In 2009, 79-year-old jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb, then the last surviving member of the famous Miles Davis group that had recorded the iconic Kind Of Blue album, was enjoying a late-career renaissance as a bandleader. Recruiting the Texas trumpet sensation and flugelhorn master Roy Hargrove alongside guitarist Russell Malone and bassist John Webber, Cobb recorded Jazz In The Key Of Blue, an exquisite collection of quiet, moody-invoking, late-night ballads for Chesky Records. The quartet offers stunning interpretations of standards from The Great American Songbook - including ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye,’ and ‘I Had The Craziest Dream’ - with jazz-inflected covers of pop hits (Billy Preston and Syreeta’s 1979 Motown hit ‘With You I’m Born Again’) and striking original tunes (Cobb’s ‘Remembering U’).
Jazz In The Key of Blue was released on 180g One-step Pressing Blue Vinyl LP for Record Store Day 2026 on 18th, April 2026, limited to just 1,700 copies worldwide. The LP comes with new liner notes featuring quotes from bassist John Webber
A superb, mostly self-taught musician, Jimmy Cobb is the elder statesman of all the incredible Miles Davis bands. Cobb's inspirational work with Miles, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly and Co. spanned 1957 until 1963 and included the masterpiece Kind of Blue, the most popular jazz recording in history. On this new Chesky Records recording, Jazz In the Key of Blue, Jimmy Cobb pairs up once again with 36-year old, Grammy Award winning trumpeter, Roy Hargrove. who has firmly established himself as among the premier players in jazz and beyond. The tried and true pair are joined, this time around, by guitarist Russell Malone and bassist John Webber. Malone, an Albany, Georgia native, built his chops in his twenties as sideman to none other than jazz organ icon Jimmy Smith. And Webber, from the American midwest, is more than an able torchbearer for past alumni of the region, among them Jimmy Blanton and Ron Carter. Jazz In the Key of Blue continues to prove Jimmy Cobb's mettle as a band leader, his imperturbable, rock-steady swing, paving the way for the rhythms and sounds of yet another generation of jazzmen.
released October 6, 2009
Jimmy Cobb, drums Roy Hargrove, flugelhorn, trumpet Russell Malone, guitar John Webber, bass
Producer David Chesky, Elaina Stenberg Tee Executive Producer Norman Chesky Recorded, edited, and mastered by Nicholas Prout
