Free For All was perhaps Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers' most potent album. Recorded in February 1964, the music bristled with the charged energy of the civil rights movement with a powerful sextet line-up featuring the great drummer with Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton and Reggie Workman. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Joe Henderson's second Blue Note album, Our Thing, once again showcased the saxophonist's deep connection with his frequent collaborator Kenny Dorham on trumpet. As both frontline foils and composers of all the tunes on this swinging set, the duo set the tone accompanied by an extraordinary rhythm section with Andrew Hill, Eddie Khan and Pete La Roca. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Guitar virtuoso Julian Lage returns with his fifth Blue Note release, Scenes From Above, the follow-up to the GRAMMY-nominated Speak To Me, which was once again produced by Joe Henry. The album features Lage in a new band with John Medeski on organ and piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums for a set of striking new original compositions. CD Softpak.

Bobby Hutcherson's 1965 album, Components, captured two sides of his musical personality with a sextet featuring Freddie Hubbard, James Spaulding, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Joe Chambers. Side A presents post-bop gems by Hutcherson like "Little B's Poem," while Side B explores Chambers' avant-garde pieces. This stereo Blue Note Tone Poet Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket.

Donald Byrd - "The Cat Walk (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition)" [180g Heavy Vinyl] Donald Byrd was deep in a groove in 1960 as the trumpeter turned out one hard bop classic after another, including The Cat Walk, featuring Byrd's quintet with Pepper Adams on baritone sax, Duke Pearson on piano, Laymon Jackson on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The band struts their stuff on an engaging set of swinging originals by Byrd and Pearson. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. Capitol Music Group; Blue Note; Jazz; Catalog.

Marcos Valle -"Samba '68 (Verve Vault Series)" [180g Heavy Vinyl LP] Samba '68, released on Verve, introduced Brazilian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marcos Valle to a wider international audience. Already established in Brazil through songs such as "Samba de Verao" ("Summer Samba"), Valle worked here with producer Creed Taylor on a recording that pairs Brazilian rhythmic forms with contemporary American studio orchestration. The sessions include vocals by Anamaria Valle and arrangements by Eumir Deodato. The repertoire features English-language versions of compositions co-written by Valle, including "So Nice (Summer Samba)," "Chup Chup, I Got Away," and "Safely In Your Arms," alongside additional material that reflects his economical writing and feather-light rhythmic approach. The album documents a meeting point between Brazilian popular music and international pop-jazz studio practice at the end of the 1960s. The Verve Vault series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. Towa Bird returns with her sophomore album Gentleman - 11 songs that navigate the tension between masculine and feminine archetypes, delivered with undeniable confidence and swagger from one of music's most promising voices. Featuring the singles "Dirty Habit" and "Dog," with contributions from Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna, Gentleman sharpens Towa's guitar-driven rush into a world of queer romance and self-assured style - equal parts charm, humor, vulnerability, and bite. Produced by Patrick Wimberly (MGMT, Blood Orange, Solange.) Pressed on red vinyl. Kenny Dorham -"Whistle Stop (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition)"

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mono, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. - Thelonious Monk was a little-known figure on the New York City bebop scene when Blue Note founder Alfred Lion discovered and fell in love with the pianist's utterly unique music and offered Monk his first opportunity to record as a leader in 1947. Over the next five years Lion recorded Monk in a variety of different settings performing his singular compositions. In 1956, Blue Note transitioned from the 10" to the 12" LP and began the 1500 Series releasing two expanded Monk compilations including Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2 (BLP 1511) which presented classic Monk tunes like "Straight No Chaser," "Four in One," and "Monk's Mood" and featured one of Reid Miles' earliest cover designs for the label.

McCOY TYNER - ASANTE (BLUE NOTE TONE POET EDITION) McCoy Tyner had been increasingly looking to Africa for inspiration on his Blue Note records of the late-60s. With 1970's Asante he brought those influences to the fore with the swirling percussive rhythmic bed of Billy Hart and Mtume, along with Buster Williams, Ted Dunbar, Andrew White and the vocals of Songai. This stereo Blue Note Tone Poet Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.

Two months after recording what would become his hit record The Sidewinder, trumpeter Lee Morgan returned to Van Gelder Studio in February 1964 to create his masterful album Search for the New Land. For the session, Morgan assembled a sextet consisting of several young stars of the Blue Note roster including Herbie Hancock on piano, Grant Green on guitar, and Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, along with the dynamic rhythm team of bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Billy Higgins. The album opens with the expansive 16-minute title track, a musical odyssey that alternates a shimmering rubato theme with a loping exploration by each soloist. Four more indelible Morgan originals follow including jaunty numbers such as "The Joker" and "Morgan the Pirate," as well as the plaintive ballad "Melancholee."

