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"Blue Note 100"


Leeway

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Following is a link to the article in the NY Times, "Which Jazz Greats Were Left Off the Blue Note 100?" The article includes an interview with Blue Note boss Don Was. NYT is behind a paywall, but allows a handful of free article each month, so you should be able to access the article a limited number of times (unless you have a digital subscription of course). The article also has links to the 100 titles that will be released and the order of release.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/24/which-jazz-greats-were-left-off-the-blue-note-100/

Edited by Leeway
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Just watched. I've never met Don Was and no doubt never will, but what I saw was a vinyl nerd (Michael Fremer) kissing the butt of a wanna be cool hipster. I've come across cool people in my life - in no way do I consider myself in that category - and Don Was just comes across as a poseur.

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The most disappointing thing about 75 years of Blue Note is there are no interesting CD releases planned for the US and EU markets. New recordings don't count. Don Was probably has nothing to do with the Japanese SHM releases, and even these are not as good as they could have been (compare the Prestige 7000 and New Jazz 8200 series SHMs).

I feel pretty much disgusted by the current Blue Note for almost as long as I collect jazz on CD. EMI Blue Note on physical digital media stands for inferior product.

And it was Blue Note that gave that geriatric clown Rudy Van Gelder the opportunity to dominate the CD re-issue market for a good decade.

Edited by erwbol
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what I saw was a vinyl nerd (Michael Fremer) kissing the butt of a wanna be cool hipster.

Definitely, and it's what I like about it, maybe "nice guy" weren't the right words.

Anyway Don Was has done some notable things in his life that qualify him like something more then a wanna be hipster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Was

Edited by porcy62
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Tough crowd :) . I did find it interesting that he favorably contrasted the Universal archive department with the EMI archive department. So rumors that Universal is simply going to burn the master tapes are apparently false. I know, I know, he was probably just kissing ass to his new bosses ... :rolleyes:

The thing that also struck me is that in 2014, it is possible for a music exec to have passion for multiple music genres without being a fraud. Reminded me of myself (well probably many/most of us) in that regard, simultaneously discovered jazz and punk rock in the early 80s and love them equally today (along with country, blues and of course classic rock - oh shit, that probably wrecked my jazz cred :) ).

Edited by Eric
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In my opinion Don Was came off sincere in the video. These are entry level budget reissues for the next generation that want to get into jazz, but don't have disposable income to spend on original pressings or high priced audiophile reissues. He even says the original pressings are superior and have a certain magic to them. From visiting record stores in my area I do not know a single person under 30 that buys CDs; they either download music, stream it or buy vinyl. For people that are digital only the original press release from Blue Note says the entire catalog will eventually see a hi-resolution download. I have heard a couple of those hi-resolution downloads from HDTracks and they are very good.

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The most disappointing thing about 75 years of Blue Note is there are no interesting CD releases planned for the US and EU markets. New recordings don't count. Don Was probably has nothing to do with the Japanese SHM releases, and even these are not as good as they could have been (compare the Prestige 7000 and New Jazz 8200 series SHMs).

I feel pretty much disgusted by the current Blue Note for almost as long as I collect jazz on CD. EMI Blue Note on physical digital media stands for inferior product.

And it was Blue Note that gave that geriatric clown Rudy Van Gelder the opportunity to dominate the CD re-issue market for a good decade.

I'm not going to get into a further discussion of RVG CDs - We've been there and done that.

However, if it weren't for that "geriatric clown", you'd have very few BN SMH releases to listen to. Or you might buy a decent turntable and pick up a few King, Music Matters, Analogue Productions, whatever LPs and hear what that "geritric clown" did in his younger days.

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In the words of a friend of mine who saw the videos - If Don Was worked as hard at producing worthwhile new music as he obviously does on his image, he'd have something worth talking about.

I guess it's the interviewer who leads the show, anyway I am not one of his fan, just loved the style.

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The most disappointing thing about 75 years of Blue Note is there are no interesting CD releases planned for the US and EU markets. New recordings don't count. Don Was probably has nothing to do with the Japanese SHM releases, and even these are not as good as they could have been (compare the Prestige 7000 and New Jazz 8200 series SHMs).

I feel pretty much disgusted by the current Blue Note for almost as long as I collect jazz on CD. EMI Blue Note on physical digital media stands for inferior product.

And it was Blue Note that gave that geriatric clown Rudy Van Gelder the opportunity to dominate the CD re-issue market for a good decade.

I'm not going to get into a further discussion of RVG CDs - We've been there and done that.

However, if it weren't for that "geriatric clown", you'd have very few BN SMH releases to listen to. Or you might buy a decent turntable and pick up a few King, Music Matters, Analogue Productions, whatever LPs and hear what that "geritric clown" did in his younger days.

rudy.jpg

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In the words of a friend of mine who saw the videos - If Don Was worked as hard at producing worthwhile new music as he obviously does on his image, he'd have something worth talking about.

