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Easily the most hard-hitting of Blue Note's 2LP Lighthouse Live series from the early 70s – and a record that really lets Elvin Jones and his group stretch out and play! The setting is a perfect one for Jones – given the boundless energy already present on his studio sessions for Blue... read more

A overlooked gem in Elvin Jones' Blue Note career – and an album that's virtually the blueprint for the Stone Alliance sound forged later in the decade by bassist Gene Perla and reedman Steve Grossman! Both players are working to full effect on this smoking little set – mixing some of... read more

A overlooked gem in Elvin Jones' Blue Note career – and an album that's virtually the blueprint for the Stone Alliance sound forged later in the decade by bassist Gene Perla and reedman Steve Grossman! Both players are working to full effect on this smoking little set – mixing some of... read more

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One of the greatest records ever cut by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra – way way more than a big band jazz session, and a fantastically hip batch of grooves that encompasses a wealth of styles! The Jones/Lewis group could sometimes sound a bit clunky and overhashed – but on this... read more

A holy grail from the prime years of Blue Note hardbop – and one of the first records ever recorded by Clifford Jordan, then a fresh young tenor talent just blown in from Chicago! The album has Jordan working with an all-star lineup that includes Art Farmer on trumpet, Sonny Clark on piano,... read more

A holy grail from the prime years of Blue Note hardbop – and one of the first records ever recorded by Clifford Jordan, then a fresh young tenor talent, just blown in from Chicago! The album has Jordan working with an all-star lineup that includes Art Farmer on trumpet, Sonny Clark on piano,... read more

One of the great lost ones from Blue Note – hard to find in any pressing, and a killer hardbop session from the days when the label could crank them out with a quality unmatched by other labels! Clifford Jordan's leading an unusual group here – a septet, which is a bit of a change from... read more

A landmark session that features two of the greatest tenor talents to emerge from the rich Chicago scene of the 50s! Jordan was well-known to jazz fans, or would be within a few years – but Gilmore's rarely heard in this sort of setting, as most of his recording career was spent in the... read more

Quite possibly the greatest album ever cut by pianist Duke Jordan – a seminal force in bop, both for his writing and playing – but an artist who rarely ever got the chance to work as a leader! This session's a prime bit of lost Blue Note – with an unusual and edgey lineup that... read more

A crucial album for the jazz guitar in the 80s – the debut effort of Stanley Jordan, and a set that exploded with a very fresh sound! Jordan has a really unique way of handling his instrument – playing up and down the fret board with both hands – in ways that are often so... read more

A trio of Blue Note albums from guitarist Stanley Jordan! First up is Magic Touch – a crucial album for the jazz guitar in the 80s – the debut effort of Stanley Jordan, and a set that exploded with a very fresh sound! Jordan has a really unique way of handling his instrument –... read more

Guitarist Stanley Jordan takes on a set of standards – not just older tunes from the American songbook, but also some gorovy soul and pop numbers as well! Jordan plays solo throughout – in that open, lyrical style that we loved on his debut – and titles include "Sunny",... read more

A great setting for Stacey Kent – one of the most lovely vocalists to emerge in recent years – heard here in a live performance that's almost got more charm than her previous studio albums for Blue Note! The space is large, but the group is nice and small – an intimate lineup... read more

The sweet debut from guitarist Earl Klugh – a player whose sound went onto dominate late 70s fusion in a big big way! Klugh's clearly stepping here into a space allowed by George Benson at the time – a blend of jazz and R&B that's warmer and mellower than work previously done on... read more

A real breakout album for Earl Klugh – the kind of record that got him on the a-list of fusion players for the rest of the 70s! The title here is especially well-chosen – as the tunes have a gently colorful feel that's never too slick, despite the tighter setting of the album –... read more

A really unusual later chapter in the career of guitarist Robby Krieger – a post-Doors album done for Blue Note Records – and a set that's got more than enough jazzy touches to live up to its placement on the label! Krieger's guitar gets plenty of workout on the album's fusion-styled... read more

A near-lost session from west coast tenorist Harold Land – recorded in the 60s, not issued at the time, and easily one of his greatest albums ever! The set is one of the few from the period that really has Harold biting hard on the tenor – grooving with a soulful edge that shows the... read more

A stone classic from reedman Ronnie Laws – and an album that really helped set a whole new standard for funky fusion in the 70s! Laws works here with great Wayne Henderson production – which gives the album an even sharper sound than other Blue Note sets of this vintage – and... read more

