Miles Davis Kind of Blue on UHQR 200g 45RPM Clarity Vinyl 2LP from Analogue Productions: Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the Original 3-Track Master Tapes and Pressed at Quality Record Pressings

Legends have a way of sticking around. If there was ever an album awaiting a high-fidelity, custom-pressed vinyl treatment, it is Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. The top-selling jazz album of all time, it has been lauded, entered into "Best Of" lists and Halls of Fame, and universally acknowledged as a landmark recording – a five-track masterpiece of melancholy mood and melody. It continues to be one of the most listened-to and studied recordings of all time, a required primer for many young musicians, and one of the most transcendent pieces of music ever recorded. Davis played trumpet sublime with his ensemble sextet featuring pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley with Wynton Kelly playing piano on "Freddy the Freeloader."

This Analogue Productions UHQR reissue is remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original three-track master tapes and pressed at Quality Record Pressings (QRP) on Clarity Vinyl. From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing the customer's stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center. Every UHQR is hand inspected upon pressing completion. Each UHQR is packaged in a custom clamshell box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a UHQR along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. There's also a 20-page booklet with updated session photos and liner notes by Robert Palmer and Ashley Kahn. Plus, photos of legendary mastering engineer Bernie Grundman's mastering notes from this release.

A minor audio complication with Kind of Blue has been addressed with this UHQR edition. The motor on the studio's 3-track master recorder was running slowly the day of the album's first session. This speed issue affected the album's first three tracks, "So What," "Freddie Freeloader" and "Blue in Green," making them a barely perceptible quarter-tone sharp. Before now, it was only addressed in 1995 for the Classic Records edition and by Columbia Records on a CD reissue in the late '90s.