Blue Note Announces 2026 Lineup For Classic Vinyl Reissue Series
This year’s series kicks off with titles from Joe Henderson and Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers.
Blue Note, the most revered record label in jazz history, is ready to roll out another year of its Classic Vinyl Reissue Series. Curated by Cem Kurosman, the series features all-analog 180g vinyl reissues from Blue Note’s storied catalog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes and manufactured at Optimal. The first of the monthly offerings will be a pair of 1960s classics, Free For All by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and Our Thing by Joe Henderson.
Free For All, which just reached its 60th anniversary this year, features what All Music Guide called “a lineup that would be hard to beat,” resulting in “a high point in drummer Art Blakey’s enormous catalog.” Blakey was joined here by Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Cedar Walton on piano, and Reggie Workman on bass. Together, they stretch out on four hard-swinging tracks that show the seasoned unit at the peak of their powers.
As for Our Thing, it matches tenor saxophonist Henderson with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Andrew Hill, drummer Pete La Roca, and bassist Eddie Khan. AllAboutJazz.com’s David Adler once highlighted the album for the relatively rare construction of its rhythm section, praising it as “an inspired missive from players we don’t get to hear on a great many records.” Adler continued, “Henderson, still young at this point, is at his very best, having developed all the hallmarks of his highly individual tenor style.”
The Blakey and Henderson reissues are both out Jan. 23. They’ll be followed in February by reissues of Thelonious Monk’s Genius Of Modern Music, Vol. 2 and J. J. Johnson’s The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 2. In March, the Classic Vinyl series will feature the first-ever vinyl reissues for two 1990s releases, John Scofield’s Meant To Be (cut directly from the analog master tapes) and Medeski Martin & Wood’s Tonic. Later in 2026, classics from Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Lou Donaldson, and more will get the reissue treatment.
