Description
Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue – 180 Gram Blue Vinyl Record
Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue places the blues at the center of a small-group jazz album without narrowing its expressive range. Recorded in 1963, the session brings together Burrell’s guitar, Stanley Turrentine’s tenor saxophone, Major Holley’s bass, Bill English’s drums and Ray Barretto’s congas. Those instruments create a distinctive balance: the guitar can carry a melody with intimacy, the tenor can add a more expansive voice, and the rhythm section can support both with a flexible sense of movement. Across seven selections, the album demonstrates how much variety can emerge from a consistent musical setting and a shared feeling for the blues.
Chitlins con Carne opens the record with a theme that makes the album’s identity immediately recognizable. Guitar and tenor saxophone supply contrasting colors, while the congas contribute another layer to the rhythmic texture. The performance offers an accessible entrance into Burrell’s approach, where a memorable phrase can matter as much as the development that follows it. That balance helps explain the album’s appeal to listeners with differing levels of jazz familiarity. The opening does not require the listener to follow every harmonic detail to appreciate how the instruments fit together, although closer attention reveals the care behind their interplay and the shape of the arrangement.
Mule and Soul Lament shift the focus before the title track closes the first side. Soul Lament is a solo guitar performance, giving Burrell an opportunity to hold the listener’s attention without the fuller ensemble around him. Its presence is especially important to the record’s pacing. After hearing the possibilities of the group, the listener encounters the guitar on its own terms, with tone, space and phrasing carrying the expression. Midnight Blue then returns the album to another aspect of its central musical language. The four-track side offers a carefully varied introduction to the relationship between individual voice and collective sound.
The second side contains Wavy Gravy, Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You and Saturday Night Blues. These selections continue the album’s mixture of distinctive themes and blues-based expression while giving the group room to develop its ideas. The familiar song Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You introduces another point of reference within a program that also includes Burrell originals. Saturday Night Blues provides the closing statement, extending the mood established across the record. On vinyl, that three-track side creates a different sense of proportion from the first, encouraging the listener to settle into the performances as the album approaches its conclusion.
Midnight Blue is especially rewarding for listeners interested in guitar as both a melodic lead instrument and a partner within an ensemble. Burrell’s presence does not depend on overwhelming the other players; the attraction lies in the way the group’s contrasting voices support the music. Turrentine’s tenor adds an unmistakable second melodic personality, while bass, drums and congas give the session its own rhythmic character. The album’s blues foundation makes it approachable, and the changing scale of the performances keeps that accessibility from becoming repetitive. It works as a focused introduction to Burrell and as a distinctive addition to a collection of small-group Blue Note recordings.
This edition is the limited 180-gram blue-vinyl reissue released for independent record stores in 2024. It presents the original seven-track album, with four selections on Side A and three on Side B, and pairs the music with the recognizable Midnight Blue cover design. The colored pressing makes the edition easy to distinguish within a vinyl collection while retaining the original program’s balance of ensemble pieces and solo guitar. For listeners choosing an album to play as a complete session, Midnight Blue offers a coherent atmosphere with enough contrast to invite repeated listening. Its appeal rests in the interaction of melody, rhythm and the expressive possibilities of the blues.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Side A
1. Chitlins con Carne
2. Mule
3. Soul Lament
4. Midnight Blue
Side B
1. Wavy Gravy
2. Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You
3. Saturday Night Blues
