New Arrivals / Today
The Prisoner
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** The Prisoner is one of Herbie Hancock’s most ambitious large‑ensemble works, featuring Johnny Coles and Thad Jones on trumpet/flugelhorn, Garnett Brown and Jack Rains on trombones, Joe Newman on bass trombone, Hubert Laws and Romeo Penque on reeds, Tony Studd on tuba, Ron Carter on bass, and Grady Tate on drums, among others. Written in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the music uses orchestral textures to explore themes of oppression and …
Speak Like A Child
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Speak Like a Child, Herbie Hancock opts for subtler shades with an unusual front line of Thad Jones on flugelhorn, Peter Phillips (or Jerry Dodgion) on alto flute, and Jackie McLean on alto sax, supported by Ron Carter on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. Carefully voiced harmonies create a soft‑focus glow around lullaby‑like themes that harbour unexpected harmonic turns. Hancock’s piano is restrained and lyrical, often leaving wide spaces around simple phrases,…
My Point Of View
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** My Point of View shows Herbie Hancock widening his palette with a larger band: Donald Byrd on trumpet, Garnett Brown on trombone, Hank Mobley on tenor, Grant Green on guitar, Chuck Israels on bass, Tony Williams on drums, and Patricia “Patty” T. on vocals on one track. The writing is richer and more layered, from soulful vamps to waltz‑like lyricism, yet unified by Hancock’s sense of structure and colour. The horns are given space to develop ideas; Green’s guitar…
Maiden Voyage
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Maiden Voyage, Herbie Hancock turns the small jazz group into an ocean vessel, steering a dream team of Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), George Coleman (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), and Tony Williams (drums) through a suite of sea‑evoking pieces. Modal harmonies, open forms, and long, swelling melodies create a sense of expanse; Carter and Williams suggest tides and undertows, while Hubbard and Coleman trace arcs that feel both exploratory and inevitable. Hancock’…
Out To Lunch!
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Out to Lunch! remains one of the most strikingly original statements on Blue Note. Eric Dolphy marshals Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, Richard Davis on bass, and Tony Williams on drums into a unit that treats his knotty compositions as springboards rather than straitjackets. Themes like “Hat and Beard” arrive full of angular intervals and odd accents, while the rhythm team tilts and lurches under them, propelled by Williams’ restless …
Volume 2
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Volume 2, Miles Davis again fronts shifting line‑ups – including Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, and Horace Silver – in a programme that continues the exploration begun on its companion. The arrangements juxtapose brisk, tightly coiled numbers with more relaxed pieces that give Davis room to stretch his lyrical side. His phrasing shows a growing command of silence and attack; a single, slightly bent note can carry as much weight as a flurry of scales. The band’s in…
Volume 1
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Volume 1 presents Miles Davis in a transitional bebop/hard‑bop setting, surrounded by players hungry to prove themselves: J. J. Johnson on trombone, Jackie McLean on alto saxophone, Sonny Rollins on tenor, Horace Silver at the piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums on the original 10" sessions. Later tracks add different personnel, but the through‑line is Davis’ preference for space and contour over sheer velocity. Even at brisk tempos, his muted p…
At The "Golden Circle" Stockholm - Volume Two
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Volume 2 of At the “Golden Circle” finds Ornette Coleman, David Izenzon, and Charles Moffett pushing even further into the freedoms opened the night before. The pieces feel more expansive, the silences more charged, the interactions even bolder. Coleman’s improvisations unfold like stories without fixed endings, full of sudden turns that never break the underlying logic. Izenzon’s bass veers between bowed cries and elastic walking; Moffett’s drums slip from polyr…
At The "Golden Circle" Stockholm - Volume One
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** The first volume of At the “Golden Circle”, Stockholm places Ornette Coleman’s alto saxophone in front of his stripped‑down trio with David Izenzon on bass and Charles Moffett on drums, in a snowy club where the microphones catch every spark. Free of a chording instrument, the group moves with startling elasticity: themes flash by and dissolve into collective improvisation where roles are fluid. Coleman’s tone is both keening and tender, capable of slicing throug…
