Kenny Burrell: Blue Lights Volume 1 (Blue Note Classic Vinyl series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

Back in Blue Note's Classic Vinyl series, Andy Warhol cover and all. Burrell leads Art Blakey, Louis Smith, Tina Brooks, Junior Cook, Duke Jordan and Sam Jones through four long tracks, a session AllMusic's Scott Yanow called 'very coherent.'

This edition

Blue Note Classic Vinyl series
Andy Warhol cover illustration
Four long tracks across two sides

About the album

On May 14, 1958, Alfred Lion and Rudy Van Gelder put Kenny Burrell and a seven-piece band in the studio and came out with enough music for two albums, issued later that year as Blue Lights Volumes 1 and 2. It's a jam session in the best sense, with everybody given room and nobody wasting it.

Volume 1 opens with 'Yes Baby' and the slow-burning 'Scotch Blues,' then turns to the standards, 'Autumn in New York' and a long 'Caravan' that gives Art Blakey plenty of space to roam. Burrell plays with the clean, unhurried Detroit tone that made him Blue Note's guitarist of choice, and Louis Smith's trumpet is a treat throughout.

And yes, that's Andy Warhol's drawing on the front, from his years as a commercial illustrator. It may be the only Blue Note cover you could hang in a gallery and play on a Sunday morning.