Alfred Lion considered pianist/composer Andrew Hill as unique as Thelonious Monk and documented Hill's music with a fervor. Recorded in 1964 with a quartet of modern jazz visionaries - Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis & Elvin Jones - Judgment! Was the third classic album Hill recorded in a 5-month period that also produced Black Fire and Point of Departure. 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.
The striking cover image of an abandoned swing illuminated against a field of glittering stars makes a compelling visual metaphor for the music on Close. "Music is a twilight language," Steve Tibbetts confirms. "The job is to translate some shadow into sound." On his 11th ECM release, the Minnesotan guitarist resumes the quest, slowly developing his yearning improvised melodies over layered loops and drones and darkly rumbling percussion. If the sound colors, including distorted electric guitar and sparkling 12 string acoustic, make this music of the west, it's gradual, almost hypnotic unfolding continues to suggest eastern affinities. "I am still reaching for the evocative sound of Sultan Khan," says Tibbetts, speaking of the late Indian sarangi master whose playing has long been among his major influences.
Out Of/Into, the all-star collective that began it's life as the Blue Note Quintet in celebration of Blue Note Records' 85th anniversary, is a profound embodiment of the label's ethos, presenting state-of-the-art music and musicians - pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Matt Brewer - while also honoring Blue Note's rich legacy.
Grammy Award-winning titan of jazz saxophone Joe Lovano, hailed by The New York Times as "one of the greatest musicians in jazz history," and virtuoso guitarist Julian Lage have enjoyed a long journey of mutual artistic admiration. This new electrifying ensemble also features longtime collaborators Santi Debriano on bass and drummer Will Calhoun.
Miles Davis' first masterpiece, Birth of the Cool, gets the royal treatment in celebration of the legendary trumpeter's centennial. Davis' seminal nonet recordings were captured in 1949-50 with a cast of notable collaborators including Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and Gil Evans. This mono Blue Note Tone Poet Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog phono reel master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket featuring session photos.
Released in 1956 as the first album on the newly established Verve label, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book inaugurated her Song Book series and marked the beginning of her extended focus on composers associated with the Great American Songbook. Produced by Norman Granz, the sessions paired Ella with arranger/conductor Buddy Bregman and a studio orchestra, establishing the large-ensemble format that characterized the early Song Book recordings. The 2-LP set presents 32 songs drawn from Cole Porter's catalog and frames Ella's immaculate phrasing with West Coast orchestration that blends swing, ballad writing, and classic Hollywood sheen, emphasizing the lyrical wit and melodic elegance of Porter's writing. Formative in shaping both Verve's identity and Ella's artistic trajectory, it remains a cornerstone of her discography. Verve's Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes remastered on 180g vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
An essential document of European jazz in the 1970s, and a recording that still sounds magnificent today, Balladyna exerted an enduring influence on successive generations of improvising musicians - in Poland and Finland above all, though it also cast it's spell more widely. As Tomasz Stanko once said, "My international name was built on Balladyna." The quartet explores the seven originals on the album with a strong sense of rhythmic propulsion and melodic curiosity throughout. Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer in 1975, Balladyna was produced by Manfred Eicher.
Vinyl LP pressing. Out Of/Into, the all-star collective that began it's life as the Blue Note Quintet in celebration of Blue Note Records' 85th anniversary, is a profound embodiment of the label's ethos, presenting state-of-the-art music and musicians - pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Matt Brewer - while also honoring Blue Note's rich legacy.
Mountain Call is a peak achievement in Miroslav Vitous's music, presenting the masterful bassist in varying ensemble configurations that prominently include the renowned French clarinetist Michel Portal and late American drummer Jack DeJohnette, among others. Persuasively bringing together several tendencies and streams in Vitous's work, the album bears testimony to his multiple skills as dynamic improviser, jazz composer, arranger and creative sampling pioneer. The prodigiously gifted Czech bassist and founding member of Weather Report first came to ECM in the late 1970s, in a collaborative trio with Terje Rypdal and Jack DeJohnette. Mountain Call was recorded at multiple sessions over a period of seven years at Vitous's Prague studio. The album was produced by Miroslav Vitous and Manfred Eicher.
Vinyl LP pressing. Bria Skonberg's 'Brass' is a celebration of her favorite elements of trumpet playing featuring Luther Allison, Eric Wheeler & Darrian Douglas. After many years of working to synthesize voice and trumpet, Juno Award Winner Bria Skonberg has chosen to explore them both individually. Her new album on Cellar Music is the first of those explorations - ' Brass'. For Bria Skonberg studying the trumpet has been a true labor of love. Through precision, power, style, and/or subtlety, this collection of songs and arrangements is a celebration of her favorite elements of playing the trumpet. Her trio of Luther Allison, Eric Wheeler and Darrian Douglas provides a highly swinging, steady yet versatile foundation for the project. The trumpet is ultimately an extension of Bria Skonberg's voice, and the beauty of instrumental music is it can often express emotions without words.
