Horace Parlan Quintet - Speakin' My Piece (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series) Vinyl LP

Pianist Horace Parlan is perhaps best remembered for his distinctive contributions to Charles Mingus’s landmark 1959 albums Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots. That same year, Parlan made his first appearance on a Blue Note session with Lou Donaldson, and by 1960 he was leading his own dates for the label with the trio recordings Movin’ & Groovin’ and Us Three. For his third Blue Note outing, Speakin’ My Piece, Parlan expanded his working trio of bassist George Tucker and drummer Al Harewood into a quintet, adding the formidable horn duo of Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone and his brother Tommy Turrentine on trumpet.

The resulting session yielded a quintessential hard bop album, complete with Reid Miles’s signature cover design and a program that blended memorable Parlan originals with standout contributions from his bandmates. Highlights include the blues-soaked “Wadin’,” the lyrical “Up In Cynthia’s Room,” fiery pieces by each of the Turrentine brothers, and a commanding reading of the ballad “Oh So Blue.” This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition brings the 1960 gem back to life in stereo, mastered all-analog by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal. More than six decades later, Speakin’ My Piece remains both a vital chapter in Parlan’s career and an enduring Blue Note classic.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal.