Blue Note session · in the studio
April 19, 1956
Herbie Nichols Trio
In the room
- Herbie Nichols – piano
- Teddy Kotick – bass
- Max Roach – drums
The takes
7 of these 11 takes stayed in the vault at the time: alternates and tunes that weren't issued. Switch to hear only the ones that came out on the records.
What the numbers mean
BN308-2 is a matrix number: Blue Note gave every tune it recorded the next number in one running series (BN308 is "Humph"), and the figure after the dash is which take of that tune was kept. Early on the series starts each tune's takes at 0, so -0 is usually the first try.
tk. 5 is the take as counted through the whole day, from the first tune to the last: the way the studio's log and, from the mid-1950s, Rudy Van Gelder's tapes number them. Later dates have only these.
On the earliest records (1939–40) the numbers in the matrix place, like 486A-1 or GM535-6, are the masters' numbers from the studios and pressing plants Blue Note used before it had its own series.
| Matrix · take | Title | First out on |
|---|---|---|
| tk. 1 | Wildflower | BLP 1519 |
| tk. 3 | Mine (alternate take) | Not issued at the time · later on Mosaic MR5-118 |
| tk. 4 | Mine | BLP 1519 |
| tk. 8 | Argumentative Variation (aka Trio) | Not issued at the time · later on Blue Note (J) BNJ-61008/10 |
| tk. 10 | Trio (alternate take) | Not issued at the time · later on Mosaic MR5-118 |
| tk. 11 | The Spinning Song (alternate take) | Not issued at the time · later on Mosaic MR5-118 |
| tk. 12 | The Spinning Song | BLP 1519 |
| tk. 13 | Riff Primatif (mistitled as Riff Primitif) | Not issued at the time · later on Blue Note (J) BNJ-61008/10 |
| tk. 14 | Riff Primatif (alternate take) | Not issued at the time · later on Mosaic MR5-118 |
| tk. 15 | Query (alternate take) | Not issued at the time · later on Mosaic MR5-118 |
| tk. 16 | Query | BLP 1519 |
