Freddie Roach – Brown Sugar is offered here in the 2023 Vinyl Me, Please Classics edition, released by Blue Note as Classics title C072. This US club edition is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl and carries the catalogue references VMP-C072 / 84168 / ST-84168 / BST 84168.
Originally recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio on 19 March 1964, Brown Sugar captures organist Freddie Roach at the point where his refined Blue Note sound became earthier, more rhythmic and more directly connected to blues and soul. Roach leads a compact quartet with Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Eddie Wright on guitar and Clarence Johnston on drums. With no bass player, Roach’s Hammond organ supplies both the harmonic colour and the deep, mobile bass foundation.
The title track opens with an immediately recognisable soul-jazz groove, balancing Roach’s clipped phrases against Henderson’s muscular tenor. “The Right Time” and “Have You Ever Had the Blues” push the session toward late-night rhythm and blues, while “The Midnight Sun Will Never Set” provides a spacious ballad contrast. “Next Time You See Me” and “All Night Long” close the album with blues-based momentum and the relaxed precision associated with Alfred Lion’s classic Blue Note productions.
This Vinyl Me, Please edition returns to the original stereo presentation. Its all-analogue lacquers were cut from the original master tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound, plated at Welcome to 1979 and pressed by GZ Media. The package includes an exclusive listening-notes booklet written by Ashawnta Jackson, adding historical context to an album that remains one of Roach’s strongest meetings of Hammond jazz, hard bop and rhythm-and-blues feeling.
The record and sleeve are graded Mint.
Edition details
Artist / title: Freddie Roach – Brown Sugar
Label: Blue Note
Series: Vinyl Me, Please Classics – C072
Catalogue numbers: VMP-C072 / 84168 / ST-84168 / BST 84168
Format: LP / Album / Club Edition / Reissue / Stereo / 180g
Country / year: US / 2023
Vinyl colour: Black
Mastering: AAA lacquer cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound
Media condition: M
Sleeve condition: M
Condition: Vinyl M · Cover M