Midnight Blue (Kenny Burrell album)

Midnight Blue is a 1963  album by jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell featuring Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Major Holley on double bass, Bill English on drums and Ray Barretto on conga, and is one of Burrell's best-known works for Blue Note. Jazz Improv magazine lists the album among its top five recommended recordings for Burrell, indicating that "[i]f you need to know 'the Blue Note sound', here it is". In 2005, NPR included the album in its "Basic Jazz Library", describing it as "one of the great jazzy blues records". The album has been re-issued by Blue Note.

The cover artwork of Elvis Costello's 1981 country album Almost Blue pays homage to the artwork of Midnight Blue. In 2012, musical comedians Three Bonzos And A Piano parodied the album cover on their album Bum Notes.

Track listing
Except where otherwise noted, all songs composed by Kenny Burrell.


 * 1) "Chitlins con Carne" – 5:30
 * 2) "Mule" (Kenny Burrell, Major Holley Jr.) – 6:56
 * 3) "Soul Lament" – 2:43
 * 4) "Midnight Blue" – 4:02
 * 5) "Wavy Gravy" – 5:47
 * 6) "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You" (Andy Razaf, Don Redman) – 4:25
 * 7) "Saturday Night Blues" – 6:16
 * 8) "Kenny's Sound" – 4:43 (Bonus track on CD reissue)
 * 9) "K Twist" – 3:36 (Bonus track on CD reissue)

Performance

 * Kenny Burrell – guitar
 * Stanley Turrentine – tenor saxophone (except #3, 4, 6, 9)
 * Major Holley – bass (except #3)
 * Bill English – drums (except #3)
 * Ray Barretto – conga (except #3, 6)

Production

 * Eric Bernhardi – graphic design
 * Bob Blumenthal – CD reissue liner notes
 * Micaela Boland – design
 * Michael Cuscuna – producer, reissue producer
 * Leonard Feather – original liner notes
 * Gordon Jee – creative director
 * Alfred Lion – producer
 * Reid Miles – cover design, typography
 * Rudy Van Gelder – engineer, remastering
 * Tom Vasatka – producer
 * Francis Wolff – photography, cover photo