"Kenny Burrell With Art Blakey On View at The Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters" Expanded Tone Poet Edition Coming From Blue Note April 11th

1959 Live album presented as 3 AAA LPs, 2CDs and digital set

(Press release) Blue Note Records has announced an April 11 release of On View At The Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters, a special Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of guitarist Kenny Burrell’s sublime 1959 hard bop summit with drummer Art Blakey. The expanded 3-LP, 2-CD, and digital sets, which can be pre-ordered now on the Blue Note Store, present the complete recorded performances for the first time in any format including six previously unissued tracks. Listen to “The Take Off” which is available to stream or download today.

Burrell had already achieved rising star status with several stellar Blue Note albums to his name when he entered the storied NYC jazz club The Five Spot Café on August 25, 1959, for his first live recording date as a leader. The band Burrell assembled for the gig was stacked with top talent: Blakey on drums, Tina Brooks on tenor saxophone, Roland Hanna and Bobby Timmons on piano, and Ben Tucker on bass. The mood was relaxed and soulful, but the music was red hot and the grooves were deep on that steamy summer evening of hard bop bliss.

Produced for release by Joe Harley, the vinyl is all-analog and cut directly from Rudy Van Gelder’s original master tapes by Kevin Gray. Pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, the three LPs come packaged in a deluxe tip-on trifold jacket which includes a booklet with never-before-seen photos by Francis Wolff; an insightful essay by Syd Schwartz; and a new interview with Burrell himself reflecting on the album and the times with Blue Note President Don Was.

“That was a real jazz club,” recalls Burrell. “It was good to play there because you knew that the audience was sophisticated in terms of jazz. They knew the jazz musicians and they expected a certain level of jazz if you were playing at the Five Spot. I was happy to be there as a musician.”

“This has long been one of my favorite live jazz albums, something I picked up in college over 50 years ago,” says Harley. “There’s such a deep and relaxed vibe, these guys were obviously familiar with each other’s playing and very at-ease on the gig. I always wished I could have been there. Putting the masters up when we were cutting this, I felt like my wish had come true. Even better, there were so many great tracks I had never heard before! Let’s journey back to August 25, 1959, and meet at the Five Spot Café in New York City for a stellar evening of jazz!”