A stone classic from reedman Ronnie Laws – and an album that really helped set a whole new standard for funky fusion in the 70s! Laws works here with great Wayne Henderson production – which gives the album an even sharper sound than other Blue Note sets of this vintage – and... read more

Two stone classics from Ronnie Laws – back to back on a single CD! Friends & Strangers is a stone classic from reedman Ronnie Laws – and an album that really helped set a whole new standard for funky fusion in the 70s! Laws works here with great Wayne Henderson production –... read more

Classic bit of 70s fusion, played by Ronnie on tenor and flute, and with a group that includes some excellent keyboard work by Joe Sample. The highlight of the record is the big sample cut "Tidal Wave", but it also includes the great groover "Always There", which was covered a... read more

Classic bit of 70's fusion, played by Ronnie on tenor and flute, and with a group that includes some excellent keyboard work by Joe Sample. The highlight of the record is the big sample cut "Tidal Wave", but it also includes the great groover "Always There", which was covered a... read more

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Fantastic lean low funky fusion – and a lost Blue Note 70s gem – a set that's way different than any other work from the team of bassist John Lee and drummer Gerry Brown! The set's nice and spare – almost CTI in style at times, but with some excellent production work from Skip... read more

Great work from John Lee and Gerry Brown – a pair of fusion stalwarts who added key help to a number of classic 70s sessions for other artists – and got to make a rare few albums like this on their own! Lee's on bass and Brown's on drums, and the pair are in perfect time throughout... read more

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Complex grooves from guitarist Lionel Loueke – and a set that may well be his best so far, thanks to key help from Robert Glasper! Glasper co-produced the set, and also plays piano and Fender Rhodes as well – often with those great blocky rhythms we love so much in his own music –... read more

A mighty great album from reedman Joe Lovano – one of his greatest records in years, and proof that he's still got plenty of fire – when given the chance to burn! The group here is wonderful – and half the tracks feature bass work from Esperanza Spaulding, reminding us that she's... read more

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Madlib invades Blue Note! He gets free reign of the catalog for this mix of sampler genius and live band interpretations, too, as/with Ahmad Miller, Yesterdays New Quintet, Malcolm Catto, Medaphoar, and others from the Stones Throw camp. This one's truly a conceptual triumph, if there ever was... read more

Madlib invades Blue Note! He gets free reign of the catalog for this mix of sampler genius and live band interpretations, too, as/with Ahmad Miller, Yesterdays New Quintet, Malcolm Catto, Medaphoar, and others from the Stones Throw camp. This one's truly a conceptual triumph, if there ever was... read more

One of the most unique sessions ever cut for Blue Note – an album of very traditional Afro-Cuban jamming, led by percussionist Sabu Martinez! The music on the album's comprised mostly of percussion – plus some occasional guitar, bass, and vocals shouted by Sabu, and group members that... read more

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A really unusual album for Jack McDuff – one that was recorded in Memphis, with a lineup and a feel that's quite different from other Blue Note sessions of the time! There's a lot of electricity bubbling in the record – and although McDuff normally never worked with a bassist on... read more

A really unusual album for Jack McDuff – one that was recorded in Memphis, with a lineup and a feel that's quite different from other Blue Note sessions of the time! There's a lot of electricity bubbling in the record – and although McDuff normally never worked with a bassist on... read more

An incredible record – the kind of album that no fan of funky jazz should be without! This album is far and away one of the greatest ever cut by Brother Jack McDuff – and it's a baroquely complicated batch of funky jazz cuts that's still light years ahead of any other record! The... read more

An incredible record – the kind of album that no fan of funky jazz should be without! This album is far and away one of the greatest ever cut by Brother Jack McDuff – and it's a baroquely complicated batch of funky jazz cuts that's still light years ahead of any other record! The... read more

An incredible record – the kind of album that no fan of funky jazz should be without! This album is far and away one of the greatest ever cut by Brother Jack McDuff – and it's a baroquely complicated batch of funky jazz cuts that's still light years ahead of any other record! The... read more

One of Jimmy's funkiest albums ever – a sweeeeet batch of short, hard, and funky cuts – and a record that ranks right up there with the mighty Soul Sugar for sheer funkiness! Jimmy takes an upbeat and easygoing approach to the late 60s funk sound, with a nice, rubbery bass and the... read more

A killer "new thing" session from Blue Note's mid 60s glory days – featuring Jackie McLean, and some youthful modernists, like Cecil McBee, Bobby Hutcherson, and Charles Tolliver, all coming together in an incredibly powerful set of tracks! Billy Higgins rounds out the set on drums... read more

