Bobby Hutcherson: Montara (Blue Note Tone Poet series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Tone Poet reissue was cut directly from the original analog tapes at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI. AllMusic's Thom Jurek called Montara one of the great feel-good jazz albums of the 1970s.

This edition

• Blue Note Tone Poet series
• 180g vinyl
• Cut from the original analog tapes
• Mastered at Cohearent Audio
• Pressed at RTI
• Stereo mix

About the album

Picture a vibraphonist on a California beach with a full Latin percussion section behind him, and you're most of the way to Montara. Bobby Hutcherson recorded it at the Record Plant in Los Angeles over two days in August 1975, named it after a stretch of coast south of San Francisco, and let the sun pour in.

Dale Oehler arranged the sessions around a big Latin rhythm crew: Willie Bobo, Bobby Matos, Ralph MacDonald, Victor Pantoja and Rudy Calzado on percussion, with Harvey Mason on drums. Blue Mitchell and Oscar Brashear play trumpet, Ernie Watts and Plas Johnson add saxes and flute, and Hutcherson moves between vibes and marimba. George Cables wrote "Camel Rise" and "Love Song," the title track glides, "La Malanga" is pure dance floor, and the closing take on Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" is as fun as it sounds.

Jurek also counted it among the great groove jazz records and told readers to seek it out without hesitation. It's the rare jazz album that improves the weather in the room, which in a Toronto winter is a service we take seriously.

Also at Kops: more Bobby Hutcherson on vinyl · browse Modern Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# BN-LA551-G), a reissue of the 1975 album.