1977 · Album
Stablemates
Recorded 1977 · Discomate (original); Candid (2006 CD reissue) · Produced by Not specified in available information
A Late Discovery on the Budget Bins
Stablemates arrived quietly in 1977, waited nearly three decades for a second life.
Stablemates landed in 1977 on the Japanese Discomate label with almost no fanfare in the West. This was not a major label release timed to radio playlists or critical attention. It was a working musician's session, documented and filed away on a small imprint that most American jazz listeners never encountered. The album opens with "Stablemates," a Benny Golson composition that had already proved itself on Miles: The New Miles Davis Quintet, so there was pedigree there—but pedigree alone does not guarantee an audience.
The record stayed largely unknown for decades. It was repackaged on the budget Jazz America Marketing label as Last Dance, which tells you something about its commercial trajectory: from obscurity to bargain-bin status. That was its life for nearly thirty years. The album did not find its moment on original release because it was never given one. No major label push, no critical coverage in the publications that mattered to American collectors, no radio play. It simply existed in the margins, available to anyone in Japan willing to hunt for it, or to American diehards who knew to look.
When the album finally resurfaced on CD through Candid in 2006, it arrived into a different world—one where obscure sessions from forgotten labels could be recovered and given a second hearing. By then, the context had changed entirely. The album was no longer new; it was historical. Whether it found any real audience at that reissue point is another question. Some albums wait for their moment. Others wait their whole lives.
Who's playing
Cecil McBeebass
Juini Boothbass
Lisle Atkinsonbass
Mickey Tuckerpiano
Harold Mabernpiano
Junior Cooktenor saxophone
George Colemantenor saxophone
Mario Riverabaritone saxophone
Frank Strozieralto saxophone
Leroy Williamsdrums
Idris Muhammaddrums
Danny Moorewind instruments
Where next?
More by Junior Cook
All 6 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
