RDK

One could make the argument that producing a high quality, "purest sound possible" reissue in the vinyl format will do more to preserve the sound of the original tapes than it would be to lock up the tapes in Iron Mountain. The tapes deteriorate - both from use and non-use - and the CDs that have been made from them in the past haven't always sounded that good. What's closer to the spirit of Rudy's original tapes: an eq-tweaked and narrowed stereo spread RVG CD or an LP made with minimal tweaking and full stereo spread? There's also the issue that vinyl may have a longer "shelf life" than CDs - though obviously more time is needed to prove that in real world conditions. Or would we rather have these artistic treasures "archived" only in the digital medium? Damn, now where did I put those old 5" floppy discs? And yet using the tapes to make 1000 copies of a product that is priced to keep all but the most serious collectors away seems the worst of both worlds. To me, this is just a vanity product and thus criticism of the use of the tapes for its creation is perfectly valid and indeed well-justified. These are all good points. The only thing I have to say about the last one is that you should have put the word wealthy in front of serious collectors. I consider myself a pretty serious collector, but I don't have the deep pockets or the obsession to divert my money from other needs in my life to spend on these 45 RPM reissues, not to mention even more money on some of these in their original releases. Although I like good sound, the music on the Bluenote label is such a joyous sound to me that to sit and analyze the mastering and engineering while I'm listening seems antithetical to the reason it was created. I agree. That's my biggest problem with these reissues: they're too damn expensive. I don't like to double dip on music I already own, I'm not too keen on flipping the LP every 10 minutes, and I'd rather put my $50 towards new and unheard music. btw, the press run on these will be 2500 copies and not 1000. Doubt that will alter anyone's opinion though.

"Dumpy Mama." One of my favorite Donald Byrd tunes!

One could make the argument that producing a high quality, "purest sound possible" reissue in the vinyl format will do more to preserve the sound of the original tapes than it would be to lock up the tapes in Iron Mountain. The tapes deteriorate - both from use and non-use - and the CDs that have been made from them in the past haven't always sounded that good. What's closer to the spirit of Rudy's original tapes: an eq-tweaked and narrowed stereo spread RVG CD or an LP made with minimal tweaking and full stereo spread? There's also the issue that vinyl may have a longer "shelf life" than CDs - though obviously more time is needed to prove that in real world conditions. Or would we rather have these artistic treasures "archived" only in the digital medium? Damn, now where did I put those old 5" floppy discs?

Definitely not for feeding into the psychological disorders of a few vinyl junkies with expendable incomes. But I suppose feeding the upgrade obsession for CD junkies is okay?

I don't disagree - and at $50 I likely won't be buying these either - but isn't this the same argument made about RVGs vs. TOCJs vs. original CD issues vs. Deep Groove vinyl, etc...? Before CDs came along, I was perfectly happy with my BN cassette tapes too.

Here's the list of titles from Steve... 1.BLP 1517 Gil Melle- Patterns In Jazz 2.BLP 1524 Kenny Dorham - 'Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia 3.BLP 1526 Clifford Brown -Memorial Album 4.BLP 1535 Kenny Dorham -Afro-Cuban 5.BLP 1536 J.R. Monterose 6.BLP 1538 Lee Morgan- Indeed! 7.BLP 1539 Horace Silver- 6 Pieces of Silver 8.BST 1557 Lee Morgan-Vol. 3 9.BST 1559 Johnny Griffin-Vol. 2 - A Blowing Session 10.BST 1560 Hank Mobley - Hank 11.BST 1562 Horace Silver - The Stylings Of Silver 12.BST 1566 Lou Donaldson -Vol. 3 - Swing And Soul 13.BST 1568 Hank Mobley 14.BST 1573 John Jenkins -With Kenny Burrell 15.BST 1575 Lee Morgan - City Lights 16.BST 1576 Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib 17.BST 1578 Lee Morgan - The Cooker 18.BST 1580 Johnny Griffin - The Congregation 19.BST 1581 Sonny Rollins - A Night At The Village Vanguard 20.BST 1587 Bennie Green - Back On The Scene 21.BST 1588 Sonny Clark - Cool Struttin' 22.BST 1590 Lee Morgan - Candy 23.BST 1591 Lou Donaldson - Lou Takes Off 24.BST 1599 Bennie Green - Soul Stirrin' 25.BST 84012 Lou Donaldson - LD +3 26.BST 84024 Jackie McLean - Swing, Swang, Swingin' 27.BST 84029 Art Blakey- The Big Beat 28.BST 84031 Hank Mobley - Soul Station 29.BST 84037 Horace Parlan -Us Three 30.BST 84040 Freddie Hubbard - Open Sesame 31.BST 84041 Tina Brooks - True Blue 32.BST 84043 Horace Parlan- Speakin My Piece 33.BST 84045 Freddie Redd - Shades Of Red! 34.BST 84052 Tina Brooks - Back To The Tracks 35.BST 84057 Donald Byrd- The Cat Walk 36.BST 84058 Hank Mobley - Roll Call 37.BST 84059 Kenny Drew- Undercurrent 38.BST 84062 Horace Parlan - Headin' South 39.BST 84163 Eric Dolphy- Out To Lunch 40.BST 84067 Jackie McLean- Bluesnik 41.BST 84070 Stanley Turrentine -Up At Minton's, Vol. 2 42.BST 84074 Horace Parlan- Spur of The Moment 43.BST 84077 Dexter Gordon - Doin’ Allright 44.BST 84082 Horace Parlan - Up And Down 45.BST 84091 Sonny Clark- Leapin’ and Lopin’ 46.BST 84096 Stanley Turrentine - That's Where It's At 47.BST 84106 Jackie McLean - Let Freedom Ring 48.BST 84133 Dexter Gordon - A Swingin' Affair 49.BST 84135 Freddie Hubbard - Here To Stay 50.BST 84144 Johnny Coles - Little Johnny C 51.BST 84152 Joe Henderson - Our Thing 52.BST 84163 Eric Dolphy-Out To Lunch 53.BST 84169 Lee Morgan-Search For The New Land 54.BST 84182 Wayne Shorter -Juju 55.BST 84183 Grant Green -Talkin' About! 56.BST 84189 Joe Henderson -Inner Urge 57.BST 84193 Art Blakey - Indestructible 58.BST 84204 Dexter Gordon -Gettin' Around 59.BST 84205 Pete LaRoca - Basra 60.BST 84212 Lee Morgan -The Gigolo 61.BST 84187 Larry Young –Into Somethin’ 62 BST 84220 Horace Silver -The Cape Verdean Blues 63.BST 84259 Donald Byrd -Blackjack

