Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue (2021 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series Vinyl LP)

Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue | Vinyl LP - 2021 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series 180g (3579908, Kevin Gray/Optimal)

Kenny Burrell made his Blue Note debut in 1956 and recorded steadily for the label across the next seven years. Everything led here. The session on January 7, 1963 used a small group with no piano, Burrell's guitar carrying the harmonic weight against Turrentine's tenor, Holley's bass and Barretto's congas. Bill English's drumming sits back and underneath, closer to a time-keeper than a featured voice. 

"Chitlins Con Carne" opens the album. It is a blues in F, the melody built on a rhythm that Barretto's congas establish in the first bar and hold throughout. Burrell plays the head simply, Turrentine adds a smoky tenor solo, and the piece has become so ubiquitous since that it is easy to forget how direct the original recording is. "Mule," co-written with Holley, follows with a slower feel, the bass more prominent. "Soul Lament" is Burrell alone. No rhythm section, no tenor. Two minutes and forty seconds of solo guitar, fingerpicked, the most emotionally concentrated piece on the album.

"Midnight Blue" and "Wavy Gravy" are both Burrell originals that play differently from the opener's groove. "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You" is the one standard, the Don Redman and Andy Razaf piece from 1929, Turrentine taking the solo feature. "Saturday Night Blues" closes the album at just over six minutes, Burrell and Turrentine trading lines over the rhythm section.

Reid Miles's cover is among the most recognisable in the Blue Note catalogue. This is the 2021 Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series 180g pressing, mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed at Optimal Media GmbH.