Blue Note

On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey and recorded his... 

Tenor saxophonist Harold Vick was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and played with R&B bands coming up before working as a sideman with... 

Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s 1966 album Stick-Up! found him in the company of a new band line-up with Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Herbie... 

Trumpeter Blue Mitchell had been a sideman on Blue Note sessions led by Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Smith, Jackie McLean, and appeared on... 

The supremely swinging pianist Sonny Clark hit the Blue Note scene in 1957 with a burst of creativity recording three albums in... 

ScoLoHoFo—the supergroup made up of guitarist John Scofield, saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Al Foster—first played together... 

Trumpeter Donald Byrd was just 2 years into his 2 decade long Blue Note recording career when he brought his quintet in... 

The brilliant pianist and composer Andrew Hill debuted on Blue Note in 1963 with a flurry of creativity and maintained a prolific recording... 

The Kansas City born trumpeter Carmell Jones was quickly signed by Pacific Jazz soon after his arrival in Los Angeles in... 

Stanley Turrentine is at his blues-drenched best on Comin’ Your Way. This session from 1961 features the magnificent rhythm section... 

The prodigious trumpeter Freddie Hubbard debuted on Blue Note in 1960 and produced an astounding run of recordings over the first half... 

The brilliant arranger, composer, and pianist Gil Evans had already collaborated with Miles Davis on Birth of the Cool... 

Recorded in 1963, The Kicker was actually vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s first session as a leader for Blue Note, but for reasons lost... 

The great pianist McCoy Tyner made his Blue Note debut with The Real McCoy in 1967 soon after departing John Coltrane’s quartet and... 

More than a dozen albums into his Blue Note tenure, Donald Byrd’s 1967 date Slow Drag would be one of the last pure hard bop sessions that... 

Perhaps the perfect starting point for a reappraisal of Duke Pearson’s underrated career is his fantastic and aptly titled 1967 album... 

Just two months after recording his exceptional sextet date Cornbread, the prolific trumpeter Lee Morgan was back in Van Gelder Studio in November... 

Blue Note’s roster of Hammond B3 organists was a vibrant and varied bunch that ran the... 

Between 1964-1967 the legendary saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter created a treasured and... 

Herbie Nichols was one of the most original pianists and composers in Jazz history. Blue Note founder Alfred Lion considered him... 

Jackie McLean’s music weaved in and out of the avant-garde throughout the 1960s with the brilliant 1963 inside-out dates One Step Beyond... 

The Chicago-born pianist and composer Jack Wilson enjoyed a wide-range of musical associations including work with the likes of Dinah Washington, Sarah... 

McCoy Tyner looked towards Africa on his stunning 1970 album Extensions, a far-reaching exploration of Black identity that marked the masterful... 

The trio of guitarist Grant Green, organist Larry Young, and drummer Elvin Jones had a unique alchemy from the first time they... 

Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson was a defining feature of the sound of Blue Note Records throughout the 1960s, equally at home in... 

Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson hadn’t recorded for Blue Note since 1963 when he returned to the label in 1967 and began a new chapter... 

After his six years with the seminal John Coltrane Quartet, the master drummer Elvin Jones signed with Blue Note in 1968 and began building... 

Recorded in 1955 for producer Tom Wilson’s short-lived Boston-based label Transition Records, Byrd’s Eye View was trumpeter Donald... 

Hank Mobley was famously called the “middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone” with a round sound and an incredible rhythmic lightness on... 

Miami-born trumpeter Blue Mitchell had a soulful, swinging style that was equally at home in jazz, R&B, and funk settings. Mitchell been... 

Following sideman appearances with pianist Horace Parlan in the early 1960s, Booker Ervin cut two stellar Blue Note records as a... 

Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean’s 1960s output ran the gamut from hard bop to the avant-garde with his 1964 post-bop dates It’s Time! and... 

The precocious and prodigious drummer and composer Tony Williams had already joined the Miles Davis Quintet and participated in numerous landmark... 

Taylor on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums. The core of the band had been together since 1959 and recorded hard bop classics like Finger... 

Kenny Dorham added stellar entries to the catalogs of Blue Note, Riverside, and New Jazz throughout the 1950s as he... 

Recorded in 1956 for producer Tom Wilson’s short-lived Boston-based label Transition Records, Watkins At Large was the first of... 

Following the success of Chet Baker’s much-loved vocal debut Chet Baker Sings on Pacific Jazz in 1954, producer Richard Bock... 

Though it wouldn’t first be released until 1980 as part of the LT Series, Stanley Turrentine’s Mr. Natural is a standout recording... 

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After making a striking appearance on Joel Ross’ KingMaker, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins delivers an expansive opus about the Black... 

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... 

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... 

Revival: Live at Pookie's Pub is a thrilling previously unissued live recording of Elvin Jones’ quartet that captures the... 

The acclaimed Cleveland-born saxophonist Joe Lovano came to Blue Note Records in 1990 and over the next 25 years became... 

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On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey and... 

In 2012, Robert Glasper changed the game. After several acclaimed Blue Note albums including Canvas and... 

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The Saxophone Colossus Sonny Rollins had already recorded three Blue Note studio dates for Alfred Lion—Sonny Rollins, Sonny... 

20 years ago, on February 26, 2002, a hard-to-categorize album by an unknown 22-year-old singer, songwriter, and... 

Iconoclastic saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman shook the jazz world when he arrived at...