July 19, 2021
Blue Note Records and UNIQLO have announced a new UT t-shirt collection collaboration featuring seven designs based on iconic Blue Note album covers that were selected by GRAMMY-winning producer and Blue Note President Don Was. The new UT collection is on sale today in UNIQLO stores worldwide and online at bluenote.lnk.to/uniqlo.
“We’re thrilled to team up with UNIQLO on this new UT collection that lets fans adorn themselves in the visionary designs of Reid Miles,” said Was. “In the 1950s and 60s Reid created an enduringly hip Blue Note aesthetic with album covers that were themselves works of art, and we hope new generations will discover his genius thru UT.”
This is Blue Note’s third collaboration with UT, following those in 2011 and 2017 (as part of the “Jazz 100th” T-shirt series). This time UT asked Was to select 30 “Essential” Blue Note designs from which the UT designers carefully selected the seven featured in this collection. Three of the seven album designs—Cecil Taylor’s Unit Structures, Herbie Nichols’ The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1, and Jutta Hipp’s Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims—have been officially licensed by Blue Note for apparel for the first time, making them highly valued collector’s items.
The seven designs are as follows:
Cannonball Adderley – Somethin’ Else
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Free For All
Sonny Clark – Sonny Clark Trio
Jutta Hipp – Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims
Thelonious Monk – Genius of Modern Music, Vol.2
Herbie Nichols – The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 1
Cecil Taylor – Unit Structures
To celebrate the collaboration Blue Note has released the official playlist BLUE NOTE MEETS UT, which was specially curated by Was for this collaboration.
