Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (UHQR 33rpm Clarity Vinyl LP)

In-store collection only.

Definitive 200g UHQR Clarity Vinyl LP Reissue Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the Original 3-Track Master Tapes and Hand-Pressed at Quality Record Pressings!

Deluxe Box Packaging includes 16-Page Booklet with Liner Notes by Ashley Kahn & Robert Palmer!

How does one properly introduce an epochal record such as Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue? Perhaps by unequivocally stating that it is the best-selling jazz album in history. Or by affirming that, every year, it sells tens of thousands of copies more than six decades after its original release. There’s also the matter of its status as the most-referenced, and arguably, most important, jazz recording of all-time. And the dream team lineup of Davis, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. Yes, Kind of Blue is utterly inimitable.

The blueprint for melodic improvisation and vamping, Kind of Blue simplifies tonal organization and chordal progression into an eminently beautiful, introspective tapestry stitched with swinging poetry, mellifluous soloing, compositional lyricism, transcendental harmonies, and group interplay of the highest caliber. Davis intentionally handpicked these musicians to comprise this particular cast, with everyone from former foil Evans to blues maestro Kelly to percussive genius Cobb interacting and reacting with peerless skill. Born in 1959 at the peak of the golden age of high-fidelity, Kind Of Blue has rightfully been an audiophile favorite from day one!

Analogue Productions, together with Quality Record Pressings, reintroduce one of the most revered brands in LP history – the Ultra High Quality Record (UHQR), originally introduced by JVC Japan in the 1980s! This UHQR is mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original 3-track master tapes. Each UHQR will be pressed at Quality Record Pressings (QRP) using hand-selected Clarity Vinyl on a manual Finebilt press with attention paid to every single detail of every single record. The 200-gram records will feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable.

From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing the customer’s stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center. Clarity Vinyl allows for the purest possible pressing and the most visually stunning presentation. Every UHQR will be hand inspected upon pressing completion, and only the truly flawless will be allowed to go to market. Each UHQR will be packaged in a deluxe box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

A minor audio complication with Kind of Blue has been addressed with this UHQR edition. The motor on the studio’s 3-track master recorder was running slowly the day of the album’s first session. This speed issue affected the album’s first three tracks, “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader” and “Blue in Green,” making them a barely perceptible quarter-tone sharp. Before now, it was only addressed in 1995 for the Classic Records edition and by Columbia Records – or their latter-day parent, Sony Music – on a CD reissue in the late ’90s.

Over sixty years have passed; this LP bridges that time span in the best way possible, struck from the master reel of Kind of Blue, free of speed issues and replete with all the instrumental detail, sonic environment and minimal noise. As Analogue Productions set out to make our UHQR series the world’s best-sounding vinyl records, they have also used Clarity Vinyl, which is free of any carbon black pigment which might introduce surface noise. All-in-all this edition of Kind of Blue meets the highest audiophile standards and offers the truest sound for the most enjoyment.

Musicians:
Miles Davis, trumpet
Cannonball Adderley, alto saxophone
John Coltrane, tenor saxophone
Bill Evans, piano
Wynton Kelly, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Jimmy Cobb, drums

Features:
• 200g Clarity Vinyl LP from Analogue Productions
• Ultra High Quality Record (UHQR)
• Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original 3-track master tapes
• Hand-pressed at Quality Record Pressings using Clarity Vinyl on a manual Finebilt press
• Deluxe box packaging with booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection
• Includes 16-page booklet with liner notes by Ashley Kahn & Robert Palmer