Blue Note Japan Guitar

Jimmy McGriff - Black Pearl (1971) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD TYCJ-81098 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 259 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 91 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 306 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 192kHz remaster
© 1971, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81098
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Hard Bop / Organ

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. One of the most hard-hitting Jimmy McGriff albums of the 70s – a raw live date recorded in Newark – and a set that's a perfect bridge between the sharp soul of his Sue Records sessions and his later funk to come! The whole thing's got a gritty vibe the really recalls the sound of a Hammond combo in a small club back in the day – a sense of recording that's different than the usual Blue Note record, and we mean that in a good way! Future Groove Merchants Fats Theus and O'Donel Levy are both on the record – the former on tenor, the latter on guitar – and Jimmy gets plenty of room to really open up and soar on the Hammond. The group also features the lesser-known Ronald White on trumpet and Joseph Morris on alto – and titles include "In A Mellow Tone", "Groove Alley" and "Man From Bad" – and a nice cover of "Ode to Billie Joe"!

Wayne Shorter - Moto Grosso Feio (1970) {Blue Note Japan BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50501 rel 2012}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 244 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 99 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 174 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 192kHz remaster
© 1970, 2012 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50501
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

A perfect illustration of the rich new directions Wayne Shorter was taking at the start of the 70s – an amazing flurry of sounds and styles that's light years ahead of where he began in the 60s! Shorter's one of those players who was already great at the start – an amazing tenorist, both on his own and with the groups of Art Blakey and Miles Davis – yet by the time of this record, he'd absorbed a huge amount of influences from Brazilian music, modal jazz, the spiritual underground, and even the free European scene – all of which come to play on the long, complex tunes on the set!

Donald Byrd - Stepping Into Tomorrow (1974) {Blue Note Japan TOCJ-6707 24-bit rel 2006}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 284 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 92 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 44 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2006 Blue Note / Toshiba-EMI Japan | TOCJ-6707 | 24-bit remastering
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Crossover Jazz / Trumpet

Beginning with a crack of thunder, like it was made to trail Gary Bartz's "Mother Nature" (actually recorded at a slightly later date), Stepping into Tomorrow contains almost all of the Mizell trademarks within its title track's first 30 seconds: a soft and easy (yet still funky) electric-bass-and-drums foundation, silken rhythm guitar, organ and piano gently bouncing off one another, light synthesizer shading, and coed group vocals to ensure true liftoff.

Lou Donaldson - Midnight Creeper (1968) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD TYCJ-81081 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 231 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 86 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 250 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1968, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81081
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Funky genius from Lou Donaldson – one of his first funky albums for Blue Note, and a real killer all the way through! The album has a great young group working with Lou – players that include Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Lonnie Smith on organ, Leo Morris (aka Idris Muhammed) on drums, and George Benson on guitar – grooving with that really soulful early sound of his! The album has that hard Lou Donaldson funky sound that still sounds fantastic today – and titles include "Dapper Dan", "Midnight Creeper", "Bag of Jewels", and "Love Power".

"Big" John Patton - Oh Baby! (1965) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5113 rel 2015} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 279 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 96 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 182 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1965, 2015 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5113
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Funk / Organ Hammond B-3

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Oh Baby is right – as the album's one of the best John Patton albums for Blue Note – a perfect mix of funky organ and burning hardbop! The tracks hare are all originals penned for the album – mostly by Patton, but also by other group members – the kind of fresh grooves that made John's organ work for Blue Note really stand out from the rest of the 60s Hammond generation – very creative stuff, with occasional modern touches, and a rhythmic conception that's not only unusual, but which also really lets the soloists stretch out on their grooves! Players include Harold Vick on tenor, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ben Dixon on drums, and Grant Green on guitar – and the album's about as sharp as you can get for a Blue Note organ session. Titles include "Fat Judy", "Each Time", "One To Twelve", and "Night Flight".

Lonnie Smith - Turning Point (1969) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5127 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 237 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 86 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 168 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1969, 2015 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5127
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Post Bop / Organ

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. A stone killer from organist Lonnie Smith – one of his completely cooking early albums for Blue Note, and a hard-burner all the way through! Smith's working here with a really great group that includes Idris Muhammad on drums and Melvin Sparks on guitar – both of whom give the album a really heavy bottom, and almost make the set feel like one of those classic Prestige jammers from the same time.

Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land (1964) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5106 rel 2015} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 281 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 100 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 168 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1964, 2015 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5106
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trumpet

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. A brilliant album that proves that even at the height of his success, Lee Morgan was one of the freest thinkers on Blue Note – always coming up with fresh ideas that continued to grow his talents! The first cut on the album is keep roof of that fact – the title track "Search For The New Land" – a beautiful 16 minute exploration of modal jazz themes, with an unusual stop/start device as a means of ushering solos by different bandmates – including Wayne Shorter on tenor, Grant Green on guitar, and Herbie Hancock on piano!

Stanley Turrentine - Always Something There (1968) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD TYCJ-81085 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 243 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 319 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1968, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81085
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Saxophone

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. This LP was the very obvious follow-up to the moderately commercially successful "The Look of Love." Both took their titles from their opening Burt Bacharach tunes; and both included other contemporary pop hits, including by the Beatles. This one added a second Paul McCartney Beatles song, with the last two tracks being "Hey Jude" and "Fool on the Hill." The arranger on both "The Look of Love" and "Always Something There" was the great Thad Jones, who contributed one excellent original blues-jazz composition for each - here, one called "Home Town," which outstrips everything else due to its creative jazz content.

Big John Patton - Blue John (1963) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5008 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 500 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 173 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 297 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1963, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5008
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Organ

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Insanely wonderful – and pretty darn rare! This album by John Patton was cut during the 60s, but never issued until the 80s – and even then, only briefly – yet it's easily one of our favorite records ever by this legendary Hammond player, thanks to lots of weird twists and turns! Although the record's led by Patton, it's more in the mad style of George Braith – who plays some wonderful sax on the session, in the manner of his excellent Laughing Soul album – a Prestige Records session cut with Patton and Grant Green around the same time.

Hank Mobley - Workout (1961) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5038 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 378 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 120 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 303 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 192kHz remaster
© 1961, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5038
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. One of the greatest albums ever from Blue Note tenor giant Hank Mobley – a set that really explodes in all the new directions Hank was taking in the 60s! Mobley in the 50s was already the stuff of legend – a tremendous soloist on tenor, and every bit his own man – firmly focused forward with a voice that was already tremendous – but which was turned towards a lot of new ideas with records like this!