't pull any punches.

Old No. 1 is a masterpiece to put it succinctly. But, it's more than that. It's an essential part of the American musical canon. If you don't know it and you like country music, then you don't know country music yet. If you do know it, then you know what I mean.

Blue Note

I spent the weekend listening to my old Blue Note Records. Greats like Ike Quebec, Grant Green, Sonny Clark and Bud Powell. I guess the first question is the most important: Has history forgotten these incredible musicians? If so, that is a national tragedy! Jazz music, particularly Bebop, was arguably the most inventive and timeless music ever recorded. It is something we should all be familiar with.

There were many others. Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, Stanley Turrentine, Wayne Shorter, Donald Byrd, Joe Henderson... These are just the folks on Blue Note. Though Miles Davis and John Coltrane had records on Blue Note, they were recorded primarily by Columbia and Impulse respectively.

Not only did Blue Note Records have unrivaled musicians playing wildly innovative and enduring music, but the artwork on each record is equally enthralling. The photographs, mostly taken by founder Francis Wolff and artistically tweaked by Esquire magazine's Reid Miles, capture these great artists in the moment and give us a sneak-peak into their lives.

Bebop is some of the most important music in our nation's history and Blue Note Records capture some of the best of it. If this is all news to you... I ask that you seek out some of these great figures in the rich, ineffable tapestry that is American music!