1 	Main Stem 	6:48
2 	J & B 	5:45
3 	Ho! 	4:30
4 	Latino 	6:06
5 	Tipsy 	5:15
6 	Tangerine 	7:00

Bass – George Duvivier
Congas – Ray Barretto
Drums – Charlie Persip
Piano – Hank Jones
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Oliver Nelson
Trumpet – Joe Newman

Unlike most of Oliver Nelson's recordings, this one has the feel of a jam session. A Prestige set, Nelson (on tenor and alto) teams up with trumpeter Joe Newman (in exciting form), pianist Hank Jones, bassist George Duvivier, drummer Charlie Persip, and Ray Barretto on congas. There are two superior standards ("Mainstem" and "Tangerine") and four of Nelson's more basic originals. The spirited solos of Nelson and Newman are strong reasons to get this colorful session. ---Scott Yanow, AllMusic Review

When Main Stem was released in the late summer of 1961, The Blues And The Abstract Truth had been on the market since February of that year and life for Oliver Nelson moved to a different trajectory. With almost universal acclaim for this album and its signature piece Stolen Moments, Nelson began his transition from small-group musician to big-band composer/arranger, and Main Stem was the beginning of the small-group final chapter.

Prestige Records was one of those labels that was open to musicians who were looking for freedom to play what and how they liked. Thus this session was a free-flowing affair, not only with the front line, but also with a rhythm section that had Ray Barretto on conga on all tracks. At the time of this recording, trumpeter Joe Newman was just completing a twelve-year stint with the Count Basie band. Newman was a well-tested and accessible trumpeter in the Louis Armstrong tradition. On the title track Main Stem, Newman rips off a stunning solo and again on Latino his big open sound takes flight in all its assertiveness.

Pianist Hank Jones is always Mr. Taste playing the right note or chord at the right time, and is always a harmonically knowledgeable player. His opening on the blues-based J&B is note perfect, and on Ho! he delivers a succinct opening chorus and then several bars later comes back-in with a dazzling short break.

The Oliver Nelson that is featured in this session on both tenor and alto saxophone is a player of intense passion who cherishes the space to stretch out and have the playing time to fully express his musical ideas: whether offering a series of measured approaches as he builds his solo on Main Stem, to the jumpier lines on Tipsy, and the single-take flowing runs on Tangerine with its Latin flavour. ---Pierre Giroux, musicweb-international.com

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1. Blues And The Abstract Truth (Nelson) 5:14
2. Blues O'Mighty (Hodges) 6:48
3. Theme From Mr. Broadway (Brubeck) 5:49
4. Midnight Blue (Hefti) 4:06
5. The Critic's Choice (Nelson) 2:21
6. One For Bob (Nelson) 6:07
7. Blues For Mr. Broadway (Brubeck) 8:12
8. Goin' To Chicago Blues (Basie, Rushing) 4:37
9. One For Phil (Nelson) 3:58
10. Night Lights (Shaw) 2:46

Thad Jones – trumpet
Danny Moore – trumpet (5)
Phil Woods – alto sax
Ben Webster – tenor sax (4,7)
Phil Bodner - English horn, tenor sax
Pepper Adams – baritone sax
Roger Kellaway - piano
Richard Davis - bass
Grady Tate - drums
Oliver Nelson - arranger, conductor

Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, November 10,11 – 1964

Unlike the original classic Blues and the Abstract Truth set from three years earlier, Oliver Nelson does not play on this album. He did contribute three of the eight originals and all of the arrangements but his decision not to play is disappointing. However there are some strong moments from such all-stars as trumpeter Thad Jones, altoist Phil Woods, baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Roger Kellaway and guest tenor Ben Webster (who is on two songs). The emphasis is on blues-based pieces and there are some strong moments even if the date falls short of its predecessor. ---Scott Yanow, Rovi

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01. Stolen Moments
02. Hoe-Down
03. Cascades
04. Yeanin’
05. Butch and Butch			play
06. Teenie’s Blues

Performers:
* Oliver Nelson — alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
* Eric Dolphy — flute, alto saxophone
* George Barrow — baritone saxophone
* Freddie Hubbard — trumpet
* Bill Evans — piano
* Paul Chambers — bass
* Roy Haynes — drums

The Blues and the Abstract Truth is a jazz album by Oliver Nelson recorded in February 1961. It remains Nelson's most acclaimed album. It features a lineup of notable musicians: Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy (his last appearance on a Nelson album following a series of collaborations recorded for Prestige), Bill Evans (his only appearance with Nelson), Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes. Baritone saxophonist George Barrow does not take a solo but is a key feature of the subtle voicings of Nelson's arrangements.

The album is an exploration of the mood and structure of the blues, though only some of the tracks are in conventional 12-bar blues form. In this regard, though it is not modal jazz, it may be seen as a continuation of the trend towards greater harmonic simplicity and subtlety via reimagined versions of the blues that was instigated by Miles Davis's Kind of Blue in 1959 (Evans and Chambers played on both albums). Of the pieces on Nelson's album, "Stolen Moments" is the most famous; it is a sixteen-bar piece (in an eight-six-two pattern), though the solos are on a conventional 12-bar minor-key blues structure in C minor. "Hoe-Down" is built on a forty-four-bar structure (with thirty-two-bar solos based on "rhythm changes"). "Cascades" modifies the traditional 32-bar AABA form by using a 16-bar minor blues for the A section, stretching the form to a total of 56 bars. The B-side of the album contains three tracks that hew closer to 12-bar form: "Yearnin'", "Butch and Butch" and "Teenie's Blues".

Nelson's later album, More Blues and the Abstract Truth, features an entirely different band and bears little resemblance to this record. In 2008, pianist Bill Cunliffe released "The Blues and The Abstract Truth, Take 2", a tribute to the original album featuring new arrangements. ---wikipedia

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