Another collective of cutting-edge U.K. jazz artists has assembled for a second instalment of Blue Note Records’ Re:imagined series.
The album follows the success of the first volume’s 2020 release. This new 16-track compilation showcases rising musicians from the U.K.’s jazz, pop and R&B scenes as they deliver reinvigorated renditions of tunes from Blue Note’s classic catalogue.
Blue Note Re;imagined II features tracks culled from albums by Chick Corea, Cassandra Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Donald Byrd, Norah Jones and more.
Blue Note has shared the first track, which finds South London vocalist Ego Ella May covering Chico Hamilton’s The Morning Side of Love, lifted from his 1975 album Peregrinations.
Blue Note Re:imagined II covers a wide range of eras in the label’s long and storied history. Among the tracks are funk-pop duo Franc Moody’s version of Donald Byrd’s Cristo Redentor, fast-rising vocalist Cherise’s take on Norah Jones’s Sunrise, pianist Reuben James’s reimagining of Wayne Shorter’s ballad Infant Eyes, former Sons of Kemet member Theon Cross’s version of Thelonious Monk’s composition Epistrophy and nine-piece Afro-jazz outfit Nubiyan Twist’s reimagining of Donald Byrd’s Through The Noise (Chant 2).
“For more than eight decades, the artists of Blue Note Records have continually pushed the envelope of contemporary music,” said Blue Note president Don Was. “Blue Note Re:imagined II once again honours that legacy by letting the U.K.’s most creative young artists reinvent the treasures of the Blue Note catalogue through their own lens.”
Here’s the track listing:
- Yazz Ahmed – It [from Chick Corea Is, 1969]
- Conor Albert – You Make Me Feel So Good [from Bobbi Humphrey Fancy Dancer, 1975]
- Parthenope – Don’t Know Why [from Norah Jones’s Come Away With Me, 2002]
- Swindle – Miss Kane [from Donald Byrd’s Street Lady, 1973]
- Nubiyan Twist – Through the Noise (Chant No. 2) [from Donald Byrd’s A New Perspective, 1963]
- Ego Ella May – The Morning Side of Love [from Chico Hamilton’s Peregrinations, 1975]
- Oscar Jerome & Oscar #Worldpeace – (Why You So) Green With Envy [from Grant Green’s Green Street, 1961]
- Daniel Casimir feat. Ria Moran – Lost [from Wayne Shorter’s The Soothsayer, 1965]
- Theon Cross – Epistrophy [from Thelonious Monk’s Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1, 1948]
- Maya Delilah – Harvest Moon [from Cassandra Wilson’s New Moon Daughter, 1995]
- Kay Young – Feel Like Making Love [from Marlena Shaw’s Who Is This Bitch, Anyway?, 1974]
- Venna & Marco Bernardis – Where Are We Going [from Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd, 1972]
- Reuben James – Infant Eyes [from Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, 1964]
- Binker Golding – Fort Worth [from Joe Lovano’s From the Soul, 1991]
- Cherise – Sunrise [from Norah Jones’s Feels Like Home, 2004]
- Franc Moody – Cristo Redentor [from Donald Byrd’s A New Perspective, 1963]
Blue Note Re:imagined II will be released Sept. 30, 2022, via Blue Note.
