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Classic Blue Notes on SHM-CD


David Ayers

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Looks like Shorter's Odyssey of Iska has sold out on the HMV Japan site ...

Well that's not a good sign ...

That SHM-CD is worth owning. I almost didn't purchase it, but reviews here swayed me.

I too was swayed having not heard the session previously. I played it all the way through the other night as I relaxed by the fireside. It was mesmerising.

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Hello, I write in regards to an earlier conversation, regarding the current Blue Note non-SHM CDs currently on sale in Japan, that may be starting to go out of print, along with their SHM counterparts, too. There was speculation that both variety of CD may be produced from the same masterings.

I read this forum now and again and thought I would sign up to provide some useful information. (Namely, the first few paragraphs, really.) The non-SHM Blue Note CDs that were released late last year are not the same masterings as the SHMs, as far as I can see. I have a few Universal Japan CDs from the current re-issue program covering various jazz labels, including Blue Note. I purchased Art Blakey…Moanin’ and Lee Morgan’s - The Sidewinder, purely out of interest, after buying other BN SHM discs and liking the sound. They only cost about £5. I reached the conclusion that the masterings were not of the current SHM generation, as the CDs themselves have catalogue numbers noted on them belonging to previous releases: Morgan – TOCJ 8511 MT461 / Blakey – TOCJ 8504 MT961.

These numbers belong to pressings last released around June 2009, the ‘Best and More 1100’ campaign, from what I can find. I understand they are 24 bit masterings - that may have been released in 2004 & 2006, also.

Moreover, the masters might have originally been presented as the HQCDs mastered by Yosho Okazaki in 2001. (The MT recorded in the catalogue numbers above, indicates the same manufacturer as the producer of the aforementioned HQCDs, I am led to believe.)

However, please feel free to take this all with a large pinch of salt. This is uneducated guesswork, I must admit. I pieced the information together one Sunday afternoon, whilst bored, from an internet search. This search consisted of searching the catalogue numbers and piecing bits together from the Organissimo / Steve Hoffman forums. (A link from this site led to the latter.) I cannot remember more as this was undertaken merely as a ‘bit of fun’.

I buy CDs for the music, only, and have rarely bothered to upgrade a CD for sound reasons. Incidentally, I did like the sound of the new CDs, but know many others may not. In comparison to the RVGs: the Morgan ‘sounds’ quieter, with greater instrument separation and detail / the Blakey has greater separation and what, I judge to be, a more realistic (although, at times - a slightly blurry) instrument sound, especially when concerning the drums and the acoustic sound of the bass. Both tittles could be described to sound brighter than the BN SHMs I own; not the titles I describe here. (However, comparisons of this kind are not something that I would usually do and are not taken seriously by me. I am not trying to allude that one CD version is better than the other, just trying to paint a picture of the SHM alternatives sound.)

I decided to post this info, in case people are considering whether or not to buy a BN SHM CD, before they go out of print, without knowing the probable details of the new cheaper alternatives.

Andy.

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Thanks for the info Andy ...

Yes — thanks for sharing your research. Weird that the SHM remasters weren't used for the latest "low-priced" editions.

I did a Google Translate search at Universal Japan's site a while ago, and remember reading (re. the Blue Note SHM-CDs) the phrase "final chapter" in regard to this fifth batch. I hope that doesn't mean this series is over! Even if it is, they picked some great titles. (Though Cecil was snubbed.)

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Does anyone have the Don Cherry SHM-CD and Rudy Van Gelder remasters and can advise if the remastering is worth upgrading? I hate purchasing titles twice but Don is essential music to me and will if the quality is decidedly better.

I'm the same way with Don, especially "Complete Communion" - which is nearly his pinnacle.

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I haven't heard the Cherrys that are released (the third is out in a week) but. . . all these SHM-CDs that I have heard are an improvement to the equivalent RVG releases in varying degrees (some large improvements others not so large but still improved). And I'm a fan of the RVG series.

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Thanks for the info Andy ...

Yes thanks for sharing your research. Weird that the SHM remasters weren't used for the latest "low-priced" editions.

I did a Google Translate search at Universal Japan's site a while ago, and remember reading (re. the Blue Note SHM-CDs) the phrase "final chapter" in regard to this fifth batch. I hope that doesn't mean this series is over! Even if it is, they picked some great titles. (Though Cecil was snubbed.)

Hm, so possibly never a Vol. 2 of Hipp @ Hickory House - that would definitely suck!

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I've had a few days to spin both Ghetto Music and Lift Every Voice.

Ghetto Music sounds great, I only have a needle drop cd-r to compare it to but this remaster sounds great to me.

Lift Every Voice is fantastic!! I don't know how I've gone so long without hearing this!

Not sure these remasters are worth replacing anything already purchased though. Will have to further investigate. I will use these SHM-CD's to fill missing holes over RVG's though. Already purchased a copy of Frank Foster - Manhattan Fever (mainly because it was $5) and looking into a few other titles I don't own.

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Thanks for the info Andy ...

Yes thanks for sharing your research. Weird that the SHM remasters weren't used for the latest "low-priced" editions.

I did a Google Translate search at Universal Japan's site a while ago, and remember reading (re. the Blue Note SHM-CDs) the phrase "final chapter" in regard to this fifth batch. I hope that doesn't mean this series is over! Even if it is, they picked some great titles. (Though Cecil was snubbed.)

Hm, so possibly never a Vol. 2 of Hipp @ Hickory House - that would definitely suck!

