Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series edition was mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl. In 2005 NPR put Midnight Blue in its Basic Jazz Library as one of the great jazzy blues records.

This edition

• Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
• Mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog tapes
• 180g vinyl
• Stereo
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

If you've ever wondered what a smoky after-hours club sounds like with the lights down, Kenny Burrell bottled it in 1963. Jazz Improv magazine put it plainly: if you need to know the Blue Note sound, here it is.

Burrell's guitar is clean, bluesy and endlessly tasteful, and Stanley Turrentine's tenor sax answers with warm, gritty soul. Major Holley on bass, Bill English on drums and Ray Barretto on conga keep the grooves loose and low. "Chitlins Con Carne" is the famous opener, later covered by Stevie Ray Vaughan; "Mule" and "Saturday Night Blues" stretch out, "Soul Lament" is Burrell alone, and the title track is pure late-night cool. Alfred Lion produced, Rudy Van Gelder engineered and Reid Miles designed the sleeve. The playing never shows off; it simply sits in the pocket and stays there, which is why so many guitarists still learn these licks by ear. Kevin Gray's mastering from the original tapes keeps Barretto's congas crisp and Turrentine's tone full and round.

Elvis Costello borrowed that sleeve design for Almost Blue in 1981, which is about the highest compliment one record cover can pay another.

Also at Kops: more Kenny Burrell on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# 3579908), a reissue of the 1963 album.