Bennie Green Gets Blue Note Reissue
Trombonist Bennie Green’s swinging 1958 Blue Note debut ‘Back on the Scene’ will get reissued on vinyl in February as part of the label’s Tone Poet series.
Bennie Green’s 1958 classic Back on the Scene is getting a reissue in February 2026 via Blue Note’s Tone Poet series. This mono Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.
Back on the Scene was the trombonist’s Blue Note debut. The swinging six-song album features saxophonist Charlie Rouse, pianist Joe Knight, bassist George Tucker, and drummer Louis Hayes. The record opens with Cole Porter’s “I Love You,” written in 1944 for his stage musical Mexican Hayride. Up next is “Melba’s Mood,” one of two contributions from the trombonist and composer Melba Liston. Liston performed with the Gillespie band throughout the 1940s and ‘50s. The first side of Back on the Scene wraps up with “Just Friends,” a standard written by John Klenner and Sam. M Lewis.
Side B opens with “You’re Mine, You,” which the trombonist J.J. Johnson had interpreted one year prior on his album Blue Trombone. Green was notably one of the few trombonists who did not play in a style inspired by Johnson. “Bennie Plays the Blues” is an original by Green, and Liston’s second contribution, “Green Street,” closes Back on the Scene. Green recorded two other albums for Blue Note: Soul Stirrin’ (1958) and Walkin’ and Talkin’ (1959).
Green regularly recorded as a leader throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, working with players like Cliff Smalls, Charlie Rouse, Eric Dixon, Paul Chambers, Louis Hayes, Sonny Clark, Gildo Mahones, and Jimmy Forrest. He also performed with Duke Ellington for a few months between 1968 and 1969. Green spent his later years performing with hotel bands in Las Vegas, though he did make occasional appearances, including at the 1972 Newport Jazz Festival. Green died in 1977.