A killer "new thing" session from Blue Note's mid 60s glory days – featuring Jackie McLean, and some youthful modernists, like Cecil McBee, Bobby Hutcherson, and Charles Tolliver, all coming together in an incredibly powerful set of tracks! Billy Higgins rounds out the set on drums... read more

A tremendous set from Jackie McLean – perfectly poised between his hardbop and modern years, with a set of compositions that are as great as the performances! The lineup on this one's a bit unusual – with Walter Bishop on piano, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art... read more

A great slice from Jackie McLean's rare unissued 60s sessions for Blue Note – a rollingly soulful session that stands in stark contrast to some of his more modern sides of the time! The set's got Jackie working with a group that includes Lee Morgan on trumpet and Harold Mabern on piano... read more

A great slice from Jackie McLean's rare unissued 60s sessions for Blue Note – a rollingly soulful session that stands in stark contrast to some of his more modern sides of the time! The set's got Jackie working with a group that includes Lee Morgan on trumpet and Harold Mabern on piano... read more

A pivotal session from the late 60s – one that has Jackie pulling things back a bit from his "new thing" period, and turning towards the spiritual soulful groove that would characterize his early 70s work! The album bristles with excitement – still very much informed by a... read more

A modernist classic from 60s Blue Note! The album's one of Jackie McLean's greatest from the time – and one of his seminal "new thing" sessions cut with young modernists Grachan Moncur and Bobby Hutcherson. 3 of the 4 long tracks on the record were written by Moncur, and have a... read more

Stunning! This is one of Jackie McLean's best-ever albums, and it's a haunting mix of hard bop and some of the more modernist tendencies that would inform his "new thing" period. Butch Warren plays bass, and he drives the set with an intensity that reminds us of Mingus – and which... read more

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A pivotal record for Jackie McLean – a set that still has some of the spirit and lineup of his "new thing" years, but which also takes on a more spiritual vibe as well – clearly pointing the direction towards McLean's music in the 70s! The album's one of those unusual Blue... read more

A real classic by Jackie McLean – a record that's pulled from 2 different sessions, but which stands out with a strikingly unified feel! The album was cut during the height of Jackie's bop years for Blue Note – with one 1959 session that featured Donald Byrd and Sonny Clark, and... read more

A real classic by Jackie McLean – a record that's pulled from 2 different sessions, but which stands out with a strikingly unified feel! The album was cut during the height of Jackie's bop years for Blue Note – with one 1959 session that featured Donald Byrd and Sonny Clark, and... read more

A real classic by Jackie McLean – a record that's pulled from 2 different sessions, but which stands out with a strikingly unified feel! The album was cut during the height of Jackie's bop years for Blue Note – with one 1959 session that featured Donald Byrd and Sonny Clark, and... read more

2 great unreleased sessions by Jackie McLean! One session has him in the kind of group you'd expect on a Lee Morgan record – with Morgan and Charles Tolliver on trumpets, plus Larry Willis, Larry Ridley, and Jack DeJohnette. The other session's got a mellower quartet setting, with Willis... read more

A beautiful record that has Jackie McLean skirting the boundary between his later "out" recordings, and his earlier bop ones. The group's a quartet with Walter Davis, Herbie Lewis, and Billy Higgins – and the tracks are all quite long. While McLean never plays in the "free&quo... read more

A beautiful record that has Jackie McLean skirting the boundary between his later "out" recordings, and his earlier bop ones. The group's a quartet with Walter Davis, Herbie Lewis, and Billy Higgins – and the tracks are all quite long. While McLean never plays in the "free&quo... read more

One of Jackie McLean's last "new thing" albums for Blue Note – and a very unique record that features Ornette Coleman on trumpet! The sound here is stark and hard – slight hints of the soulfulness that the "gospel" in the title might imply, mixed with the angular... read more

An amazing album – simply groundbreaking, and a key turn for Jackie McLean! The record features a group of hip young players – including a very young Tony Williams, plus Grachan Moncur III, Bobby Hutcherson, and Eddie Kahn – all playing in a spare contemplative modernist mode... read more

Great stuff, and one of Jackie McLean's best for Blue Note from the "new thing" period! The album features Jackie working out a wealth of new ideas, in a quartet that includes Larry Willis on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Clifford Jarvis on drums. Jackie holds down the frontline... read more

Great stuff, and one of Jackie McLean's best for Blue Note from the "new thing" period! The album features Jackie working out a wealth of new ideas, in a quartet that includes Larry Willis on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Clifford Jarvis on drums. Jackie holds down the frontline... read more

