Midnight Blue (Kenny Burrell)

Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue is one of the most iconic soul-jazz guitar standards ever recorded. Released in 1963 on Blue Note Records, it’s the title track of Burrell’s album Midnight Blue, with Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Major Holley on bass, Billy Gene English on drums, and Ray Barretto on congas. If you’re into smooth and bluesy jazz guitar, Midnight Blue is a song you’ll want to learn.

Midnight Blue was recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey. The track highlights Burrell’s warm tone, melodic phrasing, and economical approach to improvisation.

His playing has influenced generations of jazz and blues guitarists. Artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and George Benson have cited Burrell as a key influence.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to play the intro and melody of Midnight Blue, along with an improvised solo over the chord changes.

Midnight Blue is a great example of how a strong blues feel, simple melodic ideas, and tasteful phrasing can be more effective than playing many notes.

 

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Midnight Blue – Video

 

Midnight Blue – Melody

The melody of Midnight Blue is fairly straightforward and closely follows the tune’s bluesy, laid-back character. Most of the phrases are easy to memorize and sit well on the guitar.

The B section is a bit more challenging because the melody is harmonized with chord voicings. Take some time to work through these chords slowly before brining them up to tempo.

 

Backing Track

Listen & Play-Along

 

 

Midnight Blue – Solo

This improvised solo is inspired by Kenny Burrell’s vocabulary, mixing blues phrasing, scales, arpeggios, and chromatic passing tones.

In the first eight bars, I mix phrases from the F minor blues scale with the chord hits from the intro, creating a call-and-response effect between single-note lines and chords.

As the solo develops, I move beyond the blues scale and use chromatic phrases, arpeggios, and the F Dorian mode.

Over the C7 chord, I use either the F harmonic minor scale or the C altered scale.

 

 

 

 

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