Blue Note Tone Poet Series to continue in 2020...

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

when don was is hanging w/ bobby 100% of the time, i think they just gave the cuscana role to that guy: Zev Feldman.   Anyone want to try and talk to him? I can't, I dont want to mess it up, but someone could- you know my talking points; unreleased takes and sessions.....

[JSngry]

8 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

 i think they just gave the cuscana role to that guy: Zev Feldman.   

Will gladly listen to fact-based explanations of how far off I am by thinking that essentially they gave the position of a record guy who was in deep with the players to a record guy who's in deep with the records. I know I'm off by some, but by how much?

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

on his bio it says: consulting producer- archival/historical recordings at blue note records-  i dont know how it all works, all i know is theres been tape speed problems on bn releases ever since don moved in with bobby. he might not even be aware.  

 

 

--

 

oh wow i see in the other bn thread this topic was discussed- i haven't been following that thread, i discovered it on my own- sry

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Tone Poet Series

Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series – 2019 Releases:

Wayne Shorter – Etcetera (Blue Note, 1965)

Chick Corea – Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (Solid State, 1968)

Sam Rivers – Contours (Blue Note, 1965)

Gil Evans – New Bottle Old Wine (World Pacific, 1958)

Cassandra Wilson – Glamoured (Blue Note, 2003)

Joe Henderson – The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1985)

Lou Donaldson – Shing-A-Ling (Blue Note, 1967)

Lee Morgan – Cornbread (Blue Note, 1965)

Baby Face Willette – Face To Face (Blue Note, 1961)

Dexter Gordon – Clubhouse (Blue Note, 1965)

Kenny Burrell – Introducing Kenny Burrell (Blue Note, 1956)

Andrew Hill – Black Fire (Blue Note, 1963)

Donald Byrd – Chant (Blue Note, 1961)

Stanley Turrentine – Hustlin’ (Blue Note, 1964)

Grant Green – Born to Be Blue (Blue Note, 1962)

Tina Brooks – Minor Move (Blue Note, 1958)

Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series – 2020 Releases:

Hank Mobley – Poppin’ (Blue Note, 1957)

Stanley Turrentine – Comin’ Your Way (Blue Note, 1961)

Chet Baker – Chet Baker Sings (Pacific Jazz, 1954-56)

Grant Green – Nigeria (Blue Note, 1962)

Herbie Hancock – The Prisoner (Blue Note, 1969)

Lee Morgan – The Cooker (Blue Note, 1957)

Duke Ellington – Money Jungle (United Artists, 1962)

Lonnie Smith – All In My Mind (Blue Note, 2017)

Bobby Hutcherson – The Kicker (Blue Note, 1963)

Jackie McLean – It’s Time (Blue Note, 1964)

Joe Henderson – The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Volume 1 (Blue Note, 1985)

Stanley Turrentine – That’s Where It’s At (Blue Note, 1962)

Horace Silver – Further Explorations (Blue Note, 1958)

Jimmy Smith – Prayer Meetin’ (Blue Note, 1963)

Herbie Hancock – My Point of View (Blue Note, 1963)

Upcoming:

October 30

Bobby Hutcherson – Oblique (Blue Note, 1967)

Duke Pearson – The Phantom (Blue Note, 1968)

November 20

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Roots & Herbs (Blue Note, 1961)

December 11

Donald Byrd – Byrd In Flight (Blue Note, 1960)

Tina Brooks – The Waiting Game (Blue Note, 1961)

McCoy Tyner – Tender Moments (Blue Note, 1967)

Upcoming in 2021

January 29

Paul Chambers – Bass On Top (Blue Note, 1957)

Lee Morgan – The Rajah (Blue Note, 1966)

John Scofield & Pat Metheny – I Can See Your House From Here (Blue Note, 1993)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So far, I've bought:

Wayne Shorter – Etcetera (Blue Note, 1965)

Lou Donaldson – Shing-A-Ling (Blue Note, 1967)

Lee Morgan – Cornbread (Blue Note, 1965)

Baby Face Willette – Face To Face (Blue Note, 1961)

Dexter Gordon – Clubhouse (Blue Note, 1965)

Kenny Burrell – Introducing Kenny Burrell (Blue Note, 1956)

Andrew Hill – Black Fire (Blue Note, 1963)