My Conception
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** With My Conception, Sonny Clark pushes deeper into his own compositional world, joined by Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Clifford Jordan on tenor, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Blakey and Philly Joe Jones alternating on drums. The music balances intricate structures with a direct, singing quality: heads full of unexpected turns that still lodge in the ear, solo sections that encourage the horns to stretch without losing the thread. Clark…
Cool Struttin'
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Cool Struttin’ remains one of those Blue Note dates that somehow bottle the atmosphere of an era. Sonny Clark leads from the piano with Jackie McLean on alto saxophone, Art Farmer on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, “Philly” Joe Jones on drums, a line‑up that walks the line between laid‑back and razor‑sharp. Medium‑tempo themes feel designed for city sidewalks and late‑night conversations, while the solos emphasise feel over flash. Clark’s comping is buoyant and s…
Bass On Top
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Bass on Top, Paul Chambers quietly but firmly moves the bass into the spotlight, supported by Hank Jones on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Art Taylor on drums. Standards become opportunities for Chambers to state themes and improvise with a singing, resonant tone that never gets lost, even in the lowest register. The rhythm section reverses the usual hierarchy: Jones and Burrell comp and solo with taste, but always leave room for Chambers’ lines to lead. …
A New Perspective
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On A New Perspective, Donald Byrd imagines hard bop through stained glass, fronting a band with Hank Mobley on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Donald Best on vibraphone, Butch Warren on bass, Lex Humphries on drums, and a wordless choir led by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. Byrd’s trumpet sits at the crossroads of church, street, and conservatory, with the choir’s sustained voicings bathing the grooves in a luminous, spiritual glow…
Byrd In Flight
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Byrd in Flight finds Donald Byrd’s trumpet carried aloft by shifting combinations of Jackie McLean on alto sax, Hank Mobley on tenor, Duke Pearson at the piano, Doug Watkins and Reggie Workman sharing bass duties, and Lex Humphries and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The album’s variety of line‑ups underlines Byrd’s range: from soulful, medium‑tempo burners to more introspective pieces that spotlight his warm tone and melodic ease. Each configuration finds a different…
Roots & Herbs
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** With Roots & Herbs, Art Blakey leads a Jazz Messengers unit that includes Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass, a line‑up that can pivot from crisp unisons to eruptive solos in a heartbeat. The tunes are full of rhythmic feints and harmonic twists, yet the band makes it all sound effortless. Blakey’s drumming is simultaneously a grid and a storm: he sets up hits, detonates climaxes, and constan…
Moanin'
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Moanin’ is the sound of Art Blakey turning a band into a congregation, with Lee Morgan’s trumpet, Benny Golson’s tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons’s piano, and Jymie Merritt’s bass all testifying over Blakey’s unmistakable cymbal crashes and press rolls. From the call‑and‑response of the title track to the burning hard‑bop vehicles that follow, the record distils church‑infused, blues‑drenched celebration into a small‑group format. Each soloist brings a distinct voi…
Mosaic
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** On Mosaic, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers show exactly why the band became a kind of graduate school for hard bop. This edition of the Messengers fields Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Cedar Walton at the piano, Jymie Merritt on bass, and Blakey himself driving the drums, a front line and rhythm section as elegant as they are explosive. The compositions are memorable without ever feeling formulaic, stit…
Somethin' Else
** Special Time-Limited Offer ** Somethin’ Else remains one of those rare records where everything lines up: the room, the band, the material, and the moment. Cannonball Adderley leads on alto saxophone with Miles Davis’s trumpet cutting through alongside Hank Jones on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Art Blakey on drums, a Blue Note all‑star line-up operating at peak equilibrium. The album sounds like a conversation between Adderley and Davis, two distinct voices who know exactly how far they can …