Sonos Blue Note PLAY:1
A shared passion for HiFi audio and dedication to the world’s best music breads a unique and colorful collaboration
We’ve long been supporters of Sonos, watching their evolution over the past 10 years—we even teamed up with lighting designer Lindsey Adelman to create a one-off Soundalier during NYCxDESIGN week in 2012. That said, the HiFi audio-obsessed brand had yet to release an official limited edition speaker—until today’s announcement of the Blue Note PLAY:1. As Sonos’ VP of Design Tad Toulis says, “When the right opportunity comes along, you take it.” And working with world-renowned jazz label Blue Note Records was just that opportunity. “Every step of the way, Blue Note has encouraged people to expand their boundaries of music, and at the core that’s what we’re trying to do too,” Toulis continues.
To celebrate Blue Note’s recent 75th anniversary and pay respect to their unparalleled reign as arbiters of the world’s finest jazz, Sonos is releasing a beautiful, custom blue speaker and a new Blue Note on Sonos radio station. Featuring playlists created specifically for the radio station by label artists like Robert Glasper, Jose James, Lionel Loueke and Blue Note President Don Was himself, “Artist Selects” will be available exclusively to owners of the collaboration speaker.
“We don’t enter into many partnerships either,” explains Blue Note President Don Was. “Two companies who are dedicated to enabling listeners to make an emotional connection to groundbreaking music. “We share the same sensibilities, and that’s really what you look for.” And thus, Toulis felt simply swapping logos (as many collaborations do) would do a disservice to both brands. The Blue Note PLAY:1 sports a custom developed color gradient that fades vertically from navy to cerulean blue in a subtle, yet beautiful manner that could easily be mistaken for a shadow. The technique to achieve this wonderful colorway was extremely difficult to perfect, and even still creates an ever-so-slight variation with each speaker. Toulis likened this to the way each live jazz performance is inherently different too.
The Blue Note PLAY:1 ($250) and accompanying “Artist Select” Sonos radio station are available 5 March exclusively from Sonos online. Blue Note’s two previously established Sonos radio stations, “Born in Blue” and “Blue Note 101” will continue to be available.
Images courtesy of Sonos
