The Blue Note Cover Series (by request!)

One day in 1997 I did my usual thing [sez Koen], dropping by Tower Records in Bangkok, and going straight for one of their listening stations. There to my pleasant surprise, I found the Charlie Hunter Quartet’s Natty Dread. 

I listened to a few tracks and knew right away this was not just another Bob Marley cover album, it was so much more! Therefore, the decision to buy it on the spot was easily made.

For whatever reason I wasn’t aware of the other two albums in this new Blue Note series, Fareed Haque’s Déjà Vu and Everette Harp’s What's Going On, nor the ones that followed in 1998...

By now I’ve listened to all six albums in this series and still consider Charlie’s the best, closely followed by Fareed Haque's CSNY cover album, Bob Belden (Tapestry), and George Howard (There's A Riot Goin' On). 

Ronnie Laws’ Portrait Of The Isley Brothers (Harvest For The World) and Everette Harp's What's Going On are dangerously close to smooth elevator jazz, but each still has a few acceptable tracks.

In 1997 Blue Note issued a promo sampler with three songs each from Charlie, Everette, and Fareed. There was no follow-up, which gave us here at JOKONKY another project -- to add three tracks from each of the three 1998 releases in the Blue Note Cover Series!

PREVIOUSLY ON JONDERBLOG: if you like this post, check out Koen's excellent overview of Nonesuch Records' American Explorer Series, as well as Koen's more recent compilation, Blue Note Funk: Steady Groovin!