Double vinyl LP pressing. In December 1996, as Lee Konitz approached his 70th birthday, the great alto saxophonist brought a unique multigenerational trio with pianist Brad Mehldau (then 26) and bassist Charlie Haden (then 59) into the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles for an engagement that resulted in this sublime live recording. The 6 standards presented on the album including "Cherokee," "What Is This Thing Called Love?" and "'Round Midnight" were merely jumping off points for these restlessly creative musicians.

Also available on vinyl!

 

Jazz supergroup Artemis is composed of pianist/musical director Renee Rosnes, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Noriko Ueda, drummer Allison Miller, and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, who collectively conjure a powerful, multi-generational, globe-spanning voice. This 9-track debut project features material composed/arranged by the members that unfurls with a dynamic flow, stunningly eclectic yet entirely cohesive.

Double vinyl LP pressing. In honor of the 70th anniversary of it's original singles in 1949, The Complete Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis is being released on LP. The record features Miles Davis' classic Birth of the Cool as well as a second LP of live material from 1948, previously unreleased on vinyl. The package features a wrapped gatefold jacket with laminated coating, as well as a new retrospective essay by Ashley Kahn, the author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece.

2020 release. Pianist Gerald Clayton makes his Blue Note debut with Happening: Live At The Village Vanguard. An example of musical gambles taken on stage, the exceptional quintet (tenor sax-Walter Smith III, bassist-Joe Sanders, drummer-Marcus Gilmore) deliver dynamic performances at NYC's legendary Village Vanguard. With four Clayton originals and Billy Strayhorn's "Take the Coltrane". He then pares down to a trio for the lively version of Bud Powell's "Celia" and a stunning rendition of "Body and Soul".

If you like your jazz with a heaping helping of swirling, wondrous rhythm, Samba de Maracatu by the legendary Joe Chambers will fill you up. Be it on drums, percussion or mallets, Chambers has been one of the great sidemen in jazz history, providing the beat for everyone from Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson and Sam Rivers to Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and Chet Baker … just to scratch the surface. He’s also had a diverse and incredible career as a leader. - DownBeat Magazine

Click here to read the full review at DownBeat Magazine

Saxophone master James Carter makes his Blue Note debut with James Carter Organ Trio: Live From Newport Jazz-his first new release since 2011. A soulfully robust dispatch from America's most storied jazz festival, it's also a follow-up of sorts to his acclaimed 2000 album Chasin' the Gypsy that The New Yorker called "an alternately reverent and audacious tribute to the Belgian swing-guitar legend Django Reinhardt. It may be the rambunctious saxophone player's recorded masterpiece."

2020 release. Blue Note debut by cornetist and composer Ron Miles, this is the follow-up to his widely acclaimed 2017 album I Am A Man, featuring the same remarkable collaborations. Miles wrote most of the music in Summer 2018 as his father was passing away; it's both a loving dedication and a riveting spiritual document that scores the journey from Earth to eternal peace. "Rainbows deal with renewal. Sometimes, our limitations can inform what we can see."

The classic! Tracks: "Move," "Jeru," "Moon Dreams" "Venus de Milo," "Budo," "Deception," "Godchild," "Boplicity," "Rocker," "Israel," "Rouge" and "Darn That Dream."

The brilliant and beloved cornetist and composer Ron Miles released his Blue Note debut Rainbow Sign in 2020 shortly before his tragic death in 2022 from a rare blood disorder. His legacy is honored with the release of Old Main Chapel, a recording that captures a sublime live performance by Miles' trio with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Brian Blade in 2011 at Old Main Chapel in Boulder, Colorado. The 7-song set featured 6 of Miles' indelible originals along with a cover of "There Ain't No Sweet Man that's Worth the Salt of My Tears." The CD package includes heartfelt remembrances by Frisell, Blade, pianist and frequent collaborator Jason Moran, Blue Note President Don Was, and Ron's daughter Justice Miles.

Double vinyl LP pressing. In 1999, the same year that Jason Moran released his debut recording Soundtrack To Human Motion, the pianist and composer also joined New Directions, a band made up of young stars from the Blue Note roster. At the core of New Directions was the genesis of a rhythm section-with Moran, bassist Tarus Mateen, and drummer Nasheet Waits-that would go on to become one of the most enduringly creative and acclaimed piano trios in jazz. The Bandwagon made their first recording as a trio with Facing Left in 2000 and has been the foundation of the majority of Moran's artistic statements since. On his 2010 album Ten, Moran celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Bandwagon with an assured album that was a snapshot of a mature band with a decade of shared musical experience from which to draw. In addition to provocative originals the album presented singular interpretations of pieces by Thelonious Monk, Jaki Byard, Leonard Bernstein, and Conlon Nancarrow. This first-time vinyl release includes the bonus track "Thelonious" previously only available in Japan.

