The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was' admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), a.k.a. the "Tone Poet," on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.

The under-recognized tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan blew in from Chicago in 1957 and recorded a trio of excellent Blue Note sessions over a prolific 8-month span including the self-titled album Cliff Jordan. Jordan's second date for the label was a generous serving of smoldering bop featuring a robust septet with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, John Jenkins on alto sax, Ray Bryant on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. The band stretches out on extended takes of Jordan's "Not Guilty," Jenkins' "St. John," and Fuller's "Blue Shoes" before an 18-year-old Morgan takes the spotlight on his tune "Ju-Ba" to close the set.

180-gram gatefold LP

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original master tape

Plated and pressed at RTI

A1 Not Guilty
A2 St. John
B1 Blue Shoes
B2 Beyond The Blue Horizon
B3 Ju-Ba