***** Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell – The Only Legitimate Criticism of It Is That It Lacks Aggression

Firstly, I would like to say that all of the songs on Midnight Blue are great, and that that is the reason this one is a 5 star album. Though don’t mistake this one for the shred style albums, I am likely to give 5 stars, because Midnight Blue is a mellow album, in the vein of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. Midnight Blue is better than Kind of Blue, but that may only be because I prefer guitar to trumpet. I am a guitarist, and if you ask me, Kenny Burrell on Midnight Blue is the real deal. Clearly, aggression wasn’t Burrell’s goal, but so often I go for the aggressive album, as compared to the blue album. That is, when it comes to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, Blue Trane by John Coltrane, Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell, and so many other jazz artists that had a blue album, frankly, this isn’t my favorite style of music. I can appreciate it, and that is where the 5 stars come in, but in the long run, this really isn’t my favorite style.

One thing that is striking about Midnight Blue is how well the guitar functions as a chording instrument. These aren’t boring chords. The chording on this album is quite skilled.

I like jazz, and that is probably one reason that I am a fan of Kenny Burrell. If you get into jazz guitar, then Kenny Burrell is a staple, but he is slowly being forgotten. There are better artists out there today that are less heard of than Burrell. Really, nothing separates Kenny Burrell from the local jazz act in many places. Such an act may have a name guitarist, but because he or she did not come along until this generation, he or she is lost in the shuffle. However, this is where the problem starts for giving him a 5th star. That is, because Kenny Burrell is really only known well among cloistered groups at universities where people go to study music in order to get a degree in it, and he is then only remembered among those knowledgeable in jazz, increasingly Kenny Burrell’s popularity has been waning. If you ask me, while this is a great album, it will eventually lose its status as a standard. I think it can be outdone because for the most part I prefer shred to music like King of Blue, or Midnight Blue. As for now though, I think this album is still a 5 star standard.