Julian Lage - "Speak To Me" / Julian Lage returns with Speak To Me, his remarkable fourth release for Blue Note, which finds the guitar virtuoso broadening his sonic palette in collaboration with esteemed producer Joe Henry who enhances Lage's trademark melodic lyricism on this wide-ranging set of compelling new originals. In addition to Lage's longtime trio with Jorge Roeder on bass and Dave King on drums, the album also features contributions from saxophonist Levon Henry, keyboardist Patrick Warren, and Kris Davis on piano. 2 LP set on 180gram vinyl Capitol Music Group; Blue Note; Jazz Artist Hometown: Santa Rosa, CA

Vinyl LP pressing. Following sideman appearances with pianist Horace Parlan in the early 1960s, Booker Ervin cut two stellar Blue Note records as a leader in 1968 including Tex Book Tenor which had to wait nearly 40 years until 2005 for it's first standalone release. With a sleek post-bop quintet featuring trumpeter Woody Shaw, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Jan Arnet, and drummer Billy Higgins, the Texas-born saxophonist slices through a set of compelling bandmember originals including Barron's sinuous tune "Gichi" and Shaw's lilting waltz "In a Capricornian Way," as well as Ervin's lovely ballad "Lynn's Tune" and the hard-swinging "Den Tex," named for his hometown of Denison.

2024 release. Melissa Aldana's 2nd Blue Note album Echoes Of The Inner Prophet is a musical voyage to explore the depth of the spiritual journey. Co-produced by Aldana and Lage Lund, the album features the tenor saxophonist with Lund on guitar, Fabian Almazan on piano, Pablo Menares on bass, and Kush Abadey on drums. The 8-track set of original compositions includes 6 new pieces by Aldana that seek profound truths through introspection, intuition, and self-reflection including the opening title track which is dedicated to Wayne Shorter.

Herbie Hancock - "Speak Like A Child (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series)" / Following his 1965 masterpiece, Maiden Voyage, Herbie Hancock wouldn't record his Blue Note follow-up until 1968 with the innovative classic, Speak Like A Child, on which the pianist and composer added the unique coloring of flugelhorn, bass trombone and alto flute to his trio for an alluring set of originals including "Riot" and "The Sorcerer." Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series features stereo, all-analog, mastering by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal in a gatefold jacket.

Charles Lloyd's new studio album features a newly assembled quartet of four distinctive voices with the legendary saxophonist joined by pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Brian Blade. Recorded around Lloyd's 85th birthday concert, The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow is a majestic body of work that presents Lloyd originals new and reimagined. The double-album finds one of the most significant musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries still at the peak of his powers. 2 LP: 180G, Gatefold Jacket

Acclaimed vibraphonist Joel Ross returns with the release of his remarkable album nublues, a collection of ballads and blues as seen through the lens of one of the most creative modern jazz groups featuring Immanuel Wilkins, Jeremy Corren, Kanoa Mendenhall, and Jeremy Dutton, as well as special guest Gabrielle Garo. The band moves seamlessly across the blues-imbued musical terrain of this 10-track set which includes 7 new Ross originals and pieces by John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Vinyl LP pressing. The late-1960s and early-1970s were a wildly creative period for Bobby Hutcherson with the vibraphonist freely exploring a wide range of stylistic possibilities from post-bop and the avant-garde to fusion and Latin Jazz. The cutting-edge 1969 session Medina-which wouldn't be first released until 1980 as part of the LT Series-documented one of Hutcherson's most remarkable band line-ups featuring two of his frequent collaborators-Harold Land on tenor saxophone and flute and Joe Chambers on drums-along with Stanley Cowell on piano and Reggie Johnson on bass. The set presented a pair of original compositions each by Hutcherson, Cowell, and Chambers that explored a variety of moods from the churning rhythms of "Avis" and "Medina" to the more atmospheric realms of "Comes Spring" and "Orientale."

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. 1964 was a momentous year in the musical life of Wayne Shorter. At the start of the year the saxophonist was still a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, appearing on classic Blue Note albums like Free for All and Indestructible. Shorter made his own auspicious label debut that spring with Night Dreamer and that summer he joined the Miles Davis Quintet cementing a line-up that would become one of the seminal bands in jazz history. When he returned to the studio for Blue Note in August it was in the company of three musicians with strong ties to John Coltrane: pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones. The resulting album JuJu is a marvel in Shorter's formidable discography which presents six of his evocative original compositions including the churning title track, the mesmerizing "House of Jade," and the brightly swinging "Yes Or No."

