Kenny Burrell’s 1958 album Blue Lights Volume 1 is among the latest records to be reissued as part of the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series.
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mono, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
By the time the Detroit-born guitarist made Blue Lights Volume 1 at Manhattan Towers, he had been recording for Blue Note for two years. He was in his late 20s at the time, announcing himself in 1956 with Introducing Kenny Burrell.
The Blue Lights sessions produced two volumes. The first features a lineup of trumpeter Louis Smith, tenor saxophonists Junior Cook and Tina Brooks, pianists Duke Jordan and Bobby Timmons, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Art Blakey.
Blue Lights Volume 1 opens with Burrell’s blues number “Yes Baby” before transitioning into Jordan’s more lively “Scotch Blues.” The second side features a stunning rendition of Vernon Duke’s “Autumn In New York” and closes with Duke Ellington’s “Caravan.”
The album features an illustration of a woman by Andy Warhol, one of three Blue Note covers on which the soon-to-be famed artist collaborated with designer Reid Miles.
Burrell spoke about the sessions and Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion in a 2010 interview with the Smithsonian. “Alfred Lion really liked to have a little rehearsal. He didn’t like to take too many chances on stuff. You’d bring in some songs but if at all possible he’d like to have at least one rehearsal. Even if it was going to be an hour before the date he liked to have them maybe the day before or something like that, but even if it was sometime before they started recording he wanted to make sure you guys rehearsed the stuff to make sure the lines were together.”
Burrell released his next record in 1959, On View at the Five Spot Cafe, a collaboration with Blakey. The Complete Masters edition of the record was released last year as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet series. Burrell would release Blue Lights Volume 2 in 1961.
