Sam Rivers - Contours (Remastered) (1967/2019) Hi Res

Saxophonist & flutist Sam Rivers followed-up his striking debut Fuchsia Swing Song with the tremendous album Contours, which was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs, NJ studio in 1965 with a top flight band featuring Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums. The quintet explored four of Rivers’ engaging original compositions—“Point of Many Returns” “Dance of the Tripedal” “Euterpe” & “Mellifluous Cacophony”—with a profound spirit of freedom and innovation while keeping a foot firmly planted in Post-Bop. Blue Note Records’ Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series is produced by Joe Harley and features all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g audiophile vinyl reissues in deluxe gatefold packaging. Mastering is by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio).

"On Contours, his second Blue Note album, tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers fully embraced the avant-garde, but presented his music in a way that wouldn't be upsetting or confusing to hard bop loyalists. Rivers leads a quintet featuring trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Joe Chambers through a set of originals that walk a fine line between probing, contemplative post-bop and densely dissonant avant-jazz. Each musician is able to play the extremes equally well while remaining sensitive to the compositional subtleties. Rarely is Contours anything less than enthralling, and it remains one of the high watermarks of the mid-'60s avant-garde movement."