Variations on a Blue Line / ‘Round Midnight

Variations on a Blue Line/’Round Midnight was recorded in October, 1977, during a highly significant period in Poughkeespie, NY, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee’s work, as he was pioneering the transatlantic, collaborative spirit that has helped to define the last three decades of his career. BlueLine comes from a concert in Rouen, France, when McPhee played on a double bill with the Peter Brötzmann/Han Bennink duo. It features the side-length tenor excursion “Beanstalk” (dedicated to Coleman Hawkins), an alternate version of “Knox” (known from his beloved LP Tenor), and two soprano pieces, “Motian Studies” and Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.”