Great stuff, and one of Jackie McLean's best for Blue Note from the "new thing" period! The album features Jackie working out a wealth of new ideas, in a quartet that includes Larry Willis on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Clifford Jarvis on drums. Jackie holds down the frontline... read more

Jackie McLean cut some of his best bop sessions for Blue Note – and this is one of them! The record is amazingly precise, and features Jackie as the sole horn soloist in a group with Walter Bishop on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – a crack rhythm combo that... read more

Fantastic lost material from Jackie McLean! The set was recorded right before his "new thing" era – in the same period as the amazing Fickle Sonance album. And like that one, this features Jackie edging out towards modernist ideas, yet still swinging hard and fierce, with a firey... read more

Fantastic lost material from Jackie McLean! The set was recorded right before his "new thing" era – in the same period as the amazing Fickle Sonance album. And like that one, this features Jackie edging out towards modernist ideas, yet still swinging hard and fierce, with a firey... read more

Sweet soul from Carmen McRae – a great 70s album for Blue Note, and one that has the classic singer moving into some very groovy material! The feel here is much more soul than jazz – at least the jazz of the torchy style from Carmen's roots – but as you'd guess from McRae, the... read more

A great illustration of the genius of Carmen McRae in the 70s – a record that easily shows why Carmen was hipper than most of her contemporaries from two decades before! The set has the vocalist somehow managing to still stick in a straight jazz style, without going for cheaper soul routines... read more

A great illustration of the genius of Carmen McRae in the 70s – a record that easily shows why Carmen was hipper than most of her contemporaries from two decades before! The set has the vocalist somehow managing to still stick in a straight jazz style, without going for cheaper soul routines... read more

Carmen McRae really opens up on this sweet 70s set for Blue Note – expanding past the traditional jazz of her roots, and even some of the groovier work of her Atlantic years – into a sweeping, contemporary sound that's all adult, all the way! The vibe is great – in the same... read more

Carmen McRae really opens up on this sweet 70s set for Blue Note – expanding past the traditional jazz of her roots, and even some of the groovier work of her Atlantic years – into a sweeping, contemporary sound that's all adult, all the way! The vibe is great – in the same... read more

Although MM&W seemed to start out as a simple funky organ revival combo, their groove gets more complicated and more open-ended with each new release! This recent Blue Note album has the band playing a great mix of haunting funky keyboard tracks, augmented at times by turntablist mixing and... read more

Although the free funky soul combo Medeski, Martin, & Wood are best known for their Hammond organ grooves – this tasty live set catches them in a slightly different vein, with all acoustic instruments in the band, including piano, bass, melodica, and mbira! The sound is different than... read more

Sweet guitar lines from Dom Minasi – a player who knows how to hit just the right sort of fluid vibe for this session! The album's got Dom soloing strongly over arrangements from Roger Kellaway, Byron Olson, and Bernard Ighner – all of whom bring some strong charts to the session, and... read more

A compelling little record from guitarist Dom Minasi – a player we only know from these few Blue Note albums cut right toward's the label's initial run – sweet albums that might have pushed Dom further, had they gotten better exposure! Minasi's a pretty talented guitarist – with... read more

A real musical discovery – not just for the fact that the CD represents a previously-unreleased concert by Charlies Mingus – but also because the sounds and styles here offer up a version of Mingus that's almost more adventurous than some of his other albums of the time! The sextet... read more

One of the funkiest albums ever on Blue Note – a set that mixes the trumpet talents of Blue Mitchell with some killer backings from Monk Higgins – all in a groove that more gritty edges than the best funky soundtracks of the time! Higgins keeps the backings full, but always quite lean... read more

One of the funkiest albums ever on Blue Note – a set that mixes the trumpet talents of Blue Mitchell with some killer backings from Monk Higgins – all in a groove that more gritty edges than the best funky soundtracks of the time! Higgins keeps the backings full, but always quite lean... read more

Genius work from trumpeter Blue Mitchell – one of his most solid sides as a leader from the 60s, and a well-deserved treasure in the Blue Note catalog! The album's quite different than the straight soul jazz of Blue's early days on Riverside – or the more arranged dates of the late 60s... read more

An excellent pairing of funk talents – the tight trumpet of Blue Mitchell, and the super-soulful backings of Monk Higgins! Higgins has a groove that was schooled in the funky 45 underground of Chicago – and here, he really finds a great way to pick things up for Mitchell –... read more

One of the most obscure records from trumpeter Blue Mitchell – a great session recorded in the 60s, during Blue's classic stretch with Blue Note – but not issued until 1980, and even then, only briefly! The record's a great example of Mitchell's strong capacity to play well in a larger... read more