Clifford Brown - "Memorial Album" / The incomparable trumpeter Clifford Brown recorded two leader sessions for Blue Note in 1953 (a co-led quintet date with Lou Donaldson and his own sextet date) that were compiled on the Memorial Album shortly after his tragic death in 1956. Brownie's star burns bright from the blistering "Cherokee" to the stunning ballad "Easy Living." Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180gram vinyl at Optimal : [Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series] [LP]

Nearly two decades into her career, Grammy-winning artist Norah Jones releases her first live album, 'Til We Meet Again. With performances from the US, France, Italy, Brazil and Argentina recorded between 2017-19. Spanning her entire career from her 2002 debut to her more recent singles "It Was You" and Grammy-nominated "I'll Be Gone." It closes with a cover of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun," a tribute to Chris Cornell recorded at the Fox Theatre just days after Cornell's death.

CONCENTRIC CIRCLES

This never-before-heard jazz classic documents one of the most historically important bands in all of jazz history. This is the first professionally recorded full-length album by two of jazz's preeminent legends at the height of their powers. This beautifully-recorded concert has been brilliantly restored and mastered, capturing both the power and nuance of Mon and Trane.

Gregory Porter, the best-selling contemporary Jazz/Soul artist with over 3 million album sales, returns with All Rise, his sixth studio album. It marks a return to his beloved songwriting - heart-on-sleeve lyrics imbued with everyday philosophy, set to a stirring mix of jazz, soul, blues and gospel. All Rise represents his artistic revolution to something even more emphatic and intimate. It brims with songs about irrepressible love, plus a little protest, because the road to healing is bumpy.

2021 release. On this night the good doctor took the stage with an expanded line-up featuring Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar, Johnathan Blake on drums, John Ellis on tenor saxophone, Jason Marshall on baritone saxophone, Sean Jones on trumpet, and Robin Eubanks on trombone with special guest vocalist Alicia Olatuja on "Pilgrimage." Two additional studio tracks open and close the album, presenting the unique collaboration between Doc & Iggy Pop including a sublime cover of Donovan's 1966 hit "Sunshine Superman."

2015 album from acclaimed vocalist Jos' James. Yesterday I Had The Blues: The Music of Billie Holiday is a tribute to the legendary singer in honor of Holiday's 100th birthday. The stunning set of nine songs written or popularized by Holiday was produced by Blue Note president Don Was and features a stellar band including pianist Jason Moran, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Eric Harland.

The debut recording of guitarist BILL FRISELL'S trio with bassist Thomas Morgan & drummer Rudy Royston is a wide-ranging 13-song set that mixes Frisell originals new & old, jazz standards, traditional songs, and covers. Valentine explores the creative freedom of the trio format and the profound musical relationship between these three musicians after years of touring.

Derrick Hodge is a celebrated composer and bassist who is equally adept on both electric and upright instruments. He is an accomplished session musician who has worked extensively across jazz, cinematic and R&B.

2020 release. Norah Jones' seventh solo studio album Pick Me Up Off The Floor features collaborators from Brian Blade to Jeff Tweedy, and grew out of her acclaimed singles series of the past two years as the songs she hadn't yet released unexpectedly congealed into an album of tremendous depth and beauty connected by the sly groove of her piano trios, lyrics that confront loss and portend hope, and a mood that leans into darkness before ultimately finding the light.

Ambrose Akinmusire follows his acclaimed, genre-busting 2018 manifesto, Origami Harvest, with another visionary statement on his new album `on the tender spot of every calloused moment'. The trumpeter examines blackness on an uncompromising set of modern jazz laced with a heavy blues feeling. The album presents 11 new compositions by Akinmusire, featuring his quartet - pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, drummer Justin Brown - with guest vocals from Genevieve Artadi and Jesus Diaz.

Vinyl LP pressing. The line up of drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers shifted in 1961 with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard replacing Lee Morgan, pianist Cedar Walton replacing Bobby Timmons, and the addition of Curtis Fuller on trombone who joined existing members Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone and Jymie Merritt on bass. This powerful new sextet line up first recorded on the album Mosaic, and quickly returned to the studio the next month to begin recording Buhaina's Delight.

2021 release. Tone Poem is the third album by Charles Lloyd & The Marvels, the genre-straddling quintet that features the master saxophonist with Bill Frisell on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. Released as part of Blue Note's acclaimed Tone Poet Vinyl Series, the nine dynamic tracks here include new Lloyd originals along with pieces by Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Leonard Cohen, Gabor Szabo, and Bola de Nieve.

After making a striking appearance on Joel Ross' KingMaker, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins delivers an expansive opus about the Black experience in America on his own debut album, Omega, which was produced by Jason Moran and features a next-generation quartet with pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Daryl Johns, and drummer Kweku Sumbry.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. On 1964's Into Somethin', Larry Young made it abundantly clear that he had his own unique approach to the Hammond B-3 organ. Young explored a more modal territory over the course of his six Blue Note albums including this tremendous session featuring tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, guitarist Grant Green, and drummer Elvin Jones. This Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes.