Blue Note Classic Series

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The brilliant pianist and composer Geri Allen came out of Detroit’s fertile jazz scene, eventually moving to New York where she became... 

The line-up of drummer Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers shifted in 1961 with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard replacing Lee... 

Drummer Art Blakey recorded Indestructible—his final album for Blue Note—in 1964 with a powerful sextet line-up... 

More than any other album in the canon of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, 1958’s Moanin’—featuring the great drummer... 

The 1961 album Mosaic marked a pivotal moment in the story of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers with the drummer welcoming the... 

The timeless 1960 hard bop classic The Big Beat was the album that first introduced one of the greatest line-ups of... 

Between September 1963 and March 1964, the singular New York City-born saxophonist George Braith recorded three Blue Note sessions that introduced... 

In addition to appearing as a sideman on dates led by Kenny Burrell, Freddie Hubbard, and Jackie McLean, tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks recorded... 

The incomparable trumpeter Clifford Brown’s star was just starting to ascend when he recorded two sessions as a leader for Blue Note... 

Guitarist Kenny Burrell debuted on Blue Note Records in 1956 and over the following 7 years made a series of excellent albums for the... 

Blue Note legends like Grant Green, Horace Silver, and Jimmy Smith often looked to the church for musical inspiration, but trumpeter Donald... 

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Cornetist Don Cherry first rose to prominence as part of the revolutionary Ornette Coleman Quartet that turned... 

Conrad Yeatis Clark, otherwise known as Sonny Clark, was in many ways the quintessential hard bop pianist. Possessed of an enviable lyrical... 

Under-recognized trumpeter Johnny Coles recorded only one album for Blue Note but 1963’s Little Johnny C is a little-known treasure of... 

Many great Blue Note artists have hailed from the jazz hotbed of Detroit over the course of the... 

The legendary trumpeter Miles Davis was still near the beginning of his storied career when he cut the three sessions that comprise his Blue... 

The legendary trumpeter Miles Davis was still near the beginning of his storied career when he cut the three sessions that comprise his Blue... 

In February 1964, Eric Dolphy assembled a formidable quintet of modern jazz visionaries with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Bobby Hutcherson on... 

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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... 

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Organist Ronnie Foster has collaborated with many greats over the course of his career from George Benson to the Jacksons to Stevie... 

The release of pianist Robert Glasper’s acclaimed Blue Note debut Canvas in 2005 signaled the arrival of a singular new voice in... 

Just 2 days after saxophonist Dexter Gordon recorded his classic album GO! in August 1962 he brought the same quartet with pianist Sonny... 

By the time he recorded GO! in 1962, Dexter Gordon had already lived several lifetimes in jazz. He was among the first to adapt the language of... 

After a prolific 5-year run from 1961-1965 when he made more than 20 great hard bop & soul jazz albums for Blue Note, guitarist Grant Green took... 

Grant Green's debut album, Grant's First Stand, still ranks as one of his greatest pure soul-jazz outings, a set of killer grooves laid... 

Guitarist Grant Green was prolific on Blue Note through the early-60s recording more than 20 hard bop and soul jazz sessions as... 

Grant Green began his lengthy and prolific Blue Note career with the 1961 release of his debut album Grant’s First Stand, a stellar soul... 

Time and troubles seem to melt away during the 15 enrapturing minutes of Idle Moments, the opening track of Grant Green’s sublime 1963... 

Johnny Griffin had been kicking around in R&B bands for years before his Blue Note debut in 1956. And what was "introduced" was... 

Herbie Hancock debuted on Blue Note in 1962 and quickly established himself as both a remarkable pianist and a brilliant composer with... 

For his third Blue Note album Inventions & Dimensions (1963), pianist Herbie Hancock began moving away from the modernist hard... 

Even by the high-water marks set by Herbie Hancock’s tremendous 1960s Blue Note output, 1965’s Maiden Voyage remains one of the... 

Following the release of his 1965 masterpiece Maiden Voyage, the brilliant pianist Herbie Hancock wouldn’t record his Blue Note... 

On his debut album Takin’ Off—recorded and released in 1962—jazz legend Herbie Hancock arrived fully formed at the helm of an impressive... 

Recorded in April 1964, In ‘N Out falls square in the middle of the formidable run of five classic Blue Note albums that launched tenor... 

At 27 years old, tenor saxophonist and composer Joe Henderson was already in his full artistic stride by the time he made Inner Urge, his... 

Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson capped off his run of five sublime 1960s Blue Note leader dates with his 1966 classic Mode for Joe, an... 

On his second Blue Note album Smoke Stack, pianist and composer Andrew Hill used an unusual line-up of two bassists (Richard Davis and Eddie... 

German Jazz pianist Jutta Hipp remains one of the most intriguing yet little-known figures in Blue Note history. A unique... 

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Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard burst upon the Blue Note scene in June 1960 with his auspicious debut album Open Sesame. Within 6 months Hubbard... 

The Indianapolis-born trumpeter Freddie Hubbard introduced his prodigious talent on Blue Note Records with a run of remarkable albums... 

Flutist Bobbi Humphrey found wide success with Blacks and Blues (1973), her breakout third album for Blue Note, working with the... 

Bobbi Humphrey was one of the most prominent stars on the Blue Note roster of the 1970s. The flutist debuted on the label in 1971 with... 

The crystalline sound of Bobby Hutcherson’s vibraphone was an essential element of a broad range of Blue Note albums throughout the... 

The musical partnership between vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson— a Blue Note stalwart since his arrival on the New York jazz scene... 

Vibraphonist Milt Jackson appeared on a number of Blue Note sessions throughout the bebop era in the late 1940s and early 1950s... 

Trombonist J. J. Johnson took the language of bebop and adapted it to his instrument winning the admiration of... 

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By the time drummer Pete La Roca recorded his debut album Basra in 1965 he had already appeared on 9 Blue Note sessions as a sideman and spent... 

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 sound of Blue Note Records has been embedded in hip-hop since the music’s early days with artists like A Tribe Called Quest, De La... 

Brother Jack McDuff was already a well-established and prolific organist who led his own soul jazz bands throughout the 1960s when... 

Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean was already a veteran of the NYC jazz scene by the time he began recording as a leader for Blue Note in 1959. In... 

The innovative hard bop of Jackie McLean began to evolve and take on a harder edge as the early-1960s progressed. Inspired... 

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