The Record Store Day 2025 list dropped this week and there are quite a few interesting releases to consider. Blue Note Records celebrated 85 years in 2024 and there were a lot of special releases continuing into 2025. Some big titles were the return of the Blue Note Review Series and Vinyl Me Please reissued the really cool boxset The Story of Blue Note. The Story of Blue Note was originally released to celebrate Blue Note’s 80th anniversary.

On the list for Record Store Day (which will be a bit early this year on Saturday, April 12th) kind of hidden in the Various Artists section is Alts ‘n Outs : The Other Side of Blue Note, which is a 1 LP compilation of session outtakes from some of Blue Note Records’ iconic releases on blue vinyl. The title seems to be a nod to the 1964 album In ‘N Out by Joe Henderson. This focuses mostly on the post bop, hard bop period from Cannonball Adderley (which sneaks Miles Davis onto the release), Grant Green, Wayne Shorter, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith and Sonny Clark. The songs have been released previously as bonus tracks on the more recent CD versions of the albums. I’ll break down the tracks and the session information as well as provide a playlist of the songs in order.

1. Bangoon (aka Alison’s Uncle) (outtake from Cannonball Adderley’s Somethin’ Else) – This song was recorded during the March 9, 1958 sessions for Somethin’ Else with Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, NJ, but not included on the original 5-track release. Somethin’ Else is one of the few times that Miles Davis appears as a sideman after 1955. Adderley was added to Davis’ “First Great Quintet” (actually expanding it to a sextet) and recorded Milestones before the sessions for Somethin’ Else. This song started to be added to the CD release of Somethin’ Else starting around 1986, originally titled “Alison’s Uncle” but eventually given its correct title “Bangoon” which was composed by session pianist Hank Jones.
2. Jean de Fleur (alternate track from Grant Green’s Idle Moments) This track is actually the original 8:09 take of “Jean de Fleur” recorded on November 4, 1964 at Hackensack by Rudy Van Gelder. Because producer Alfred Lion liked the 15 minute version of “Idle Moments” (there was apparently some confusion over how many bars the chorus was supposed to have which caused the take to be longer than planned) the decision was to record shorter takes of “Jean de Fleur” and “Django” on November 15, 1964. The original takes would become bonus tracks on the CD versions of Idle Moments.
3. Dance Cadaverous (alternate take from Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil) During the sessions on December 24, 1964 for Speak No Evil, Wayne Shorter backed by the powerhouse band of Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Freddie Hubbard and Elvin Jones an alternate take of “Dance Cadaverous” was recorded which was included in the 1999 RVG CD edition. Both takes of “Dance Cadaverous” are about the same length at over 6 minutes.
4. Moanin’ (alternate take of Art Blakey’s Moanin’) During the October 30, 1958 session in Hackensack with Van Gelder, the Jazz Messengers recorded one of Blakey’s biggest releases Moanin’. The album release used take 4, and take 2 was added to the CD release as a bonus track.
5. On The Sunny Side of the Street (outtake from Jimmy Smith’s Back At The Chicken Shack) On April 25, 1960, Jimmy Smith along with Stanley Turrentine, Kenny Burrell and Donald Bailey recorded a number of tracks that would become 1961’s Midnight Special and 1963’s Back at the Chicken Shack. During this session they also recorded the 1930 jazz standard “On The Sunny Side of the Street” composed by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. This was included in the 1987 CD reissue of Back At The Chicken Shack.
6. Lover (outtake from Sonny Clark Cool Struttin’) Pianist Sonny Clark hit Hackensack on January 5, 1958 along with Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones to record what would become Cool Struttin’, out in August of that year. One of the unused songs was a 1932 Rodgers and Hart song “Lover” originally used in the Maurice Chevalier film Love Me Tonight, where the song was sung by actress Jeanette MacDonald. As with most Rodgers and Hart compositions, this song became part of the so-called Great American Songbook with other notable jazz greats like Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker all recording versions of it.

This is a playlist of all of the tracks on Alts ‘n Outs: