ESP marks the beginning of a revitalization for Miles Davis, as his second classic quintet – saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams – gels, establishing what would become their signature adventurous hard bop. Miles had been moving toward this direction in the two years preceding the release of ESP and he had recorded with everyone outside of Shorter prior to this record, but his addition galvanizes the group, pushing them toward music that was recognizably bop but as adventurous as jazz's avant-garde. Outwardly, this music doesn't take as many risks as Coltrane or Ornette Coleman's recordings of the mid-'60s, but by borrowing some of the same theories – a de-emphasis of composition in favor of sheer improvisation, elastic definitions of tonality – they created a unique sound that came to define the very sound of modern jazz. Certainly, many musicians have returned to this group for inspiration, but their recordings remain fresh, because they exist at this fine dividing line between standard bop and avant.

A truly sensational find, Atlantis Lullaby presents a never-before-heard performance recorded in Avignon, France. Featuring Yusef Lateef in a quartet set with fellow stars Kenny Barron, Bob Cunningham and Albert “Tootie” Heath. Among the highlights are a fantastic flute/piano duet by Lateef and Barron playing the pianist’s beautiful ballad, “A Flower,” as well as extended readings of the classic, “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You,” Lateef’s “Yusef’s Mood,” and Barron’s “The Untitled.” This project was produced by the renowned Zev Feldman and released in collaboration with the Yusef Lateef Estate. The audio has been transferred and newly remastered from the original concert tapes licensed from the archives of the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA).

This incredibly light, fun, and surprisingly hip three-CD collection featured by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Django Reinhardt, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan and many more.

Miles Davis created just one studio album with his original sextet. He made every moment count. Pairing with Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, the trumpeter not only laid the groundwork for the modalism that immediately followed but tailored a genuine modern-jazz masterwork laden with performances among the most explosive of his distinguished career. Due to its sandwiched position between the more famous ‘Round About Midnight and epochal Kind of Blue, Milestones remains, for too many music lovers, an overlooked classic.
Milestones has been restored to mono for the first time as to expose the record’s standing as one of the all-time great jazz efforts…

This is an attractive eight-CD set (+ Bonus CD), whose discs are also available as eight separate releases, that could have been a great reissue but settled for being merely quite good. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first jazz recording, RCA released a disc apiece covering each of the past eight decades. In listening to the music straight through, one becomes aware of RCA's strengths and weaknesses as a jazz label. Victor was one of the most important jazz labels during the 1920s, '30s and '40s, catching on to bebop a little late (1946) but still documenting many classic recordings. By the 1950s, the label's attention was wandering elsewhere; it missed free jazz almost completely in the '60s, and in the last three decades has only had a few significant artists, mostly Young Lions whose output sounds conservative compared to the earlier masters…

Most of the titles on this album are derived from Thelonious Monk's vast catalog of bop standards. Both co-leaders are at the peak of their respective prowess with insightful interpretations of nearly half a dozen inspired performances from this incarnation of the Blakey-led Jazz Messengers. This combo features Art Blakey (drums), Johnny Griffin (tenor sax), Bill Hardman (trumpet), and Spanky Debrest (bass). Immediately, Hardman ups the ante with a piledriving lead during "Evidence" that underscores the heavy-hitting nature of this particular jazz confab. Monk counters with some powerful and inspired runs that are sonically splintered by the enthusiastic – if not practically percussive – chord progressions and highly logistic phrasings from the pianist. The inherent melodic buoyancy on "In Walked Bud" contains a springboard-like quality, with Griffin matching Monk's bounce measure for measure.

Altoist Bobby Watson's debut for the Blue Note label used his future group name Horizon but was actually more of a transition band recorded right before Horizon's personnel became stabilized. Most notable is the fact that Watson utilizes two up-and-coming players (trumpeter Roy Hargrove at the beginning of his career and trombonist Frank Lacy) in addition to a top-notch rhythm section comprised of pianist John Hicks, bassist Curtis Lundy and either Kenny Washington or Victor Lewis on drums. Their reportoire on this disc is quite fresh (five of Watson's challenging originals, Pamela Watson's "And Then Again" and Billy Strayhorn's "Blood Count") and the advanced hard bop solos are full of spirit and unpredictable ideas.

This magnificent limited-edition set launched the Mosaic label in real style. Included are all of Thelonious Monk's Blue Note recordings, six sessions as a leader from 1947-52 complete with alternate takes plus two titles cut with tenor-saxophonist Sonny Rollins in 1957. Since these were Monk's first opportunities to lead his own recording dates, this set includes the original versions of such classics as "Ruby, My Dear," "Well You Needn't," "Off Minor," "In Walked Bud," "Evidence," "Criss Cross" and "Straight No Chaser" along with Monk's first chance to record "'Round Midnight" and "Epistrophy." The sidemen include such notables as trumpeters Kenny Dorham and Idrees Sulieman, drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, altoist Lou Donaldson and tenor-saxophonist Lucky Thompson, but it is the unique pianist/composer who is the main star.

For what would be his final of over 20 Blue Note albums, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley uses a sextet that also includes trumpeter Woody Shaw, the obscure guitarist Eddie Diehl, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Mickey Bass, and drummer Leroy Williams for a typically challenging set of advanced hard bop music. For the first and only time in his career, Mobley recorded a "Suite" (consisting of "Thinking of Home," "The Flight," and "Home at Last"); the remainder of the set has three of his other attractive originals plus Mickey Bass' "Gayle's Groove." This music was not released for the first time until 1980. It is only fitting that Hank Mobley would record one of the last worthwhile Blue Note albums before its artistic collapse (it would not be revived until the 1980s) for his consistent output helped define the label's sound in the 1960s. Mobley's excellent playing and the adventurous solos of Woody Shaw make this LP (his last as a leader) one to hunt for.

Groovy was the third album to be released by acclaimed jazz pianist Red Garland. Originally released on Prestige Records in 1957 this energetic jazz album was performed by a trio made up of Garland alongside Paul Chambers (bass) and Art Taylor (drums). This new edition is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and features remastered audio from the original master tapes. Available on 192/24 hi res digital.

Blue Note Records has announced an April 26 release of Sonny Rollins A Night at the Village Vanguard: The Complete Masters, a special Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of the legendary saxophonist’s tour-de-force live trio album. The expanded 3-LP set, which can be ordered now on the Blue Note Store, marks the first time Rollins’ complete recorded performances at the Village Vanguard on November 3, 1957 will be made available in a single vinyl package. The collection is also available as a 2-CD set and on all digital formats.

Fine, although a bit routine, soul jazz, blues, ballads, and standards session from saxophonist Sonny Stitt. He plays with the usual surging intensity, but the album doesn't have as much excitement as similar dates done before and after it.

New Soil wasn't the first session Jackie McLean recorded for Blue Note, but it was the first one released, and as the title suggests, the first glimmerings of McLean's desire to push beyond the limits of bop are already apparent. They're subtle, of course, and nowhere near as pronounced as they would be in just a few years' time, but – as with the 1959 material later issued on Jackie's Bag – hints of Ornette Coleman's stream-of-consciousness melodic freedom are beginning to find their way into McLean's improvisations. His playing is just a touch more angular than the ear expects, especially given the very bluesy nature of pieces like McLean's 11-minute vamp "Hip Strut," and pianist Walter Davis, Jr.'s infectious boogie-woogie "Greasy."