BLUE NOTE

Blue Note is, to many, the platonic ideal of a jazz label. Throughout its storied history, it has released more genre-defining albums than not. Most jazz titans from the 1950s to the 1970s had a Blue Note period, including John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, and Thelonious Monk, to name several, and leave out many. What’s more, Blue Note wasn’t afraid to adapt with the times, even producing avant-garde records like Eric Dolphy‘s Out To Lunch and Ornette Coleman‘s The Empty Foxhole. Which are both amazing albums.

The quality of the recordings matched the playing, too. From 1953 to 1967, engineer Rudy Van Gelder recorded nearly every Blue Note session. For the time, and even by today’s standards, Gelder’s work was of the highest quality. As record producer and Blue Note archivist Michael Cuscuna put it in Vox‘s video “The Greatest Album Covers of Jazz,” “When you heard a Blue Note Record, you heard a lot of air coming through the saxophones and the trumpets. And you heard all the power and crystal details of the drums.”

And that's just the sound and production, the design of the covers are iconic

Designer Reid Miles, who crafted some of the most recognizable covers of all time. Blue Note releases with Miles’ work are bold, intimate, and pair well with the closeness of the recording. In time, Miles began experimenting with typography and heavier graphic design, bringing the label’s image into the future while maintaining its flair.

All these factors combine to make Blue Note Records releases collectible for every level of jazz fan. For the grail hunters, though, the heavy-hitters are the mono, first pressings from the late 1950s to early ’60s. Many of these records were pressed in smaller quantities and not reissued for years, sometimes decades.

We talking super rare slices of jazz go for a mint, for instance Paul Chambers Quintet 1958 mono copy in excellent condition goes for £2,200, yep its a lot isn't it.

So if you into your jazz come and see me in the shop, i have some great jazz albums for sale, there's none that are worth 2k thoP))))