Kenny Blue

The concept of TALKING WITH THE BLUES is based on a view of the various US states as blues regions. Even casual blues listeners are familiar with the fact that there is Chicago Blues or Mississippi Blues and the gripping social history of the music is very much marked by its geography. But there is much more that just those two places and to this day blues music stays committed to local styles. Moreover, many US states are endowed with a unique cultural identity grown out of the prevailing social, historical and ethnic realities. Reflections of these specific identities are also expressed in the blues.

This album is one of guitarist Kenny Burrell's best-known sessions for the Blue Note label. Burrell is matched with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, bassist Major Holley, drummer Bill English, and Ray Barretto on conga for a blues-oriented date highlighted by "Chitlins Con Carne," "Midnight Blue," "Saturday Night Blues," and the lone standard "Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You."

This auspicious recording started out almost as an afterthought. Jimmy Smith was in the midst of making his excellent big-band album ANY NUMBER CAN WIN when he stepped into a couple of New York studios with old pal Kenny Burrell and a rhythm section to quickly cut the sides that became BLUE BASH. The air of spontaneity is certainly present here, as Burrell and Smith use the common language of the blues to move through a varied program.

Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue (1963) {Blue Note, CP32-5229, Japan Early Press}
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© 1963, 1986 Blue Note / Toshiba-EMI | CP32-5229
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Guitar

Great great stuff – and for some folks, THE album by Kenny Burrell! This classic set features the guitarist in a quintet with Stanley Turrentine on tenor, Major Holly on bass, Bill English on drums, and the great Ray Barretto on conga – a really great lineup that sparkles with soulful imagination, and moves with a very rhythmic groove – thanks to Ray's extra percussion contribution on the bottom! Burrell's guitar somehow seems a bit harder and grittier than ever – and titles include the classic groover "Chittlins Con Carne", an early jazz dance classic – plus "Soul Lament", "Wavy Gravy", and "Mule".

The first of 100 tunes in this collection is a 1937 recording of tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and guitarist Django Reinhardt playing Out Of Nowhere. It was recorded two years before Blue Note Records was founded. The taping was done for EMI’s Capitol label’s French division. This is an ominous hint as to the content of the 10-disc “100 Best of Blue Note” box set, which at first glance appears to have all the trimmings of a slick 21st century collection.