Blue Note

Having teamed up on two prior Pacific Jazz recordings, trumpeter Chet Baker & alto saxophonist Art Pepper continued their fruitful collaboration with the supremely swinging 1956 album Picture of Heath (which was originally released as Playboys until Hugh Hefner objected) The sextet for the session was brimming with top talent...

In Andrew Hill, Alfred Lion believed he had found another pianist and composer who had as unique and important a voice as Thelonious Monk Hill debuted on Blue Note in 1963 with a staggering burst of creativity that produced four classic albums—Black Fire, Smoke Stack, Judgment!, and his masterpiece Point of Departure—over a...

The great tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine imbued every single note he played with a depth of feeling and soulfulness that still reverberates today Turrentine made his Blue Note debut in 1960 and had been a stalwart of the label for the better part of a decade when he entered Rudy Van Gelder's studio in August 1968 to lay down...

Alfred Lion and Max Margulis established the BLUE NOTE label in 1939, with photographer Francis Wolff becoming involved shortly afterwards The caliber of the musicians that recorded for Blue Note coupled with its stylized cover designs has made it one of the most legendary jazz labels of all time From the dozens of classic albums...

Saxophonist Joe Lovano signed with Blue Note Records in 1990 and over the next 25 years became one of the most recorded artists in the label’s history, building a formidable catalog that explored the full breadth of his artistry Lovano’s sublime 2003 album I’m All For You: Ballad Songbook stands as one of his finest efforts,...

On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, and recorded his first great masterpiece: Blue Train It would be the legendary saxophonist’s sole album as a leader for Blue Note, a locomotive 5-track album fueled by the bluesy title track that featured a dynamic...

On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, and recorded his first great masterpiece: Blue Train It would be the legendary saxophonist’s sole album as a leader for Blue Note, a locomotive 5-track album fueled by the bluesy title track that featured a dynamic...

BACK IN PRINT! This album by the American jazz, soul and R&B saxophonist was recorded in 1963 and originally released in 1965 And now it's back on...

Wayne Shorter had already set a high bar over the course of his first several Blue Note albums, which included all-time jazz classics including Night Dreamer, JuJu, and Speak No Evil, but 1966’s Adam’s Apple featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums immediately joined the ranks of the...

Lou Donaldson had already been at the helm of seven Blue Note sessions by the time he made his undisputed masterpiece Blues Walk in 1958 The alto saxophonist quickly became a fixture on the Blue Note scene after he first played on a Milt Jackson date in 1952 with sideman appearance on sessions led by Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey,...

Extension was the last of 3 unique Blue Note sessions led by the singular saxophonist George Braith in the early 1960s The album was rooted in soul jazz—with Grant Green on guitar, Billy Gardner on organ, and Clarence Johnston on drums—but Braith’s adventurous spirit led the music into unexpected realms on memorable...

One of the finest pianists and composers of the hard bop era, Sonny Clark seemed to arrive fully formed on his supremely swinging debut album Dial “S” for Sonny recorded for Blue Note in 1957 Clark assembled a top-flight sextet for the occasion with Art Farmer on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Hank Mobley on tenor...

Despite having performed on several of the most revolutionary avant-garde jazz records of the 1960s, including Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz and John Coltrane’s Ascension, Freddie Hubbard’s own albums tended to hew closer to the mainstream Perhaps no other single album captures the trumpeter’s awe-inspiring breadth of...

Born in Mississippi, Gerald Wilson spent formative years in Detroit before launching a celebrated career as a trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader After moving to Los Angeles, Wilson signed with Pacific Jazz and in 1961 began a decade-long run of spectacular recordings including 1962’s Moment of Truth The action-packed...

Vibraphonist and composer Joel Ross returns with stunning conviction on The Parable of the Poet, an expansive album-length suite composed by Ross The album embodies his collaborative spirit and finds him exploring new territory with his eight-piece Parables band featuring Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Maria Grand on tenor...

It’s a sign of the sheer volume of top-notch hard bop that Blue Note was recording in the 1950s-60s that a supremely swinging date like Hank Mobley’s 1957 album Curtain Call would sit in the vaults unreleased until 1984 Mobley himself was in the middle of a particularly prolific streak that year with the tenor saxophonist...

The timeless 1960 hard bop classic The Big Beat was the album that first introduced one of the greatest line-ups of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers to the jazz public with the legendary drummer and bandleader joined by trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt...

The Detroit born alto saxophonist Sonny Red made only one album as a leader for Blue Note, but Out of the Blue remains a gem of the catalog deserving of much wider recognition Red’s lightly swinging style shines on this 8-song set of bluesy originals and obscure standards, which was drawn from two different quartet sessions...

Pianist & composer Gerald Clayton explores the impact and abstraction of time on his ravishing 2nd Blue Note album Bells On Sand, which features contributions from mentor Charles Lloyd on saxophone, father John Clayton on bass, longtime friend and peer Justin Brown on drums, and new collaborator MARO on vocals “Each musician...

At 27 years, Horace Silver’s tenure as a Blue Note recording artist was the longest of any artist in the history of the label The legendary pianist and composer cut his first Blue Note session Horace Silver Trio in 1952 and his session for Silver ‘N Strings Play The Music of the Spheres was the very last recording date before...

Vibraphonist Milt Jackson appeared on a number of Blue Note sessions throughout the bebop era in the late 1940s and early 1950s including a 1952 date under his leadership which featured the original line-up of the Modern Jazz Quartet with John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums, plus Lou Donaldson on...

Grant Green had already recorded a prolific 10 sessions of classic hard bop and soul jazz for Blue Note over a 2-year span by the time he arrived at Van Gelder Studio in 1962 to record his album The Latin Bit The concept of the album was a departure for Green with the guitarist exploring Latin and Brazilian influences with a band...

In February 1964, Eric Dolphy assembled a formidable quintet of modern jazz visionaries with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, Richard Davison bass, and Tony Williamson drums, and headed into Rudy Van Gelder’s studio to record what would stand as his masterwork: Out to Lunch! A genius artist of...