The Blue Break Beats series actually began in 1993, but were just marketed
as the four CD box set Guy mentions in time for Christmas. The first two
volumes are the only two which exclusively featured music from the Blue
Note label. Volumes three and four showcased music from a variety of
labels which all fell under the Liberty umbrella; though I'm not positive
that Capitol or Chess were under Liberty.
Anyway, the general premise of Blue Break Beats was to showcase many of the
Blue Note recordings that became heavily sampled by hip hop DJs. Blue Note
presumably took a healthy interest in these DJ friendly compilations in the
early 90's with the popularity of US3, not to mention the Acid Jazz boom
at-large. Speaking of US3, I'd also suggest hunting down the double LP
comp "Straight No Chaser" which showcases all of the tunes that US3 sampled
on their first album.
The coolest thing Blue Break Beats did was open up Blue Note to a whole new
reissue campaign which has resulted in the label being at what is surely
its most productive stage since the mid 60's. It is also very cool that
they released all of the BBB comps, and a number of others on vinyl
including a conisseur series on 180 gram vinyl...easily the best Blue Note
vinyl reissue campaign since the French Blue Note LPs that came out in 1986
(with a poster in each LP!).
Brian Poust
At 06:14 AM 1/15/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Has anybody checked out the 4 disk box set of various "Blue Note" stuff
>called the "Blue Break Beats"? If you get past the odd crap tune here
>and there, it is full of smooth jazzy grooves and soulful beats.
>
>just a recommendation,
>Guy Brader
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