Midnight Blue (Kenny Burrell album)

Midnight Blue
Studio album by Kenny Burrell
Released	Early May 1963 [1]
Recorded	January 8, 1963 Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Genre	Jazz
Length	35:39 (original LP) 45:18 (CD reissue)
Label	Blue Note BLP 4123 (mono) BST 84123 (stereo)
Producer	Alfred Lion, Michael Cuscuna, Tom Vasatka
Kenny Burrell chronology
Bluesy Burrell (1962) Midnight Blue (1963) Crash! (1963)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[4]

Midnight Blue is a 1963 ^{[5] [6] [7]} album by jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell featuring Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Major Holley on double bass, Bill English on drums and Ray Barretto on conga, and is one of Burrell's best-known works for Blue Note. ^[8] Jazz Improv magazine lists the album among its top five recommended recordings for Burrell, indicating that "[i]f you need to know 'the Blue Note sound', here it is". ^[9] In 2005, NPR included the album in its "Basic Jazz Library", describing it as "one of the great jazzy blues records". ^[10] The album has been re-issued by Blue Note.

The cover artwork of Elvis Costello's 1981 country album Almost Blue pays homage to the artwork of Midnight Blue. ^[11] In 2012, musical comedians Three Bonzos And A Piano parodied the album cover on their album Bum Notes . ^[12]

Track listing

Except where otherwise noted, all songs composed by Kenny Burrell.

1. "Chitlins con Carne" – 5:30
2. "Mule" (Kenny Burrell, Major Holley Jr.) – 6:56
3. "Soul Lament" – 2:43
4. "Midnight Blue" – 4:02
5. "Wavy Gravy" – 5:47
6. "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You" (Andy Razaf, Don Redman) – 4:25
7. "Saturday Night Blues" – 6:16
8. "Kenny's Sound" – 4:43 (Bonus track on CD reissue)
9. "K Twist" – 3:36 (Bonus track on CD reissue)

Personnel

Performance

• Kenny Burrell – guitar
• Stanley Turrentine – tenor saxophone (except tracks 3, 4, 6, 9)
• Major Holley – bass (except 3)
• Bill English – drums (except 3)
• Ray Barretto – conga (except 3, 6)

Production

• Eric Bernhardi – graphic design
• Bob Blumenthal – CD reissue liner notes
• Micaela Boland – design
• Michael Cuscuna – producer, reissue producer
• Leonard Feather – original liner notes
• Gordon Jee – creative director
• Alfred Lion – producer
• Reid Miles – cover design, typography
• Rudy Van Gelder – engineer, remastering
• Tom Vasatka – producer
• Francis Wolff – photography, cover photo

References

1. "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. May 11, 1963. p. 16. Retrieved November 24, 2025– via Google Books.
2. Allmusic review
3. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.
4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 201. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
5. "Blue Note Records Discography: 1963-1964". Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
6. "Midnight Blue - Kenny Burrell | Album". AllMusic . Retrieved November 24, 2025.
7. "Jazz Discographies". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
8. Midnight Blue at AllMusic
9. Jazz Legends Kenny Burrell Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Jazz Improv magazine website. Accessed November 6, 2007.
10. Horwitz, Murray. (April 1, 2005) Kenny Burrell 'Midnight Blue' NPR. Accessed November 6, 2007.
11. Clayton-Lea, Tony (1999). Elvis Costello: A Biography . London: Andre Deutsch Ltd. p. 83. ISBN   978-0-233-99339-3.
12. Three Bonzos And A Piano 'Bum Notes', Threebonzosandapiano.co.uk. Accessed February 29, 2024.