Gil Mellé Quintet: New Faces, New Sounds

Date:	Saturday, January 31, 1953
Label/Number:	Blue Note 5020
Personnel:	Gil Mellé (ts) Eddie Bert (tb) Tal Farlow (g) Clyde Lombardi (b) Joe Morello (d)
Tracks:	Cyclotron / October / Under Capricorn / Venus
Location:	Hackensack
Producer:	Alfred Lion
Liner Notes:	Barry Ulanov
Research Comments:	Van Gelder’s first official date for Blue Note. Gil Mellé, whom Rudy had recorded for the Triumph label on March 2, 1952, signed a contract with Alfred Lion of Blue Note in the fall of that year. Lion then purchased the Triumph sides from Gus Statiras, and wanted to record four more titles to fill out the second half of the 10-inch LP which would become Mellé’s first BN release. Blue Note was then recording primarily at WOR Studios in New York City with engineer Doug Hawkins. Impressed with the sound of Melle’s Triumph sides, Lion told Hawkins he wanted to make another recording that sounded as good. Hawkins told him, “Look, I can’t make it sound like that, you better go to the guy who did it.”* Mellé then brought Lion to Hackensack. “Alfred went out there and looked around, and Rudy played some things for him and showed him how it all worked. And Alfred came out and he went, ‘Ja, ja – we do the date here.’”** * Rudy Van Gelder, interviewed by Chris Hovan, All About Jazz (web magazine), June 1999. ** Gil Mellé, in Blue Note: A Story of Modern Jazz (video), Euroarts Entertainment, 1997.
Status Notes:
Sources:	CDJ BND GM EB RU2