Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue [Stereo] (Analogue Productions Blue Note Series 45 RPM Edition)

(AAA) — Lacquers cut from the original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray & Steve Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering.

One of the best-sounding Blue Notes. True to its title, the music and groove of this album is for late nights and low lights. Thick, smoky, humid – a killer you gotta own.

Analogue Productions' Blue Note and Nat "King" Cole Reissues WIN A Positive Feedback 2010 Brutus Award!

"...if you haven't picked up every one of the Blue Note and Nat King Cole reissues from Chad Kassem and company at Acoustic Sounds, you're really missing out!" - David W. Robinson, Positive Feedback, Issue 52

"A classic Blue Note, guitarist Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue (1963) oozes with all that title suggests...The sound is famously great: wide open, natural, warm, and simply 'there.' Burrell's electric guitar has superb tone and articulation, Stanley Turrentine's tenor sax a creamy, brassy bite, Major Holley Jr.'s bass a fat sense of weight, and the drums and conga realistic snap and texture." - Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2009

"Holy shit! We went out and bought the Analogue Productions Blue Note Reissue 45 RPM Limited Edition. Probably the best sounding album in the RCN collection. Pure audio porn. This masterpiece makes us want to invest in upgrading the equipment. Cartridges, turntables, amps. Yikes!" - Record Collector News, May/June newsletter

"…Once you get into the swing of the consistently cool grooves you just want to stay there, which makes the four side changes here more painful than on some of the other Blue Note double 45s. No matter, luxuriating in the big, warm, soft yet detailed sound is easily worth the get-up-and-turn-it-over-effort. A highly recommended Blue Note reissue." Music = 9/11; Sound = 9/11 – Michael Fremer, www.musicangle.com

"These are simply amazing pressings. I have no regrets whatsoever about signing up for this subscription. The folks I'd invited over last Saturday are by no means audiophiles, but they couldn't believe that they were listening to vinyl, or that recordings that were 40+ years old could sound so good. I'm working hard to turn them into vinyl converts. These discs are the icing on the cake!" – Tim Bingaman, Acoustic Sounds customer

"Midnight Blue did not disappoint. The big fat sound of Burrell's Gibson was enough to push me back in my chair all agog! Solid bass and sweeping cymbal work, and oh so fine and mellow. Very good cuddlin' music." – Rich Brown, Klipsch Audio Technologies

"…As much as I'd love to relay all kinds of anecdotes about the challenges Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray encounter during the mastering sessions, I witness none. These boys know the sound of the facility and the Van Gelder masters like the backs of their hands…Back home a month later, I unpack some test pressings Chad Kassem has sent me…I hear the most realistic-sounding drums ever reproduced by my system. It's as though I'm sitting at the point of creation, experiencing the same high that brought such gifted musicians together as one. Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Chad Kassem, and Don MacInnis have done Rudy Van Gelder and his Blue Note artists proud." – Jason Victor Serinus, Stereophile, April 2008

Alfred Lion considered this his favorite production and well he should have. Without piano, Burrell, Stanley Turrentine and company get a clean open sound and a deep groove on such now classic compositions as the title tune and "Chitlins Con Carne," which has become a blues band staple.

Originally released in 1963.

Ray Barretto, conga
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Billy Gene English, drums
Major Holley, bass
Stanley Turrentine, sax (tenor)

(Above description from AcousticSounds.com)