TT 502: "Blues for Tomorrow" and Wilbur Ware
a 13-minute jam with Gigi Gryce, Ray Copeland, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, and Art Blakey
One of the celebrated Thelonious Monk LPs is Monk’s Music from 1957. During the first day of tracking, after Monk went home early, producer Orrin Keepnews proposed that the band record a blues without the leader; the result became the title for the anthology LP Blues for Tomorrow, with several disparate blues tracks from various Riverside artists.
“Blues for Tomorrow” was more or less forgotten for a few decades but was unearthed as a bonus track in the reissue era; I first heard it on Thelonious Monk: The Complete Riverside Recordings.
Last week at the Hnita Jazz Club in Heist-op-den-Berg, bassist Piet Verbist loaned Thomas Morgan his instrument. Talking to us afterwards, Piet brought up “Blues for Tomorrow,” which I hadn’t thought about since I got that Monk box as a teenager.
Wilbur Ware is one of those special musicians with a cult following. (Piet, Thomas, and I are all in that cult.) Piet was talking about how the long “Blues for Tomorrow” was a particularly good showcase for Ware, and Thomas and I now concur, it’s a special track. The lack of a piano gives room for the bass and the basic blues form lets all the musicians relax. How fun to compare great tenor solos from John Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins back to back over Wilbur Ware and sensational Art Blakey!
Previously on TT: Wilbur Ware Centennial.
Wow had never heard this one. It seems like Blakey gets the prize for playing the most Monk quotes that day.
I have played at Heist-op-den Berg a few times with Karel Velebný SHQ in mid 70thies. There was an important jazz person, club organizer and LPs collector. Unfortunately I forgot his name (Willy?).
His LPs collection was enormous - close to 4000 LPs, perhaps more. Never seen anything like that in private hands.