For the BNL999 there was a later batch titled BNL999 Encore.

And now that the Blue Note 75th anniversary festivities are coming to an end, there is no reason a successor series of classic BN SHMs couldn't materialise in the near future. The project of digitising the BN catalogue through these Bernie Grundman transfers will be completed and Universal will want to make money off these new transfers one way or another. Also for the obscure titles. And these last few years have shown the market for quality (budget) CD reissues isn't dead yet, at least in Japan.

Edited by erwbol
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Well today I came home from work to see a big fat box from CDJAPAN had arrived! Oh, and I also noticed a bit of a knowing glare from my wife :blush:

Anyway I got these titles:

Jackie McLean "Demons dance" (on recommendation from a board member)

Sonny Clark "leapin and lopin" (my favorite Sonny Clark album..have the orig NY USA LP and the old American CD version)

Joe Henderson "inner urge"

Joe Henderson "our thing"

Bobby Hutcherson "Dialogue" (have a mint Liberty LP and RVG CD and am curious how this transfer will compare..a favorite)

Dizzy Reece "blues in trinity"

Sonny Rollins "vol.1"

Sonny Rollins "vol.2"

Kenny Dorham "round about midnight at the cafe bohemia" (on recommendation posted on this forum)

The Jazz Messengers "At cafe bohemia vol.1" (sick of getting outbid on the original vinyl so this will do for now!)

And outside of this series I also received:

Wayne Shorter "EtCetera" (LT999 series) will be curious to see how this compares to the old Connoisseur version I have..one of my favorite Shorter records..

Wayne Shorter "Soothsayer"

Monk/Rollins group (Prestige 7000 series)

Doug Watkins "Soulnik" (as above)

T.Yakota & Beat Generation "Flute Adventure" (king)

Flying Dr.Merry Freud "Flying Dr" (Columbia)

Masahiko Togashi/Yuji Takahashi "duo live 1988"

Terumasa Hino "live in concert" (east wind 1000 yen series)

Mikio Masuda "Mickeys Mouth" (as above)

Hiroshi Suzuki "Cat" (deep jazz reality)

So needless to say I have a lot of listening to do! Thankfully recent changes to my job now allow me to listen to music at work all day! So I think I'll be ripping alot of these to a USB stick to play at work... :tup

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Just got in the 10 I ordered from this new batch. May not get much of a hance to listen today, but had the joy of opening them all up.

Interestingly enough none of these had a center card tray photo, they all have black, not clear center trays. A first for this (last batch apparently) series.

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I owned a Japanese TOCJ (maybe a 1990s transfer) of Donald Byrd's "I’m Tryin’ To Get Home." I remember this CD sounding quite awful -- like it was sourced from a multigenerational damaged copy. It will be interesting to hear if this new SHMCD is a dramatic improvement.

It doesn't sound as if it's sourced from a multigenerational damaged copy to me, but it doesn't sound like a normal RVG recording. I'd like to know the story on that. It sounds like a church concert to me, as if you were in the back pews and the band and choir were on the stage behind the pulpit. And maybe that's the point.

Sounds better on this SHM-CD release. But you may still consider it bad. Very narrow stereo, congested. In its way moving though.

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When I arrived home this morning after playing tennis I found a box had arrived from CD Japan.

The following SHM-CDs were in the box.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers At Cafe Bohemia, Vol.1

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Mosaic

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Free For All

Clifford Brown Memorial Album

Freddie Hubbard - Here To Stay

Horace Silver - Song For My Father

Ike Quebec - Easy Living

JJ Johnson - The Eminent, Vol.1

Jackie McLean Quintet

Larry Young - Unity

Milt Jackson

Sonny Clark - Mt Conception

Sonny Clark - Leapin' and Lopin'

Thelonious Monk - Genius Of Modern Jazz, Vol.1

Thelonious Monk - Genius Of Modern Jazz, Vol.2

Tina Brooks - True Blue

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Flurin - I still see the (2007?) release on amazon uk for an affordable price. Maybe it's a ghost - ?

Should read here more often, I guess ... UK has fairly pricey offers by now only, but there was one lone copy around on the continental sites, sold by amazon itself ... snatched it up at a more than acceptable price - not shipped yet, but I'm optimistic!

Thanks for alerting me, David!

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Flurin - I still see the (2007?) release on amazon uk for an affordable price. Maybe it's a ghost - ?

Should read here more often, I guess ... UK has fairly pricey offers by now only, but there was one lone copy around on the continental sites, sold by amazon itself ... snatched it up at a more than acceptable price - not shipped yet, but I'm optimistic!

Thanks for alerting me, David!

Good luck!

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When I arrived home this morning after playing tennis I found a box had arrived from CD Japan.

The following SHM-CDs were in the box.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers At Cafe Bohemia, Vol.1

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Mosaic

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Free For All

Clifford Brown Memorial Album

Freddie Hubbard - Here To Stay

Horace Silver - Song For My Father

Ike Quebec - Easy Living

JJ Johnson - The Eminent, Vol.1

Jackie McLean Quintet

Larry Young - Unity

Milt Jackson

Sonny Clark - Mt Conception

Sonny Clark - Leapin' and Lopin'

Thelonious Monk - Genius Of Modern Jazz, Vol.1

Thelonious Monk - Genius Of Modern Jazz, Vol.2

Tina Brooks - True Blue

I'd appreciate any feedback re Cafe Bohemia disc and how it compares to the RVG. I'd a Kenny D nut.

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