Kenny Burrell – Kenny Burrell

Believe it or not, before Kenny Burrell was king of soul jazz, he was an avowed bebopper. These early '50s recordings have him sounding like Johnny Smith or Tal Farlow.

Tone Poet releases are a work of art, and I can't help feeling that is lost on this release due to the less than average quality of the original source tapes. There is no benefit having a high quality reproduction of a meh quality recording. This should have been a BN Classic series release, IMO. I only say that because I paid $45 new for this and it sounds like a $25 record. The gate fold sleeve is lovely, but when I opened mine for the first time, it cracked right down the middle and split. The vinyl is absolutely beautiful, clean and flawless.

Soundwise, there is track bleeding everywhere, and a handful of skips. No crackle whatsoever which is a good sign. The best two tracks by far are "Cheetah" and "Now See How You Are", an up bebop and slow gut bucket blues respectively. Kenny's playing is always 100% so this recording is a must-have in your collection.
I'm giving this 3.5 stars.

Such a stupid thing to do putting that jappanese Blue Note sticker on the Warhole drawing, with all that free space on the right lower part of the jacket.

Played back on my Rega P8/Apheta 3 and with a mono switch, I did not hear any distortion or sibilance throughout the entire LP. Yes, there were some minor light ticks here and there but I listened before cleaning. No tape drop outs were noticed on B2 or B3. Both sounded quite nice. Only Get Happy sounded a bit subpar to me. The remainder of the tracks sounded pretty fine for 1956 location (mostly) recordings.

I wonder if the ripping noise someone mentioned another review is non-fill in their particular pressing. That's unfortunate but a common problem with how plants are churning out product with seemingly little attention paid to quality control. I experienced none of that on my copy, but all too familiar with it on other LPs...

Another marvelous edition by Tone Poet, dead quiet and with fantastic presence. Almost impossible to find in decent pressing condition in its OG form these days - so this pressing from Blue Note is the best you can get. Remastered from analogue tapes by Kevin Gray, it sounds phenomenal. A must for any half decent jazz vinyl collector and follower of Kenny's work. Get it while still available.

If anyone has a cover for this one please reach out THX! Mine got destroyed by mold :(

Rarement deçu de T.P. En effet enregistré le 12 mars 1956.... le rendu sonore est excellent.
Mexico city wow... Dorham en pleine forme.

Fantastic sound. Another wonderful job from Blue Note Tone Poet series

A typically well done Tone Poet release. No issues with my copy. I usually prefer listening to Burrell as a sideman over his records as a leader and this one has a bit of a feel of being thrown together which of course it was as it’s from both live and studio sessions.

It sounds great to me and the packaging is lovely as usual on Tone Poet releases. As LeonTP already mentioned, there are some tape dropouts and a couple of ripping distortions (more prominently on B2), but they are on the digital version, too, so I guess it's on the tape. Overall, a very good-sounding record for such an old tape.

Those congas in Get Happy sound so clean and gentle. Amazing.