In celebration of the 80th anniversary of Blue Note Records in 2019, the Classic Series presents affordable, high-quality reissues in standard packaging that are mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal Media in Germany. The pressings are all-analog whenever an analog source is available, with Gray cutting directly from the Original Master Tapes.

• Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
• LP 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• All Analog Mastering
• Cut from the Original Master Tapes
• Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Pressed at Optimal Media in Germany

The Classic Vinyl Reissue Series is the continuation of our acclaimed Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series, which was created in celebration of the 80th anniversary of Blue Note Records in 2019. The series presents affordable, high-quality reissues in standard packaging that are mastered by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio and manufactured on 180g vinyl at Optimal Media in Germany. The pressings are all-analog whenever an analog source is available, with Gray mastering directly from the original master tapes. Blue Note Records has recorded the legends of Jazz and has traced the entire evolution of the music from the early days of Boogie Woogie, Hot Jazz and Swing, through the innovations of Bebop, Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, and 70s Fusion, and into the vibrant sounds of Jazz’s many modern-day incarnations. The Classic Vinyl Series is curated by Don Was and Cem Kurosman and is broad in its scope. The series reissues the best-known Blue Note classics from the 1950s and 60s, but also goes deeper, exploring the many different eras and styles of the legendary label’s eight-decade history with the aim of telling our story and fully representing the Blue Note motto: The Finest In Jazz Since 1939.

Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson capped off his run of five sublime 1960s Blue Note leader dates with his 1966 classic Mode for Joe, an album bursting with vigor and vitality that found Henderson expanding his palette with a septet of colorful figures including Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone, Cedar Walton on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums. The band delivers six powerful performances, playing with white-hot intensity on Henderson’s originals “A Shade of Jade,” Caribbean Fire Dance,” and “Granted,” as well as Morgan’s swinger “Free Wheelin’.” But it’s the remarkable title track by Walton that emerges as the standout of the set, a modal masterpiece where the leader summons one of his most transcendent and visceral solo statements.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Musicians:

Lee Morgan - trumpet
Curtis Fuller - trombone
Joe Henderson - tenor sax
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Cedar Walton - piano
Ron Carter - bass
Joe Chambers - drums

Track Listing:

A1: A Shade Of Jade
A2: Mode For Joe
A3: Black

B1: Caribbean Fire Dance
B2: Granted
B3: Free Wheelin'

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