Blue Note Announce Lawrence Marable ‘Tenorman’ Reissue
The 1956 recording by the Lawrence Marable Quartet featuring James Clay is joining the Tone Poet series.
Blue Note Records has announced their Tone Poet Series picks for March 2026, and one of the two releases will be Tenorman by The Lawrence Marable Quartet.
This mono Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of Tenorman was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.
Tenorman by The Lawrence Marable Quartet was a hard-swinging session led by the esteemed West Coast jazz drummer that served as an introduction of the young Texan tenor James Clay with support from pianist Sonny Clark and bassist Jimmy Bond. Recorded in August 1956 at Capitol Studios in Hollywood for the Jazz: West label, a boutique imprint allied with Pacific Jazz, the album presents assured versions of well-worn standards like “The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea,” “Easy Living,” “Willow Weep For Me,” and “Lover Man.” Tenorman also presents a trio of original compositions by Clark, “Minor Meeting,” “Three Fingers North,” and “Marbles.”
Clay’s arrival on the scene was transformative for Marable, who was close to losing hope that he would find the “right” horn man, according to the album’s original liner notes by producer Herbert Kimmel. “Clay was a “20 year old kid who wears a funny little green hat reminiscent of the cocky felts Lester Young used to spot,” Kimmel wrote, “a shy giant-to-be who somehow or other (he’s just a skinny little guy) manages to produce a sound as big as the whole heart of jazz.”
The Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley, a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.
