The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions of Ike Quebec collects a phenomenal body of work produced between 1959–62 by a key player in the Blue Note Story. The saxophonist had recorded for Blue Note and served as a talent scout in the 1940s before personal problems forced him off the scene. Alfred Lion began to reintroduce Quebec’s music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and revealed a formidable stylist very much at the top of his game with a full-throated yet relaxed sound ideally suited to a range of material from ballads to blues. Produced for release by Joe Harley, the 3-LP vinyl set is all-analog and cut directly from Rudy Van Gelder’s original master tapes by Kevin Gray. Pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, the LPs come packaged in a deluxe tip-on trifold jacket which includes a booklet with never-before-seen photos by Francis Wolff and an insightful, in-depth essay by scholar Loren Schoenberg.