Norman Brown's most popular album of the last 20 years!!! Grammy Award-winning Contemporary Jazz/R&B superstar Norman Brown has sold over 4 million albums in his extraordinary career and virtually lives at the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz sales and radio charts. Having shared the stage with virtually every Contemporary Jazz superstar from Boney James to Dave Koz to Gerald Albright, Norman is also touring nationwide as co-leader of the supergroup BWB (Norman Brown, Kirk Whalum and Rick Braun)!! Let's Get Away which is already approaching 100 million streams, has Norman Brown's hit-making talents on full display. Featuring inspired original compositions such as the vibey "LA Chill," the funk/blues tinged "Talk It Out," and the romantic tribute to Wes Montgomery, "Heading Wes," Norman tops it all off with a brilliant rendition of the classic "Down Here On the Ground!"
Vinyl LP pressing. In a review of one of their early performances together, writer Wolfgang Sandner made the interesting point that Tunisian oud virtuoso Anouar Brahem is as far removed from Arab music as it is traditionally played in his homeland as Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek is from the jazz mainstream. Certainly, Brahem and Garbarek are two very independent spirits, outsiders who meet here as equals - accompanied, on parts of this intriguing, often thrilling, production by a third original, the Pakistani tabla master, Ustad Shaukat Hussain. Originally released in 1994. ECM Luminessence Series.
Frank Sinatra - "Songs For Swingin' Lovers (Blue Note Tone Poet Edition)" [180g Heavy Vinyl LP] Following his melancholy masterpiece In The Wee Small Hours, legendary vocalist Frank Sinatra brightened the mood with the exuberant Songs For Swingin' Lovers released on Capitol Records in 1956 and featuring uptempo numbers arranged by Nelson Riddle. This mono 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 gatefold tip-on jacket featuring session photos by William Claxton & Ken Veeder.
Duke Jordan was on the front lines of the bebop revolution as the pianist in Charlie Parker's quintet and later recorded his sole Blue Note album, Flight To Jordan, in 1960 - an exemplar hard bop date featuring Dizzy Reece (trumpet), Stanley Turrentine (sax), Reggie Workman (bass), and Art Taylor (drums). 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 gatefold tip-on jacket.
Pianist and composer Aaron Parks expands his trio with bassist Ben Street and drummer Billy Hart into a quartet with the addition of tenor saxophonist Ben Solomon on his luminous third Blue Note album, By All Means. Although Parks has made his band Little Big the center of his recorded output in recent years, he never stopped writing music that belonged to a different harmonic universe influenced by the likes of Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Duke Ellington, Joe Henderson, and others.
Introducing a new piano trio from Norway, Tord Gustavsen's young group - already making waves in the Far North where "Changing Places" has soared into the pop charts - is telling new stories within the framework of the jazz tradition. This is music that sings, at once gentle and robust. The songs Gustavsen writes sound like standards-in-the-making. Lyrical, immediately memorable, they are songs of an appealing freshness yet sophisticated in their involvement with the melodic line. And the trio improvises, with flair and originality, inside their structures.
Andrew Hill - Compulsion!!!!! Blue Note Tone Poet Edition / Blue Note Tone Poet / One of the boldest statements in Andrew Hill's discography, 1965's Compulsion!!!!! was the pianist's expression of the avant-garde through the prism of jazz's roots in African rhythms. Hill's percussive piano drives an intrepid ensemble featuring Freddie Hubbard, John Gilmore, Cecil McBee & Joe Chambers. 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 gatefold tip-on jacket.
Trombonist Bennie Green made his Blue Note debut with his delightful 1958 album, Back On The Scene, featuring saxophonist Charlie Rouse, pianist Joe Knight, bassist George Tucker and drummer Louis Hayes. From buoyant swing to Latin grooves to tender ballads the band delivers a thoroughly enjoyable program. This mono 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 gatefold tip-on jacket.
With Convergence, his second solo album, Swedish-born bassist Bjorn Meyer further develops music on the blueprint established with his critically praised recording Provenance (2017), making use of the technical potential of the bass guitar to establish striking sonorities and rich-grained textures while also being acutely aware of the acoustic space in which his sounds emerge and bloom. This time around, the scene has shifted to Munich's Bavaria Musikstudios, a space long associated with music for film, and Meyer's atmospheric explorations conjure images in the mind. In parallel with his technical innovations, he has also grown as a melodist, and much of Convergence has a yearning, songful quality. In brief, it feels complete in itself, more than a document of instrumental prowess.
Trumpeter Lee Morgan was just 19 years old and still early on in his lengthy Blue Note association when he cut his brightly swinging 1957 album, City Lights, featuring Curtis Fuller, George Coleman, Ray Bryant, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. The set includes 3 compositions by Morgan's mentor Benny Golson. 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 gatefold tip-on jacket.
Vibraphonist Joel Ross returns with his 5th Blue Note album, Gospel Music, featuring an expanded sextet line-up of his band Good Vibes with Josh Johnson on alto saxophone, Maria Grand on tenor saxophone, Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass & Jeremy Dutton on drums. The album is Ross' sonic interpretation of the biblical story, an exploration of his faith, and the fulfilment of his musical upbringing in the church, which delivers a message of hope and love.