Stanley Turrentine – Hustlin’ (Blue Note, 1964)

Grant Green – Born to Be Blue (Blue Note, 1962)

Tina Brooks – Minor Move (Blue Note, 1958)

Hank Mobley – Poppin’ (Blue Note, 1957)

Lee Morgan – The Cooker (Blue Note, 1957)

Bobby Hutcherson – The Kicker (Blue Note, 1963)

Stanley Turrentine – That’s Where It’s At (Blue Note, 1962)

Herbie Hancock – My Point of View (Blue Note, 1963)

 

Mostly very good to excellent. My only "dud" was Andrew Hill's "Black Fire", mainly because of the wonky piano that is also on my 70's RVG pressing but nowhere near as bad as it is on this cut. I would also add that the 70's RVG pressing of Lee Morgan's "Cornbread" sounds pretty close to this Tone Poet LP, which is weird because these Tone Poet cuts usually have a lot fuller sound.

My latest purchases, Turrentine's "That's Where It's At" and Hancock's "My Point Of View" still sound pretty nice but I have to say that my pressing of "My Point Of View" is not the best. At the end of side 1, there was gunk all over that wouldn't clean off with any cleaner, wet or dry. Luckily, the stylus seems to have dug it out of the grooves, so after the crackly first time through, just a little pop here and there. The lead-in groove on the second side has a visible gouge - it's visibly white. And, as luck would have it, it is on the little raised edge of the record, so my stylus doesn't even notice it. So even though there are noticeable pressing defects, the record plays fine. The thing is, they are charging a premium for these things - I'm paying almost $35/each - so their QC should be rejecting records like this.

Edited October 23, 2020 by bresna

[mjazzg]

£35 in the UK so expect even better quality control here 😃

[Pim]

I’ve got Hutcherson’s The Kicker and McLean’s It’s Time. Pre ordered Hutcherson’s Oblique.

Great sound, nice packaging. But still: way overpriced.

[sidewinder]

I’ve got about 8 or 9 of them. To be honest though I’ve got pretty well all of them in one format or another, many as originals, so I pass on quite a few. It will be interesting to see how the ‘Oblique’ compares with the King version. Hopefully also they will get Herbie’s name right, unlike the CD.

[B. Clugston]

I stopped buying after the Black Fire fiasco, but I understand most of these sound good.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

2 hours ago, B. Clugston said:

I stopped buying after the Black Fire fiasco, but I understand most of these sound good.

If you like Kenny Burrell and don't have "Introducing Kenny Burrell", you should pick one up. It's very well done.

[sidewinder]

Agree - the  Burrell sounds absolutely great.

[B. Clugston]

6 hours ago, bresna said:

If you like Kenny Burrell and don't have "Introducing Kenny Burrell", you should pick one up. It's very well done.

 

6 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Agree - the  Burrell sounds absolutely great.

Good to know--thanks!

[mikeweil]

The McCoy Tyner - Tender Moments is the one I would buy, given it sounds better than the CD reissues. I regret I sold my 1980's French LP reissue.

[Daniel A]

1 minute ago, mikeweil said:

The McCoy Tyner - Tender Moments is the one I would buy, given it sounds better than the CD reissues. I regret I sold my 1980's French LP reissue.

I have the French LP reissue, but I don't think it sounds that good. 

[mikeweil]

Just now, Daniel A said:

I have the French LP reissue, but I don't think it sounds that good. 

Might be, but the CD sound worse. Sounds like the available tapes were defective.

[LWayne]

Not to come across as uninformed, but what was the "Black Fire" fiasco?

LWayne

[danasgoodstuff]

1 hour ago, LWayne said:

Not to come across as uninformed, but what was the "Black Fire" fiasco?

LWayne

Pitch instability, most noticeable on sustained piano chords on slower tracks, goes by the name 'warblegate' (sic) on the Hoffman forum, there are samples and voluminous discussions there...I can hear it, some can't.  It affects other albums too, but appears to be fixed and Black Fire was probably the worst.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

13 hours ago, LWayne said:

Not to come across as uninformed, but what was the "Black Fire" fiasco?

LWayne

It was discussed in the "other" Tone Poet thread here: 

You'll have to go through a few pages, but it's discussed there.

