Blue Note Records Pop-Up Store
Famed jazz label Blue Note Records announces the return of its pop-up store to Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross. The store will offer one of the largest selections of vinyl in the UK, including limited editions, along with exclusive clothing, merchandise, books, DVDs & CDs and will be open for 10 days only from November 10th-18th to coincide with this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival.
The pop-up is this year collaborating with The BoAtPod, a state of the art floating recording studio and radio station, which will be moored at Coal Drops Yard, to broadcast interviews and live sessions from Blue Note artists along with special programmes celebrating the label.
Blue Note Records
108 Lower Stable Street
Coal Drops Yard
Kings Cross
N1C 4DR
Opening hours 11am – 6pm (Thu & Fri until 8pm)
For information on the store and special events throughout the week, visit IG #BLUENOTEPOPUPSTORE
The following Blue Note artists will be performing across the capital this month (EFG London Jazz Festival shows marked where applicable):
NDUDUZO MAKHATHINI
November 7th – Ronnie Scott’s
A central figure of South Africa’s vibrant jazz scene, Nduduzo Makhathini’s music draws upon his background in Zulu traditions featuring a band of exciting young musicians. His first album, Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds, was named as one of the best jazz albums of 2020 by The New York Times. In the Spirit of Ntu is Makhathini’s second album released last year on Blue Note Records in partnership with Universal Music Group Africa, and the very first release on the newly formed imprint Blue Note Africa.
Makhathini plays Ronnie Scott’s on November 7th.
In The Spirit of Ntu (Blue Note) is available to stream HERE.
JOSHUA REDMAN
November 12th – Barbican (as part of EFG London Jazz Festival)
Acclaimed saxophonist Joshua Redman returns to the Barbican to perform music from his upcoming Blue Note debut where are we. Released on September 15th, where are we is Redman’s first-ever vocal project which features vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade plus special guests Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar, Peter Bernstein on guitar, and Joel Ross on vibraphone. At its core the album is both a celebration and critique of America—each song is about a specific geographical location in the United States—but it is also, to varying degrees, a ballads album, a standards album, an album of romantic longing, an album of social reflection, an album of melodic invention, and an album of improvisational adventure.
Redman performs music from the album at the Barbican on November 12th.
Full album available here:
NORAH JONES
November 16th – Royal Festival Hall (as part of EFG London Jazz Festival)
Nine-time GRAMMY-winner Norah Jones, who’s sold over 50 million albums and had her songs streamed more than six billion times worldwide, returns to the UK with a special performance at London’s Royal Festival Hall with support from American singer-songwriter and guitarist Emily Elbert. Her 2002 critically acclaimed debut album Come Away With Me was recently reissued last year with a Super Deluxe Edition marking its 20th anniversary.
Norah Jones performs at the Royal Festival Hall on November 16th.
CHARLES LLOYD OCEAN TRIO
November 17th – Barbican (as part of EFG London Jazz Festival)
Charles Lloyd makes a much-anticipated return to the Barbican this time with his new Ocean Trio featuring six time GRAMMY-nominated pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Marvin Sewell. The evening will include music from the second album of his widely acclaimed Trio of Trios series released last year, an expansive project presenting the legendary saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master in three different trio settings. Recorded in the 150-year-old Lobero Theater in Lloyd’s hometown of Santa Barbara, California, Trios: Ocean was livestreamed without an audience on September 9, 2020, during the first year of the global pandemic.
Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio perform at the Barbican on November 17th.
Full album available here:
BILL FRISELL
20th November – Union Chapel
Grammy-award-winning guitarist Bill Frisell returns to London for his only UK show this year at the Union Chapel in Islington and will be joined by his trio featuring Thomas Morgan on bass and drummer Rudy Royston. Frisell recently released his third album on Blue Note named Four last November which received raving reviews from the likes of The Times, Guitarist, Jazzwise, Record Collector and described by Uncut as a “jazz guitar maestro”.
Bill Frisell Trio perform at the Union Chapel on November 20th.
Full album available here:
About Blue Note Records:
In 1939, two jazz artists, Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis entered a rented studio in New York to make a recording for a German Jewish immigrant; Alfred Lion. The recordings were funded by an American artist, music teacher and writer named Max Margulis, and with the help of Lion’s childhood friend Francis Wolff, the three of them established one of the most important record labels in jazz history - Blue Note Records.
Today, Blue Note is regarded as one of the most iconic jazz record labels in the world and its music legacy has paved the way not just in jazz, but for music and culture in general. The unique and striking album cover art that the LPs display is often imitated but never equalled. The highly respected and much-loved artists that have recorded for Blue Note over the past eight decades includes John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Norah Jones, Art Blakey, Donald Byrd, Cannonball Adderley, Dexter Gordon, and hundreds of others. Today the label is still going strong under the watchful eyes and ears of its President Don Was, who still maintains the label’s 84-year-old philosophy of allowing artistic freedom for the musicians that record for the company.
