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what is a Blue Note King/Japan lp


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ive been seeing and passing on a lot of these lately. i dont own one. with the liberty stuff, at least i know the lineage, KIND OF. but where do these toshiba/emi "king" lps come into play. when are they from. HOW ARE THEY MADE. are the actual masters sent to japan for mastering or what is known about the origin of these lps. ive heard there supposed to sound good. so do they come from original master tapes. did they really let japan borrow those over the years? i know nothing about these releases, what is the origin of the transfer. i cant immagine anyone attempted to ship a blue note master tape in a box to japan. how are these done?

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The first appearance of the Hank Mobley Quintet date from August 18, 1957 was on the Toshiba-EMI label (same as King).

This was BN 61006, a limited edition LP.

The liner notes give the following indications:

Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER

Produced for Released (sic) by MICHAEL CUSCUNA

Cutting Engineered by YOSHIO OKAZAKI

Project Directed by HITOSHI NAMEKATA

So it looks like the material (but not the master tapes) was shipped to Toshiba Japan.

If you see a Toshiba/King vinyl LP, get it! Those vinyls were beautifully produced!

The King Records era

Edited by brownie
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Knew I'ld hit the right chord...

most of the BN Mobleys I have are King or Toshiba vinyls and I love their sound!

When I went to look for the BN originals, they were either in bad condition or beyond my price range :(

It's even worse by now!

The Kings/Toshibas I got have remained pristine (glossy covers, immaculate vinyls) even after numerous listenings!

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The first appearance of the Hank Mobley Quintet date from August 18, 1957 was on the Toshiba-EMI label (same as King).

This was BN 61006, a limited edition LP.

The liner notes give the following indications:

Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER

Produced for Released (sic) by MICHAEL CUSCUNA

Cutting Engineered by YOSHIO OKAZAKI

Project Directed by HITOSHI NAMEKATA

So it looks like the material (but not the master tapes) was shipped to Toshiba Japan.

If you see a Toshiba/King vinyl LP, get it! Those vinyls were beautifully produced!

The King Records era

Funny you should mention this one as I just picked up a copy at Stereo Jack's a few weeks ago. The session is usually called "Curtain Call" now.

I agree that King pressings sound very good. I was under the impression that all of the King & Toshiba pressings are made from 2nd generation masters that were created in the 70's when some engineer fro Japan came over and made dupes of all the masters. Even today, Blue Note (US) will sometimes pull one of these masters from Japan if the US master is trashed. I believe that several of them were used on US CDs.

Kevin

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Which US CD's in particular Kevin, do you know?

I am pretty sure that there's one "Maiden Voyage" US CD out there with the Japanese master tape because the US master is pretty beat. I am also pretty sure that both of the "needle drop" masters, "The Jody Grind" and "Sweet Honey Bee", had the Japanese masters pulled to see if they were any better (I don't think they were) and they were probably used on their US CD as well.

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Which US CD's in particular Kevin, do you know?

I am pretty sure that there's one "Maiden Voyage" US CD out there with the Japanese master tape because the US master is pretty beat. I am also pretty sure that both of the "needle drop" masters, "The Jody Grind" and "Sweet Honey Bee", had the Japanese masters pulled to see if they were any better (I don't think they were) and they were probably used on their US CD as well.

Hmm, the US RVG of "Maiden Voyage" uses the Japanese master perhaps?

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