The thing to do – is jam! Blue's sounding wonderful in this classic set for Blue Note – one of his best small group albums – recorded with a sound that's solidly in keeping with his lyrically melodic work in the Horace Silver group! The quintet features Chick Corea on piano... read more

The thing to do – is jam! Blue's sounding wonderful in this classic set for Blue Note – one of his best small group albums – recorded with a sound that's solidly in keeping with his lyrically melodic work in the Horace Silver group! The quintet features Chick Corea on piano... read more

The thing to do – is jam! Blue's sounding wonderful in this classic set for Blue Note – one of his best small group albums – recorded with a sound that's solidly in keeping with his lyrically melodic work in the Horace Silver group! The quintet features Chick Corea on piano... read more

A rare second chapter to Mobley's famous Workout album – recorded in the early 60s, but not issued until the mid 80s – and even then, only momentarily on vinyl! The session's a great one – a quartet outing with a structure that's similar to Hank's classic Soul Station record, but... read more

A rare second chapter to Mobley's famous Workout album – recorded in the early 60s, but not issued until the mid 80s – and even then, only momentarily on vinyl! The session's a great one – a quartet outing with a structure that's similar to Hank's classic Soul Station record, but... read more

A rare second chapter to Mobley's famous Workout album – recorded in the early 60s, but not issued until the mid 80s – and even then, only momentarily on vinyl! The session's a great one – a quartet outing with a structure that's similar to Hank's classic Soul Station record, but... read more

One of the greatest Blue Note albums of all time! Hank Mobley leads an incredibly soulful group that includes Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, McCoy Tyner, and Billy Higgins – and the group plays this amazing mix of soul jazz and modal grooves that is hardly matched by anything else in the Blue... read more

An extraordinary document of Mobley's earliest recordings for the Blue Note label! This box collects some of Mobley's hardest to find recordings and comprises of the LPs Hank Mobley Quartet, Hank Mobley Sextet, Hank Mobley & His All Stars, Hank Mobley Quintet, Hank, Hank Mobley, Curtain Call,... read more

Late work by tenor giant Hank Mobley, and one of the rarest Blue Note albums from the late 60's! The session's a great one – recorded in Paris, with a swinging sextet that includes Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Reece (!), and Slide Hampton – all coming together magically with Mobley to craft... read more

We put the catalog number in the title of this one because it seemed that Blue Note was putting out too many title-less Hank Mobley albums during the late 50s. Who cares, though? This album's a great batch of hardbop tracks that show Mobley at his finest, and which hardly need a title to hang... read more

An extremely well-titled set from the legendary Hank Mobley – one of his key Blue Notes of the 60s, and an album that glides along with an undeniable sense of joy, life, and soul! Mobley's really opening up his groove at this point – moving way beyond standard hard bop and soul jazz... read more

An extremely well-titled set from the legendary Hank Mobley – one of his key Blue Notes of the 60s, and an album that glides along with an undeniable sense of joy, life, and soul! Mobley's really opening up his groove at this point – moving way beyond standard hard bop and soul jazz... read more

An excellent CD reworking of the original Mobley hardbop classic, and one that restores a number of tracks that were originally recorded for the album's session, but which showed up on other Blue Note albums. The whole thing's got 8 cuts in all, some of which didn't appear on the orignal album,... read more

An excellent Hank Mobley session – with an unusual twist that takes it past his earlier work! The lineup's great all the way through – with Woody Shaw on trumpet, George Benson on guitar, and Billy Higgins on drums – and the addition of Benson's guitar gives the tracks a groovily... read more

A killer set of hardbop from the legendary Hank Mobley – recorded during the initial Mobley run at Blue Note, and a keen document of his amazing power on the tenor sax! The album's got a tightness that's almost impossible to believe – a summation of all the best bop trends of the 50s,... read more

Simply astounding! Soul Station is a deceptively simple album that has tenor giant Hank Mobley playing standards and originals in a quartet with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Blakey on drums– a spare and simple group, but one with a direct energy that's really amazing... read more

Simply astounding! Soul Station is a deceptively simple album that has tenor giant Hank Mobley playing standards and originals in a quartet with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Blakey on drums– a spare and simple group, but one with a direct energy that's really amazing... read more

One of Hank Mobley's last recordings for Blue Note, and a record that really shows him stretching it out – hitting territory hardly imagined on his earlier hardbop sides! The album's still somewhat inside, but the overall feel is much more spacious than before – a sound that has some... read more