Blue Note Review: Volume Two – Spirit & Time, the second edition of Blue Note Records’ vinyl box-set subscription series, will begin shipping to members in the first week of December, the label announced today. Following the sold-out success of Blue Note Review: Volume One, the box’s limited-edition production has increased to 2,000 sets. Subscribers and new customers can order the set exclusively at bluenotereview.com.
Blue Note Review: Volume Two – Spirit & Time includes:
- An exclusive new compilation album on 2-LP 180g vinyl and CD, which features current drummers from the Blue Note roster and beyond—including Brian Blade, Kendrick Scott, Tony Allen, Chris Dave, Nate Smith, Eric Harland, and Rob Turner (of GoGo Penguin)—paying tribute to Tony Williams by reinterpreting tracks from the six albums he made for Blue Note between 1985 and 1992
- An all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g vinyl audiophile reissue of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers’ Africaine featuring Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter (on his first recording date with the Messengers), Walter Davis Jr., and Jymie Merritt, recorded on Nov. 10, 1959, but not released until 1979
- An all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g vinyl audiophile reissue of Bobby Hutcherson’s Patterns featuring James Spaulding, Stanley Cowell, Reggie Workman, and Joe Chambers, recorded on Mar. 14, 1968, but not released until 1980
- Two 12×12 lithographs of Art Blakey and Elvin Jones by photographer and Blue Note co-founder Francis Wolff
- A set of 20 Topps Blue Note trading cards featuring artists including Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Grant Green, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Lonnie Smith, Charles Lloyd, and Robert Glasper
- The zine Out of the Blue, edited by Elissa Middleton, which includes an essay on Tony Williams by Brian Blade, a conversation between Billy Hart and Victor Lewis about Williams, a portrait of Bud Powell by Colleen Williams (Tony’s wife), and more
- The book Spirit & Time: Jazz Drummers on Their Art, also edited by Elissa Middleton, which features insights from Roy Haynes, Billy Hart, Joe Chambers, Barry Altschul, and Kenny Washington, among others
- A Blue Note carbon-fiber antistatic record brush
Joe Harley, co-founder and co-producer of the Music Matters audiophile vinyl series, supervised the vinyl mastering and manufacturing of the albums contained in the Spirit & Time set. All the music was mastered for vinyl by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and vinyl was manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI).
As was the case with Blue Note Review: Volume One, none of the items in the set will be sold separately, and the new music will not be available on streaming services or digital download sites.
