In celebration of the 80th anniversary of Blue Note Records in 2019, the Classic Series presents affordable, high-quality reissues in standard packaging that are mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal Media in Germany. The pressings are all-analog whenever an analog source is available, with Gray cutting directly from the Original Master Tapes.

• Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
• LP 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• All Analog Mastering
• Cut from the Original Master Tapes
• Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Pressed at Optimal Media in Germany

The Classic Vinyl Reissue Series is the continuation of our acclaimed Blue Note 80 Vinyl Reissue Series, which was created in celebration of the 80th anniversary of Blue Note Records in 2019. The series presents affordable, high-quality reissues in standard packaging that are mastered by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio and manufactured on 180g vinyl at Optimal Media in Germany. The pressings are all-analog whenever an analog source is available, with Gray mastering directly from the original master tapes. Blue Note Records has recorded the legends of Jazz and has traced the entire evolution of the music from the early days of Boogie Woogie, Hot Jazz and Swing, through the innovations of Bebop, Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, and 70s Fusion, and into the vibrant sounds of Jazz’s many modern-day incarnations. The Classic Vinyl Series is curated by Don Was and Cem Kurosman and is broad in its scope. The series reissues the best-known Blue Note classics from the 1950s and 60s, but also goes deeper, exploring the many different eras and styles of the legendary label’s eight-decade history with the aim of telling our story and fully representing the Blue Note motto: The Finest In Jazz Since 1939.

The deeply soulful Louisiana-born tenor saxophonist Don Wilkerson made his Blue Note debut in 1962 with Preach Brother!, an under-recognized soul jazz classic and a hidden gem of the Blue Note catalog. Wilkerson had joined Ray Charles’ band in the mid-1950s and played on several of the soul legend’s classic Atlantic sides, the feeling of which carries over into this exuberant 6-song set of Wilkerson originals. Joined by Grant Green on guitar, Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums, Wilkerson is an absolute powerhouse from the opening flourishes of the jump blues “Jeanie-Weenie” to the swaggering closer “Pigeon Peas.” In between, Wilkerson takes his listeners to church on the irrepressible shouters “Dem Tambourines” and “Camp Meetin’,” downshifts for the expressive “Homesick Blues,” and carries on an animated conversation with Green’s soul-drenched guitar on “The Eldorado Shuffle.”

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

Musicians:

Butch Warren - bass
Billy Higgins - drums
Grant Green - guitar
Sonny Clark - piano
Don Wilkerson - tenor saxophone

Track Listing:

A1: Jeanie-Weenie
A2: Homesick Blues
A3: Dem Tambourines

B1: Camp Meetin'
B2: The Eldorado Shuffle
B3: Pigeon Peas

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