Morgan, Lee: Cornbread (Blue Note Tone Poet) LP

A rock-solid sextet session from the mighty Lee Morgan - recorded for Blue Note at the height of his mid-60s powers, and carried off in a beautiful blend of soul jazz and some slight modern touches. The group here is top-shelf all the way through - Jackie McLean on alto, Hank Mobley on tenor, Herbie Hancock on piano, Larry Ridley on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums - the last two of whom do a great job of bringing some complex yet swinging rhythms to the set. The horn soloists are all as sharp as you might expect - and the album's a striking soulful date from McLean at a time when he was mostly going out a bit more. Titles include the funky "Cornbread," the searching "Our Man Higgins," and the lyrical ballad "Ceora" - plus "Most Like Lee" and "Ill Wind."

The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was' admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. The label brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), aka the "Tone Poet," on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels. Extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the deluxe gatefold jacket graphics and printing quality to superior mastering (all analog direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180-gram audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. Every aspect of these Blue Note/Tone Poet releases is done to the highest-possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version.

"The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come though unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session."
– Joe Harley