I don't think he worked hard on his image, but he did look like a member of The Travelling Wiliburys, specifically Jeff Lynne.

I'm with Deepak, Don Was came off pretty decent in the interview and the concept of the reissues seems to be pretty sound: the world will never tire of Blue Note or Miles Davis reissues, as each new generation discovers the excellence in this music and then go on and dig more jazz from this. It is good thing is it not?

Edited by ArtSalt
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The most disappointing thing about 75 years of Blue Note is there are no interesting CD releases planned for the US and EU markets. New recordings don't count. Don Was probably has nothing to do with the Japanese SHM releases, and even these are not as good as they could have been (compare the Prestige 7000 and New Jazz 8200 series SHMs).

I feel pretty much disgusted by the current Blue Note for almost as long as I collect jazz on CD. EMI Blue Note on physical digital media stands for inferior product.

And it was Blue Note that gave that geriatric clown Rudy Van Gelder the opportunity to dominate the CD re-issue market for a good decade.

I'm not going to get into a further discussion of RVG CDs - We've been there and done that.

However, if it weren't for that "geriatric clown", you'd have very few BN SMH releases to listen to. Or you might buy a decent turntable and pick up a few King, Music Matters, Analogue Productions, whatever LPs and hear what that "geritric clown" did in his younger days.

rudy.jpg

Clever - yes. Intelligent - no. About what I expected.

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About these reissues - I was excited when I saw the list, but I withheld judgement until I saw the releases in the store. I went to a local shop this week and looked at a couple.

Wish they would have put a bit more effort into the package. These covers are THIN. Thinner than an OJC LP cover. Almost as thin as those old UK or French covers. I understand about saving costs, and this isn't about the nostalgia for nice tip-on sleeves. These things just won't last, for certain. In the shops, they're going to get bent corners, and they probably won't fare much better when shipped. And once on the shelf, they'll be that much more susceptible to wear-n-tear.

I was all ready to unload a fortune on these, but now I may only pick up a couple. Bummer.

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im just kinda amazed and happy that theyre reissuing all this stuff at all, let alone on vinyl, in 2014.

today i saw a new lp reissue of donald byrd- KOFI, but it was manufactured in the EU, and i have a bad feeling its from a DAT source, so i passed. these us bn offical reissues will be better than whats already out there, perhaps.

i think a lot of it has to do w/ access to tapes. there is a reason why lee morgan- charisma or blue mitchell- heads up are not pulled from the vault as often, but i really dont know why. it is not easy to get certain tapes, when others have been checked out many times

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About these reissues - I was excited when I saw the list, but I withheld judgement until I saw the releases in the store. I went to a local shop this week and looked at a couple.

Wish they would have put a bit more effort into the package. These covers are THIN. Thinner than an OJC LP cover. Almost as thin as those old UK or French covers. I understand about saving costs, and this isn't about the nostalgia for nice tip-on sleeves. These things just won't last, for certain. In the shops, they're going to get bent corners, and they probably won't fare much better when shipped. And once on the shelf, they'll be that much more susceptible to wear-n-tear.

I was all ready to unload a fortune on these, but now I may only pick up a couple. Bummer.

That's often been the problem with US and European releases, shoddy packaging and printing. 'Connoisseur' vinyls have relied on throwing a 'heavy' piece of vinyl in a flimsy outer with poorly reproduced artwork and a total lack of documentation other than the original BN write-up printed on the back. (The CD versions were a better deal.) Nothing really speaks to 'connoisseurship' as far as I can see. I'm very fortunate to live in Tokyo where I can pick up King and Toshiba versions affordably. I know that's not a realistic proposition for the newcomer to vinyl (the presumed target market) but I just wish Blue Note and/or Was could look beyond the fast buck.

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The most disappointing thing about 75 years of Blue Note is there are no interesting CD releases planned for the US and EU markets. New recordings don't count. Don Was probably has nothing to do with the Japanese SHM releases, and even these are not as good as they could have been (compare the Prestige 7000 and New Jazz 8200 series SHMs).

I feel pretty much disgusted by the current Blue Note for almost as long as I collect jazz on CD. EMI Blue Note on physical digital media stands for inferior product.

And it was Blue Note that gave that geriatric clown Rudy Van Gelder the opportunity to dominate the CD re-issue market for a good decade.

I'm not going to get into a further discussion of RVG CDs - We've been there and done that.

However, if it weren't for that "geriatric clown", you'd have very few BN SMH releases to listen to. Or you might buy a decent turntable and pick up a few King, Music Matters, Analogue Productions, whatever LPs and hear what that "geritric clown" did in his younger days.

rudy.jpg

Clever - yes. Intelligent - no. About what I expected.

So I should borrow your LPs, turntable, ears and brain. Roger!

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