Blue Note Reissues Donald Byrd Live Recording On Tone Poet Series
‘At The Half Note Café, Vol. 2’ has been mastered from the original analog tapes.
In November 1960, trumpeter Donald Byrd brought his quintet into the Half Note Café in New York City to record a soulful live set of hard bop. Now, in 2025, Blue Note Records are reissuing At The Half Note Café, Vol. 2 as part of their Tone Poet series. The reissued vinyl will be available on December 5th.
At The Half Note Café features Pepper Adams on baritone saxophone, Duke Pearson on piano, Laymon Jackson on bass, and Lex Humphries on drums. Vol. 2 features four tracks: “Jeannine,” “Pure D. Funk,” “Kimyas,” and “When Sunny Gets Blue.” “Pure” and “Kimyas” were both composed by Byrd.
Blue Note’s Tone Poet series was born out of President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley, a.k.a. 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 jacket graphics and printing quality to superior LP mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180g audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc.
This release of At The Half Note Café Vol. 2 was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.
Previous Tone Poet releases include Chet Baker’s Chet Baker Sings, Duke Ellington’s Money Jungle, and Herbie Hancock’s The Prisoner among other classics. At The Half Note Café Vol. 2 is the series’ third reissue of Byrd’s work, following 1961’s Chant and 1960’s Byrd in Flight.
