A key record from Pacific Jazz’s 1960s-era output, saxophonist Curtis Amy and drummer Frank Butler’s Groovin’ Blue, is getting a special vinyl release next month.
On March 7th, the album will officially join the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, a collaboration between Blue Note Records and UMe. The brainchild of Blue Note President Don Was, each reissue in the series is curated and supervised by Joe Harley, a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” and mastered by Kevin Gray. Since 2007, the duo have collaborated on over 100 Blue Note reissues, including recent additions to the series like Hank Mobley’s 1967 record Third Season, and Amy’s 1963 effort with trumpeter Dupree Bolton, Katanga.
Recorded between 1960 and 1961, Groovin’ Blue marked the Texas-born, LA-based Amy’s second release on Pacific Jazz, which he signed with in 1960. The Groovin’ Blue sessions also boast some of the earliest known recordings of vibraphonist and marimba player Bobby Hutcherson, who was only 19 years old at the time and went on to influence the likes of Steve Nelson, Joe Locke and Stefon Harris. Rounding out the instrumentalists featured on the six-song LP are pianist Frank Strazzeri, bassist Jimmy Bond and trumpeter Carmell Jones, who made his recorded debut on Groovin’ Blue.
Highlights across the track list include opener “Gone Into It,” the title track, and the Hutcherson-written ballad “Beautiful You.” Gray mastered the new edition of Groovin’ Blue off original analog tapes—it’s been pressed on 180g vinyl by Record Technology Inc.
In a 2023 interview with SoundStage!, Harley shared that part of his goal in crafting the Tone Poet series was to give listeners the experience of listening to some of history’s greatest musicians work in real time. Part of that work involves relying solely on master tapes, the same way Blue Note and Pacitic Jazz did at their prime.
“In the case of the Blue Note and Pacific Jazz sessions of the ’50s and up through the mid-to-late ’60s, these were all recorded live direct to mono, or later, to two-track stereo,” he explained. “The mixing happened as the musicians were playing. There was no ‘fixing it in the mix.’ There’s only one master tape—that IS the mix. And that’s what we use.”
Order Curtis Amy and Frank Butler’s Groovin’ Blue now.
