Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series Curated by Don Was and Cem Kurosman; Blue Note Live, Part 1 Themed Installment Presented on 180g Vinyl LP

In honor of Blue Note Records’ 80th Anniversary, the legendary jazz label is launching the Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series. Distinct from the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, this second series curated by Don Was and Cem Kurosman features 180g vinyl LP releases in standard packaging with albums spanning the many eras of the label’s history presented by themes: Blue Note Debuts, Blue Grooves, Great Reid Miles Covers, Blue Note Live, and Blue Note Drummer Leaders. The series resumes in November 2019 with Part 1 of the Blue Note Live theme  –  Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Meet You at the Jazz Corner of the World Vol. 1 and 2 (1960), Horace Silver – Doin’ The Thing (1961) and Grant Green – Alive! (1970) – and will continue with three albums released each month for the coming year.

After a prolific five-year run from 1961-1965 when he made more than 20 great hard bop and soul jazz albums for Blue Note, guitarist Grant Green took a four-year hiatus from recording. When he returned to Blue Note in 1969, Green’s style had moved into funkier territory as was perfectly captured on his first-ever live album Alive! which captured a hard-driving set of jazz-funk at the Cliché Lounge in Newark, NJ in 1970. The band is propelled by drummer Idris Muhammad who keeps a fire burning under Green, saxophonist Claude Bartee, vibraphonist Willie Bivens, organists Ronnie Foster & Neal Creque, and Joseph Armstrong on congas. The closing track “Down Here On The Ground” was famously sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on their hip-hop classic Low End Theory.

This Blue Note 80 Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Musicians:
Grant Green, guitar
Claude Bartee, tenor saxophone
Earl Neal Creque / Ronnie Foster, organ
William Bivens, vibraphone
Idris Muhammad, drums
Joseph Armstrong, congas

Features:
• Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series
• 180g vinyl LP
• Curated by Don Was and Cem Kurosman
• Theme: Blue Note Live (Part 1)
• All-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes
• Pressed at Optimal
• Standard packaging