Blue Note

In Shades of Blue Madlib, hip-hop producer extraordinaire, tackles Blue Note's soul-jazz catalogue, enjoying free rein in the fabled label's vaults.

Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes’ What Kinda Music – an astonishing collaboration between two artists of very different disciplines, and one of the most unique and seamlessly original projects of its ilk to date. 

Donald Byrd’s 1975 album Places and Spaces featuring the hits “Wind Parade” and “Dominoes” was the culmination of the great trumpeter’s fusion period.

On his third date for Blue Note within a year, Wayne Shorter changed the bands that played on both Night Dreamer and Juju and came up with not only another winner, but also managed to give critics and jazz fans a different look at him as a saxophonist.

Blue Note Re:imagined returns this year with a new 16-track compilation featuring fresh takes on music from the illustrious Blue Note vaults recorded by a heavyweight line-up of the UK jazz, soul and R&B scene’s most hotly-tipped rising stars.

NOT TiGHT is the long-awaited debut album from virtuosic Gen Z duo, DOMi and JD Beck, released on Anderson .Paak’s new label Apeshit in partnership with the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records. 

This is truly one of the great classics of hard bop, with drummer Art Blakey leading arguably his greatest Jazz Messengers lineup through a driving program that never lets up. Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson (whose composition Along Came Betty is heard here, subsequently becoming a jazz classic), brilliant trumpeter Lee Morgan, and funky pianist Bobby Timmons (who wrote the hit title cut) each take some of the best solos of their great careers, and Blakey was never greater. No jazz record collection should be without this disc. It remains one of the premier items in Blue Note's catalogue, and rightfully so.

Blue Note Re:imagined II once again infuses the spirit of the new UK jazz generation into the legendary label’s iconic catalogue.

When jazz bass virtuoso Paul Chambers recorded his third and final album as a Blue Note lead, Bass On Top, he was already well established.

Gregory Porter’s new release Still Rising, due out November 5, is an exquisite collection of musical delights. The first disc includes four brand-new tracks, two new arrangements, three new covers, and nine of Porter’s most loved Blue Note tracks. The second disc features notable duets including songs with Moby, Jamie Cullum, Jeff Goldblum, Renée Fleming, Dianne Reeves, Lalah Hathaway, Laura Mvula, Lizz Wright, and others. The new song and first single from the album “Dry Bones,” written and produced by Troy Miller (Diana Ross, Rag’n’Bone Man, Emeli Sandé), is available to stream or download today.

While containing elements of jazz throughout, this release leans further into heavy dance-hall themes, providing hypnotic, electronic soundscapes to dance to while keeping you intellectually stimulated.

Breathe captures the Hammond B-3 organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith during his 75th birthday run at the Jazz Standard in NYC in 2017.

Recorded on 1st March 1962 at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Recorded in 1962 but not originally released until 1985. A classic post-bop album from a Blue Note legend.

Carried by its almost impossibly infectious eponymous opening track, The Sidewinder helped foreshadow the sounds of boogaloo and soul-jazz with its healthy R&B influence and Latin tinge.

Grant Green, being known mainly as a soul jazz guitarist, eventually gravitated into the popular boogaloo sound. The Latin Bit is the natural bridge to that next phase, though a bit premature for most in 1961-1963, even relative to the subsequent bossa nova craze. 

Ushering in an exciting new era for the label, nightclub and mix series, Bonobo opens the ‘Fabric Presents’ series that pledges CD and vinyl releases on a quarterly basis

Two months after recording The Sidewinder, trumpet legend Lee Morgan was back in Van Gelder Studio in February 1964 creating his masterful sextet album Search for the New Land with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, Reggie Workman, and Billy Higgins.

Ten years ago in 2012, Robert Glasper changed the game. After several acclaimed Blue Note albums that solidified his Jazz cred while hinting at his Hip-Hop leanings, the visionary pianist went all in with Black Radio.

In addition to boasting one of Reid Miles’ greatest album cover designs, Hank Mobley’s 1963 album No Room for Squares is a marvel for the music alone.

His 1965 masterpiece 'Unity' featured a cast of modern jazz masters with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on saxophone, and Elvin Jones on drums.

If Eternal Rhythm was Don Cherry's world fusion masterpiece of the '60s, then Brown Rice is its equivalent for the '70s.

Here's another classic from one of the greatest vibraphone players to ever grace the world of jazz.

Classic 1972 album. If there’s one word to summarize Donald Byrd’s career, it’s undoubtedly “eclectic.” 

A landmark album by Donald Byrd — the first one where he really started to click with jazz-funk producer Larry Mizell!

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.

While Joe Henderson seemed to arrive fully formed on his auspicious 1963 debut Page One, the album was really a showcase for the transcendent collaboration between the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Kenny Dorham who would form a potent frontline team on numerous mid-60s Blue Note classics.

Now, nearly 50 years later, that recording of the great trumpeter’s dynamic set will be officially released for the first time ever on what would have been Byrd’s 90th birthday: December 9, 2022.

This gatefold Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog.

Saxophonist Joe Henderson expanded his palette on his vigorous 1966 album Mode for Joe with a dynamic septet.

Less overtly adventurous than its predecessor, Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage nevertheless finds Herbie Hancock at a creative peak.

The guitarist’s acclaimed 1961 debut. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on 28th January 1961.

40th anniversary remastered edition of the classic soul album from 1981.

Often overlooked, perhaps because he wasn't a great innovator in jazz but merely a stellar performer, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley was at the peak of his powers on Soul Station. 

Dr. Lonnie Smith’s 1969 album Turning Point featured the organ virtuoso with a dynamic band.

Bobbi Humphrey scored her biggest hit with her third album Blacks and Blues, an utterly delightful jazz-funk classic that helped make her a sensation at Montreux.

Stanley Turrentine’s 1964 recording Mr. Natural featured the soulful tenor saxophonist and Blue Note stalwart at the helm of a cutting-edge modern jazz group with Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and Ray Barretto on congas for three songs.

Empyrean Isles from 1964 is the best of Hancock's Blue Note albums and an outstanding example of modal jazz.

Blue Mitchell was a member of Horace Silver’s Quintet before he began recording his own leader albums for Blue Note through the 1960s including Bring It Home To Me.

The Real McCoy is the seventh album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his first released on the Blue Note label. 

The tenor sax legend’s 1957 Blue Note debut. Recorded at the (original) Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, on 17th April 1956.

First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings is a thrilling previously unreleased live recording of Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers captured at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo on January 14, 1961 during the band’s first-ever tour of Japan.