New Arrivals / Today
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 …