Sam Rivers

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-water marks of the mid-'60s avant-garde movement. Rivers' albums have been in and out of print for decades and this one in particular has been difficult to find on compact disc in America. In 2004 Blue Note reissued it as part of their limited-edition Connoisseur CD series and subsequently added a bonus track in an alternate take of "Mellifluous Cacophony." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Thom Jurek, All Music Guide