Midnight Blue

Recording history and tape provenance

Burrell wrote most of the material, including "Chitlins Con Carne," "Midnight Blue," "Saturday Night Blues," and the unaccompanied solo guitar piece "Soul Lament." The album's influence runs well beyond jazz circles. Stevie Ray Vaughan covered "Chitlins Con Carne" on his posthumous album The Sky Is Crying, explicitly as a tribute to one of his musical heroes; Jimi Hendrix was reportedly a fan; the central riff bears an audible resemblance to Santana's "Black Magic Woman," probably not coincidentally; and Elvis Costello's Almost Blue borrowed its cover concept as a direct visual homage. Perhaps strangest of all: Hugh Romney, the counterculture figure who became Woodstock's on-stage announcer, took his stage name "Wavy Gravy" directly from Burrell's tune of the same name on this record.

Mono and stereo first pressings of this title have documented, checkable details, per collector reference sources including Fred Cohen's Blue Note pressing identification guide. A genuine mono BLP 4123 first pressing has deep groove rings on both sides of the label, a "NEW YORK USA" address, the Plastylite "ear" mark in the dead wax alongside a Van Gelder stamp, and – a detail specific to this catalog number – the catalog number in the dead wax is stamped rather than hand-etched, unlike some other Blue Note titles from the same era. A genuine first stereo pressing (BST 84123) differs in one notable way: deep groove appears on the A-side label only, not both sides, and the catalog number is rendered slightly differently across the labels, front cover/spine, and back cover (BST 84123, 84123, and ST-84123 respectively).

Conventional audiophile wisdom holds that a 45rpm cut, with its wider groove spacing, should outperform a standard 33⅓ pressing of the same mastering chain. This title provides a well-documented counterexample worth knowing about before assuming 45rpm automatically means better sound. Analogue Productions issued a 2×45rpm edition in 2008 (catalog AP-84123), mastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering and pressed at Quality Record Pressings on 200-gram vinyl – reviewed at the time as probably the definitive pressing of the album. Music Matters later issued its own 33⅓ edition, also cut by Kevin Gray but at his newer Cohearent Mastering facility, using upgraded tape playback electronics and cabling installed after the AP 45rpm session. AnalogPlanet's detailed side-by-side comparison of the two found the newer 33⅓ cut sounded "more vibrant, more 'live', faster, more dynamic, more three-dimensional" than the earlier 45rpm edition – attributing the difference not to the RPM at all, but to the substantial equipment upgrades Gray had made to his own mastering chain between the two sessions. A separate video review (45 RPM Audiophile) directly ranks all three modern reissues – Music Matters first, the Analogue Productions 45rpm second, the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition third – while noting the price gap between them is large enough that the Classic edition remains a perfectly good option on its own terms. That same reviewer reports getting direct confirmation from Kevin Gray himself, in a separate interview, that his later, upgraded mastering setup does sound better than his earlier work – a striking admission from the engineer about his own career, and one that lines up with what AnalogPlanet's independent listening test found. A separate, independent dealer comparison (The Skeptical Audiophile / On the Record) corroborates the broader pattern from a different angle: comparing a well-preserved original stereo pressing directly against the AP 45rpm reissue, the reviewer found the original bested the reissue outright, describing the 45rpm as "technically right" but "missing something" the vintage pressing had. That's now three independent accounts converging on the same conclusion from different starting points: 45rpm alone doesn't guarantee the best-sounding copy of this particular title.

A third modern reissue worth knowing about: Classic Records also issued a mono edition on 200-gram vinyl (catalog BN 4123-MONO-200GR), a genuinely different listening experience from either stereo reissue given how hard-panned Van Gelder's original stereo mix is. A separate 2024 pressing, part of a Blue Note 85th-anniversary series on blue vinyl, has drawn mixed reports – one detailed comparison against a 1985 DMM French pressing and a 1967 mono Liberty-labels reissue called it "perfectly serviceable" without clearly surpassing either, while at least one buyer reported an unusually noisy sealed copy, worth knowing before assuming every copy of a current in-print pressing is consistent.

A separate detailed comparison (Vinyl Rules OK) directly A/B'd the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition against the same Analogue Productions 45rpm pressing and found the two remarkably close – both dead quiet, both extremely well pressed, with differences the reviewer called "splitting hairs." What differences he did find: the Classic Vinyl Edition leans very slightly brighter, with individual cymbal taps and drum nuance coming through a touch more distinctly; the AP 45rpm is warmer, with more low-end body to Burrell's guitar tone and Turrentine's sax. He explicitly said he'd be hard-pressed to give up either one, and that the AP's higher price doesn't buy a clearly superior listening experience over the far more affordable Classic Vinyl edition – it buys a different, comparably valid character.

Sound quality by pressing

The true first pressings, Blue Note BLP 4123 (mono) / BST 84123 (stereo), are identifiable by the checklists above. One LondonJazzCollector commenter specifically praises Van Gelder's stereo mix on this title as "spot on" for the era's engineering intentions, despite stereo mixes from this period sometimes reading as unusually hard-panned by modern standards.

The Analogue Productions 45rpm (2008) is mastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering, pressed on 200-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings. Widely praised on release and still well-regarded. One recurring, minor owner complaint across multiple Analogue Productions titles from this era: some copies have an off-center spindle hole causing slight visible wobble, though reviewers differ on whether it's audible.

The Music Matters (33⅓) is cut by Kevin Gray at his then-newly renovated Cohearent Mastering facility, with upgraded playback electronics and cabling relative to his earlier AcousTech setup. Reviewed by AnalogPlanet as a genuine sonic improvement over the earlier AP 45rpm edition, in a rare case of a 33⅓ reissue reportedly outperforming the 45rpm version of the same recording.

The Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is part of Blue Note's ongoing Classic Vinyl Reissue Series, a continuation of the label's 2019 "Blue Note 80" anniversary series, running alongside the more elaborate Tone Poet line (which has not, as of this research, treated this specific title). All-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, pressed at Optimal in Germany.

Buyer's guide by budget

$$$: The Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition – all-analog Kevin Gray mastering, and per a direct comparison against the 45rpm reissue, a genuinely close contender rather than a clear step down.

$$$$: A clean Blue Note BLP 4123 mono or BST 84123 stereo original – verify the pressing details above before paying a premium.

$$$$$: The Music Matters 33⅓ edition or the Analogue Productions 2008 45rpm edition – genuinely contested territory, see above before choosing.

Pressing tier summary

References

• Wikipedia, "Midnight Blue (Kenny Burrell album)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Blue_(Kenny_Burrell_album)
• LondonJazzCollector, "Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue (1963) Blue Note": https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/kenny-burrell-midnight-blue-1963-blue-note/
• AnalogPlanet, "Kenny Burrell's Classic Midnight Blue At 33 1/3 From Music Matters": https://www.analogplanet.com/content/kenny-burrells-classic-midnight-blue%C2%A0%C2%A0-33-13-music-matters
• The Skeptical Audiophile / On The Record, "Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue (2024)": https://ontherecord.co/2025/08/04/kenny-burrell-midnight-blue-2024/
• 45 RPM Audiophile, "Shootout: Grant Green, Idle Moments + Kenny Burrell, Midnight Blue": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKnJ2Ci3fXM
• Vinyl Rules OK, "Kenny Burrell's 'Midnight Blue' - Blue Note Classic v Analogue Productions vinyl shootout": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdZSdXJTBGM

Related guides: Idle Moments · Page One · Out to Lunch!