The cover art is original. The source tapes are original. The label design is original. The disc mastering is fully analog, just like the original. The only thing different on this Craft Recordings reissue of Kenny Burrell’s eponymous first album for Prestige Records is the serial number. Part of Craft’s stellar reissue run in the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series, this edition of Kenny Burrell might even surpass an original—if you could find one in mint condition. More on that in a moment.
Consistent with the rest of the OJC line, this new edition of Kenny Burrell is a fully analog production (AAA), with new pressing lacquers cut from the original master tapes by the esteemed Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio. The 180-gram black vinyl is pressed at the highly regarded RTI pressing facility.
These superior quality controls result in important playback benefits: the disc is perfectly centered (keeping the music in key and free from pitch fluctuations) and the vinyl is exceptionally quiet (allowing the music to emerge transparently, without surface noise). Each disc is housed in an audiophile-grade plastic-lined inner sleeve, enclosed in a heavy-gauge cardboard cover designed in the style of the original pressing—only better in many respects.
Kenny Burrell was released in 1957, and like many vintage mid-century jazz albums, finding copies in good condition can be both expensive and rare. For example, at the time of this writing, a check of the collector’s marketplace Discogs—as a general barometer of availability—showed just five used copies of the 1957 first pressing listed in no better than “VG” (Very Good) condition, with asking prices ranging from roughly $75 to $250. Even the 1964 reissue, retitled and repackaged as Blue Moods, would set you back $40–$70 for copies in no better than “VG+” condition.
I actually own a nice—probably VG+—copy of Blue Moods, which sounds comparable to the OJC reissue. This new mastering is slightly quieter, allowing the music to open up more naturally as you increase the volume on your sound system.
With only five tracks on Kenny Burrell, it’s hard to pick favorites, but I enjoy the warm swing of bluesy numbers like “Drum Boogie” and Burrell’s take on the Cole Porter classic “All of You.” Like most of Kenny’s albums, this is a start-to-finish listening experience that simply works.
You can find Kenny Burrell’s Kenny Burrell on Amazon for a very fair $38.99 or at your favorite music store which stocks quality jazz titles. Grab a copy while you can!
Where to buy: $38.98 at Amazon
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.