2024 release. And Then Again is a spirited live recording of the Bill Charlap Trio featuring the pianist's longtime band with Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums at the Village Vanguard. The album captures one of the great working jazz groups of our day on a particularly inspired Saturday evening at the iconic NYC jazz club. It's a delightful hour of high-wire swing and stunning balladry that documents the trio's continuing evolution. The repertoire includes pieces by great jazz composers including Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck and Kenny Barron as well as timeless standards like "All The Things You Are," "Darn That Dream," and "The Man I Love."

Vinyl LP pressing. Alfred Lion's inspired idea to pair tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine with The Three Sounds-the trio featuring pianist Gene Harris, bassist Andrew Simpkins, and drummer Bill Dowdy-on 1960's Blue Hour produced one of most deeply soulful hard bop outings in the Blue Note catalog. Both Turrentine and The Three Sounds were in the early days of their lengthy associations with the label at the time, the saxophonist having just recorded his leader debut Look Out a few months prior and the trio having debuted in 1958 with Introducing The 3 Sounds. Blue Hour is a smoldering late-night affair highlighted by seductive ballad performances of four standards: "I Want A Little Girl," "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You," "Since I Fell For You," and "Willow Weep For Me." At the album's center is Harris' spunky "Blue Riff," the sole uptempo number on this otherwise laid-back classic.

Acclaimed vibraphonist Joel Ross returns with the release of his remarkable album nublues, a collection of ballads and blues as seen through the lens of one of the most creative modern jazz groups featuring Immanuel Wilkins, Jeremy Corren, Kanoa Mendenhall, and Jeremy Dutton, as well as special guest Gabrielle Garo. The band moves seamlessly across the blues-imbued musical terrain of this 10-track set which includes 7 new Ross originals and pieces by John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Donald Byrd - "Royal Flush (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series)" / Donald Byrd was off to the races after joining Blue Note in 1958 and had fully hit his hard bop stride by 1961 with his excellent album, Royal Flush. Joining the trumpeter was a state-of-the-art rhythm section, featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, plus Byrd's frequent collaborator Pepper Adams on bari sax. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. Special Pkg:180g Heavy Vinyl

Vinyl LP pressing. Jackie McLean's 1962 album Let Freedom Ring reflected the change in the air of the early '60s: both the musical freedoms being explored by the emergent avant-garde movement and the social freedoms sought by the ascendent civil rights movement. This four-song set featuring the alto saxophonist with Walter Davis Jr. On piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums melds the bluesy language of hard bop with the bristling energy of The New Thing. McLean's emotive horn wails, shrieks, and soothes as the quartet moves through three striking McLean originals: "Melody For Melonae" (dedicated to his daughter), "Rene" (dedicated to his son), and "Omega" (dedicated to his mother). A plaintive rendition of the Bud Powell ballad "I'll Keep Loving You" rounds out the date.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Suave saxophone master Dexter Gordon had been living in Europe for several years when he returned to make his final Blue Note album, Gettin' Around, in 1965. This sublime set features a unique instrumentation with Dexter's tenor, the lone horn holding the spotlight, with nuanced accompaniment by Bobby Hutcherson, Barry Harris, Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins. This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series stereo edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes.

McCoy Tyner/Joe Henderson -"Forces Of Nature: Live At Slugs'" Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' is an unreleased live recording of jazz legends McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson leading a stellar quartet with Henry Grimes (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums) at the hallowed lost NYC jazz shrine, Slugs' Saloon, in 1966. Recorded by legendary engineer Orville O'Brien (who recorded classic 1960s jazz albums by Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver and Alice Coltrane), the tape has been in DeJohnette's personal archives for nearly 60 years and is now being released for the first time. Forces of Nature was produced for release by Zev Feldman, Jack DeJohnette and Lydia DeJohnette. An elaborate booklet includes rare photos by Francis Wolff, Raymond Ross and Robert Polillo, liner notes by acclaimed author and critic Nate Chinen, plus interviews and statements with DeJohnette, Jason Moran, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Nasheet Waits and Terri Lyne Carrington. Capitol Music Group; Blue Note; Jazz; Catalog 2 CD set

Vinyl LP pressing. Motion I is the debut album from Out Of/Into, the collective formerly known as The Blue Note Quintet, featuring pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Matt Brewer. The band was formed in celebration of Blue Note Records' 85th Anniversary and embarked on an extensive U.S. tour in 2024 during which they honed a distinctive, progressive sound that is the perfect embodiment of the Blue Note ethos. "Blue Note has been such a wonderful home for the community, for incredible musicians, for creativity, for all these years," says Clayton. "You can't help but think about all those masters, all those heroes that you've grown up listening to. To get a chance to pay tribute and try to carry some of that essence forward is truly just an honor."