[Dub Modal]

Search the Hoffman forums for thread titles with "Flutter" in them and you'll find the lengthy thread listing pitch instability among the TP reissues and some other recent jazz LP reissues. It's about as scandalous as you can get in the world of jazz reissues. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

2 hours ago, Dub Modal said:

Search the Hoffman forums for thread titles with "Flutter" in them and you'll find the lengthy thread listing pitch instability among the TP reissues and some other recent jazz LP reissues. It's about as scandalous as you can get in the world of jazz reissues. 

Yeah, but if you do find those discussions on the Hoffman forums, be prepared to read all the comments from those defending their inability to hear this obvious issue on "Black Fire". They are actually proud of being tone deaf.  

In reality, they just don't want to hear anyone say anything bad about these Blue Note Tone Poet LPs because Joe Harley deigns to visit their forum from time to time.  As has been proven time & again, that forum only allows flattery. Say something negative and risk being quickly booted, especially if it's about something Hoffman worked on or if Steve contradicts you.

You're better off reading our little thread here if you want to be able to discuss it. You can't really do that over there.

And our earlier thread is not closed, so feel free to resurrect it: 

 

 

[Dub Modal]

34 minutes ago, bresna said:

Yeah, but if you do find those discussions on the Hoffman forums, be prepared to read all the comments from those defending their inability to hear this obvious issue on "Black Fire". They are actually proud of being tone deaf.  

In reality, they just don't want to hear anyone say anything bad about these Blue Note Tone Poet LPs because Joe Harley deigns to visit their forum from time to time.  As has been proven time & again, that forum only allows flattery. Say something negative and risk being quickly booted, especially if it's about something Hoffman worked on or if Steve contradicts you.

You're better off reading our little thread here if you want to be able to discuss it. You can't really do that over there.

And our earlier thread is not closed, so feel free to resurrect it: 

 

 

Actually they started a new thread over there in which the issues are discussed freely. This happened after the initial uproar when the tape speed/flutter issues were first mentioned. See here: Wow and flutter, etc. Tape Speed Issues - Tone Poet / Blue Note 80th anniversary vinyl LP problems

I definitely agree with your observations about that forum, but I think this issue was so pronounced that they've allowed it to go on and gave it a designated safe space. Not really my concern though as I either had the titles I was interested in on other formats or I wasn't interested in the titles anyway. 

[danasgoodstuff]

FWIW, I'm generally ok with the moderation over at SHF - they sometimes shut things down a little quickly but when they don't things can get very nasty.  Usually they allow a fair bit of push and shove, it's the tendency to obsess endlessly over the same things that's a bigger issue.  And moving that discussion to its own thread was perfectly reasonable, IMHO.

[Eric]

Saw this on Amazon ... quite the striking cover - and improves substantially on the original.  I was able to pre-order on Target a while ago - had the existing cover.

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Eric

[Kevin Bresnahan]

10 hours ago, Eric said:

Saw this on Amazon ... quite the striking cover - and improves substantially on the original.  I was able to pre-order on Target a while ago - had the existing cover.

 

Lee looks like someone who might've starred in The Addams Family.

Agree that the old cover sucked but I don't think one is that much better.

[sidewinder]

I prefer the ‘old’ Rajah cover design - not that it was great.

14 hours ago, Eric said:

Saw this on Amazon ... quite the striking cover - and improves substantially on the original.  I was able to pre-order on Target a while ago - had the existing cover.

Lots of gnashing of teeth on the Hoffman Forums about the price of Tone Poets In Europe and the bargain deals in the US from Target. The norm here seems to be around £32 and I have to say, those I have bought are worth it.

I subscribed to the old MM 45rpm series and I don’t think I paid any more than that including shipping. Those were the days..

Edited December 2, 2020 by sidewinder

[Joe]

4 hours ago, bresna said:

Lee looks like someone who might've starred in The Addams Family.

Agree that the old cover sucked but I don't think one is that much better.

Interviewees in the I CALLED HIM MORGAN doc claim Lee started wearing his hair like this to cover up scars from a drug-related injury. They also show quite a few Frank Wolff photos of Lee with his head bandaged due to that same injury. Wayne Shorter's commentary on how he's looking at Lee in those photos alone makes that film worth watching, IMO.