Kenny Burrell – Kenny Burrell: Blue Note Tone Poet Series (180g Vinyl LP)

All-Analog 180g Vinyl LP of Kenny Burrell Mastered from the Original Master Tapes by Kevin Gray & Pressed at RTI: Reference-Caliber Blue Note Reissue Helmed by Audiophile Legend Joe Harley

The first thing that strikes you about Kenny Burrell’s second Blue Note album, simply titled Kenny Burrell and released as part of Blue Note’s fabled 1500 series, is the cover, which features an illustration by Andy Warhol, the first of three Blue Note covers the soon-to-be famed artist collaborated on with designer Reid Miles. The second is the striking music, which is drawn from four different sessions recorded in 1956 with the great guitarist featured in a variety of different configurations.

The opener, a brisk romp through Harold Arlen’s “Get Happy,” features Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums, and Candido on congas. That leads into a stunning solo guitar rendition of the Gershwin tune “But Not For Me,” which is followed by the live track “Mexico City,” a piece by Kenny Dorham and recorded with the trumpeter’s sextet at the Café Bohemia. Burrell and Flanagan are joined by bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Shadow Wilson on the Basie band number “Moten Swing” and Burrell’s “Cheeta,” and tenor saxophonist Frank Foster makes it a quintet for remainder of Side 2 on Pettiford’s “Now See How You Are,” Burrell’s “Phinupi,” and the Burton Lane standard “How About You.”

Musicians:
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Bobby Timmons / Tommy Flanagan, piano
Kenny Dorham, trumpet
Frank Foster / J.R. Monterose, tenor saxophone
Oscar Pettiford / Paul Chambers / Sam Jones, bass
Arthur Edgehill / Kenny Clarke / Shadow Wilson, drums
Candido, congas

1. Get Happy
2. But Not For Me
3. Mexico City
4. Moten Swing
5. Cheeta
6. Now See How You Are
7. Phinupi
8. How About You