Sonny Red

Out of the Blue Sonny Red Japan Import edition

Detroit-born alto saxophonist Sonny Red recorded only one album as a leader for Blue Note, but “Out Of The Blue” remains a gem in the renowned label's catalog that deserves much more recognition. Red's light swing style is on full display in this set of eight songs featuring original blues compositions and obscure standards drawn from two different recording sessions by the quartet. The first session, recorded in December 1959 with Wynton Kelly on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Roy Brooks on drums, produced six of the album's final tracks, including the lively opener “Bluesville” and the beautiful ballad “Stay As Sweet As You Are”. Red returned to the studio in January 1960 with Kelly on piano, but this time accompanied by Paul Chambers on double bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums, a trio that at the time also formed the rhythm section of Miles Davis, having contributed to the recording of “Kind Of Blue” the previous year. The last two tracks on the album feature the quartet with Red's original “The Lope” and the ballad “Stairway To The Stars”.

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US's analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Out Of The Blue” took place on December 5, 1959 and January 23, 1960 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.