For as long as I can remember since I started hoarding 45s, I bought all the Blue Note seven inches i could find out int he field. Some I just squirreled away, others I play out proudly on my nights. There are a few that have slipped away from me, but that I will find again as they are meant to come to you when it’s the correct time. The seven inches on the mix are some of our favorite Blue Note artists, two of them, Brother Jack McDuff and Lou Donaldson get two tracks each on the mix because, well, they are just that good. The yell of “Watch your next door neighbor!” from Donaldson’s “Who’s Making Love” always reminds me of the great Johnny Jazz and his jazz grocery market in Red Bank, NJ. McDuff’s “Oblighetto” was the first record we ever wrote about here on FMF, so it holds a spot close to us. The other artists all have great meaning to us as well, as Blue Note Records started our love for jazz. It was the great Grant Green that opened the door to the deep catalog of the label, as well as the iconic photography and design of the labels we really have big love for. It’s a shorter mix, all live, all in one take of original Blue Note 45s.

“A pleasant mix of original Blue Note 45s to groove to”

We are excited to share this special mix with you, and as always, if you dig what you hear, please pass it on to a friend. Hopefully we will be making a volume two in the near future, but for now, enjoy the sounds of real jazz from a label who touched so many music lovers over the decades, and continues to touch and inspire people to this day.

Here’s the tracklist below:

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers – Hipsippy Blues Part 1
Gene Harris – Higga Boom
Rueben Wilson – Orange Peel
Blue Mitchell – Collision In Black
Brother Jack McDuff – Oblighetto
Brother Jack McDuff – Down Home Style
Lou Donaldson – Who’s Making Love
Lou Donaldson – Everything I Do Gonn Be Funky
Bobbi Hutcherson – Una Esta
Jimmy Smith – Pork Chop Part 1
Grant Green – I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Listen to the mix here via our mixcloud page:

Keep Diggin’!