Bill Evans / Jim Hall – Undercurrent

Other than four piano solos from April 4, 1962, this set was pianist Bill Evans’ first recordings after a hiatus caused by bassist Scott LaFaro’s tragic death in a car […]

Eberhard Weber – The Following Morning

“In some ways this is a more contemplative work, lingering longer upon the tones of the individual instruments. The title track opens with backwards piano and slides into a pensive […]

Alice Zawadzki / Fred Thomas / Misha Mullov-Abbado – Za Górami

Alice Zawadzki, Fred Thomas & Misha Mullov-Abbado Za Gorami LP / Vocalist and violinist Alice Zawadzki, pianist Fred Thomas and bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado present a rare alchemy on their [...]

Makaya McCraven – Deciphering The Message

Drummer, producer & beat scientist Makaya McCraven digs through the Blue Note vaults with this new remix project that puts a modern bounce on jazz classics by Art Blakey, Horace […]

Dave McMurray – Grateful Deadication

Dave McMurray made his Blue Note debut in 2018 with Music Is Life, an album that focused largely on his own assertive original tunes. Now, the saxophonist returns with Grateful […]

Charles Mingus – The Clown

The Clown was Charles Mingus’ second masterpiece in a row, upping the already intense emotional commitment of Pithecanthropus Erectus and burning with righteous anger and frustration. With [...]

Jean-Luc Ponty – Civilized Evil

All of the titles here make some kind of reference to cosmic issues of good and evil on the planet Earth, but the suggestive wordplay doesn’t make this music much […]

Wayne Shorter – Adam’s Apple

With the possible exception of its song, “Footprints,” which would become a jazz standard, Adam’s Apple received quite a bit less attention upon its release than some of the [...]

John Coltrane – Blue Train

Although never formally signed, an oral agreement between John Coltrane and Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion was indeed honored on Blue Train — Coltrane’s only collection of [...]

Nduduzo Makhathini – Modes Of Communication: Letters From The Underworlds

After collaborations with Wynton Marsalis and Shabaka Hutchings, the visionary South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini is set to release his Blue Note debut Modes of Communication: [...]

Johnathan Blake – Passage

Passage captures the arc of personal and collective evolution: the passing from one moment to the next, from one phase into another. Johnathan Blake – “Passage” / Johnathan [...]

Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers* With Thelonious Monk – Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk

Most of the titles on this album are derived from Thelonious Monk’s vast catalog of bop standards. Both co-leaders are at the peak of their respective prowess with insightful [...]

Yusef Lateef – The Gentle Giant

Yusef Lateef’s music from the early ’70s commands large doses of both appeal and skepticism. At a time when funk and fusion were merging with the intensely volatile and distrustful [...]

Steve Kuhn Trio – Live At Birdland

Steve Kuhn has been recording professionally for close to five decades, most of which time he’s operated stealthily, rarely achieving the level of recognition he so richly deserves for [...]

Charles Mingus – Changes Two

Along with its companion volume Changes One, this is one of the great sessions from one of the best working bands of the 1970s. Starting with the spirited “Free Cell […]

Duke Ellington – The Feeling Of Jazz

This is a nice all-around set by the 1962 Duke Ellington Orchestra. Whether it be the lightweight but fun “Taffy Twist,” “I’m Gonna Go Fishin'” (the theme from [...]

Billy Cobham – Reflected Journey

Cobham live in Japan with Ira Coleman & Joe Chindamo. A little wild but VERY new age & more esoteric sounding instrumentation around Cobham going apeshit.

The Blackbyrds – Night Grooves

Despite the fact that 1989’s Greatest Hits rendered this earlier Fantasy compilation obsolete — Greatest Hits contains all seven songs found here, plus four others — Fantasy [...]

John Coltrane – Giant Steps

History will undoubtedly enshrine this disc as a watershed the likes of which may never truly be appreciated. Giant Steps bore the double-edged sword of furthering the cause of the […]

John Coltrane – My Favorite Things

Although seemingly impossible to comprehend, this landmark jazz date made in 1960 was recorded in less than three days. All the more remarkable is that the same sessions which yielded […]

Decent set featuring the highly stylized, often erratic vocalist Lorez Alexandria doing conventional jazz and jazz-centered pop tunes and standards. She’s backed by a capable band, and [...]

Larry Coryell & The Eleventh House – At Montreux

The Eleventh House, lead by Larry Coryell, were arguably the best Jazz-rock-fusion band of the time when they appeared on July 4th, 1974 at Montreux. The band effectively existed only […]

Lou Bennett – Dansez Et Rêvez

This release contains Bennett’s second LP as a leader in its entirety: Dansez et Rêvez avec le trio Lou Bennett (RCA Victor 430.051). Presented here for the first time ever […]

John Handy – Recorded Live At The Monterey Jazz Festival

John Handy’s performance at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival was a sensation and arguably the high point of his career. The altoist, using a quintet that included violinist Michael White, [...]

Miles Davis – Sorcerer

Sorcerer, the third album by the second Miles Davis Quintet, is in a sense a transitional album, a quiet, subdued affair that rarely blows hot, choosing to explore cerebral tonal […]

Jackie McLean – Let Freedom Ring

Jackie McLean had always been a highly emotional soloist, so it makes sense that he was one of the first hard bop veterans to find a new voice in the […]

The Mahavishnu Orchestra* With John McLaughlin – The Inner Mounting Flame

This is the album that made John McLaughlin a semi-household name, a furious, high-energy, yet rigorously conceived meeting of virtuosos that, for all intents and purposes, defined the fusion of [...]

Stan Getz / Joao Gilberto* Featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim – Getz / Gilberto

One of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time, not to mention bossa nova’s finest moment, Getz/Gilberto trumped Jazz Samba by bringing two of bossa nova’s greatest innovators [...]

Miles Davis – Miles In The Sky

With the 1968 album Miles in the Sky, Miles Davis explicitly pushed his second great quintet away from conventional jazz, pushing them toward the jazz-rock hybrid that would later become […]