Midnight Blue is a bluesy jazz tune written by Kenny Burrell - it is the title track of his 1963 Blue Note album Midnight Blue. The original artist is Kenny Burrell, and the track features Stanley Turrentine on tenor sax, Major Holley on bass, Bill English on drums, and Ray Barretto on conga - a tight blues-tinged rhythm section that helps define the sound. It was recorded January 8, 1963 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs and released in early May 1963. The piece runs about 4 minutes on the original LP and showcases Burrell's soulful guitar lines within a bluesy vibe that became emblematic of the Blue Note sound. Midnight Blue is widely regarded as one of Burrell's best-known Blue Note sessions, and NPR later included the album in its Basic Jazz Library.
