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.

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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.

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."

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.

Vinyl LP pressing. By the time drummer Pete La Roca recorded his debut album Basra in 1965 he had already appeared on nine Blue Note sessions as a sideman and spent time in bands led by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. But it was another tenor titan, Joe Henderson, that La Roca brought in as the sole horn voice to front a dynamic quartet that was completed by what liner note writer Ira Gitler called "one of the most attuned rhythm sections in jazz" featuring bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Steve Kuhn.

Reissue. Wishful Thinking, originally released in 1984, was Earl Klugh's 10th studio album. It features the wide variety of musical styles Klugh is comfortable playing and composing - blues, soul-jazz, smooth jazz, reggae tinged rhythms, classical - augmented by orchestrated arrangements. Saxophonist David Sanborn guests on "The Only One for Me".

2020 release. Joel Ross' follow-up to his widely acclaimed debut KingMaker, which made Best of 2019 lists in NPR Music, Rolling Stone, and more. The album was co-produced by Walter Smith III and features Ross' Good Vibes band with Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums, plus harpist Brandee Younger on several tracks. "This record is a culmination of our maturing - as people, as a band, within the music - it's about figuring out who we are."

2021 release. Pianist and producer James Francies follows-up his acclaimed 2018 debut Flight with the expansive opus Purest Form, an eclectic new album that taps into the essence of his artistry across 14 tracks that conjure a world of sounds and textures, interpreting love, grief, frailty, and fortitude. In addition to Burniss Travis on bass and Jeremy Dutton on drums, the album features alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, guitarist Mike Moreno, and vocalists Peyton, Elliott Skinner, and Bilal.

Jimmy Smith was a self-taught pianist who helped popularize the Hammond B3 organ with a revolutionary style that caught the ear of Alfred Lion at Blue Note who later dubbed him The Incredible Jimmy Smith. Back At The Chicken Shack was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in 1960 with Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Donald Bailey on drums. Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered from the original tapes on 180g LP.

Guitar virtuoso Julian Lage makes his Blue Note debut with an album that weds incisive, expressive songwriting with the profound interplay of his trio featuring Jorge Roeder and Dave King. The trio planned to record after a Village Vanguard residency in January 2020 but were delayed by the pandemic. Lage retooled the songs in light of the summer's lockdown and protests over social justice. By the time he recorded the album in August, the tunes had taken on a deeper air of mystery and searching.

Vinyl LP pressing. London duo, Blue Lab Beats have been taking jazz into the stratosphere with a futuristic melting pot fueled by hip-hop, Afrobeats and electronica. They represent a generation inspired by not only the forebearers of jazz but also the pioneers of hip-hop's golden age where musicality was a primary principle.

Limited 180gm viny LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tape. Recorded in 1961, but not released until 1967, The Witch Doctor features one of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers' all-time great line-ups: Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass. Shorter and Morgan each contribute two tunes, with Timmons penning one. Highlights include Morgan's spectacular 6/8 modal piece "Afrique" and Shorter's minor masterpiece "Those Who Sit And Wait." Bobby Timmons brings the deep soul goods on his composition "A Little Busy," and the album closes with a fleet-footed romp through Clifford Jordan's tune "Lost And Found." Blue Note Records' Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series is produced by Joe Harley and features all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g audiophile vinyl reissues in deluxe gatefold packaging.