This is right up there with that "Get Out of Jail Free" card you get if you fart within fifteen minutes of a murder...

Was just listening to this again. "Bleeker" is my new favorite tune! Love the groove on that one.

Looks like these just hit emusic.

Pulled the trigger on the Eskellin, Shipp, Portal, John Law, and Grossman discs. Have the Konitz, Ortega, and McPhee from before. Looks like the sale is now over.

So Mike Peterson, beer bottle newsletter editor, spelled the name of the beer wrong in the first auction?

Two eBay auctions for a bottle of beer.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=270132264843 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=260145824374 The first auction contained a picture, a bit of explanatory text, and sold for $300. In the header for the auction, the name of the beer is spelled wrong. The second auction spelled the name of the brewery correctly, explained precisely why this 150 year old bottle of beer was important, and gave lots of references. Check out its selling price... The buyer of the first auction was the seller of the second auction.

Well, hell, that's what you get when you're the smartest person in the room.

Weizen is "taking a break" but should return. I believe he's also been away on vacation for several weeks. Are there specific reasons why Todd, Michael, and others haven't been around - i.e. why they don't like us anymore - or has life simply gotten in the way of their free time? I certainly understand the latter - there are several boards that I have dropped over the years due to the waning of interests and the lack of time - but if it's someone or something about this place that's irked them and/or driven them away I'd be curious to know what it so that we might be able to address their concerns.

I can't speak for anyone involved, but this is intended as a limited edition audiophile-targeted product... so to complain that it's then limited seems rather silly. EMI certainly doesn't want this product to compete with theiir CD sales, so they likely require it being targeted to another audience: those few who still spin vinyl. Vinyl is a tough enough sell to the general public, so many of the LPs pressed these days are targeted to the audiophile... hence the 45 rpm pressng, the thick vinyl, the limited numbers, etc. Yeah, it's a "collectors" product, driven by a certain business model. I'm not sure you can blame the guys that master it any more than you can blame Ron McMaster for Blue Note's CD reissue series. Personally I wish these were cut at 33 and dropped in price, but I'm not really the market for them.

Smokestack is my favorite, with the two bassists. For his newer stuff, Time Lines is very nice as well. Very accessible and "not too weird."

That's debatable. Plus most (not all) of BN mono is simple stereo fold downs.

But I want to know if it's something I said or did! Seriously, though, I find it an odd request to make, especially so publically. If I decided to up and leave, well first I'd just stop posting and quietly drift away, not even bothering to respond to the typical "Where's RDK?" thread that would inevitably pop up in a year or two (earlier if I screwed anyone out of money). Tony says it's for personal reasons - fair enough, no further elaboration is necessary - but I think we're all worried about him that he'd leave so, um, permanently and vociferously.

Steve's response: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=125734 A note from STEVE HOFFMAN: Hi everyone; exciting news if you love legendary jazz! This thread from last week mentioned a new BLUE NOTE reissue vinyl series: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/sh...ht=blue+n ote A blurb from that thread: “…Joe Harley then handed me a gorgeous, double gate-fold LP of the Horace Parlan Quintet's Speakin' My Piece. The first release in Music Matters' new definitive Blue Note reissue series. They'll be mastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering, which will produce the metal parts. Because the recent Acoustic Sounds 45RPM Prestige/Riverside discs sounded so luscious, Music Matters decided to release the Blue Note series as double disc 45 RPM limited editions sets.” ------------------------------------------------ I am now authorized to give you some more information: For me, the greatest Jazz LP label of all-time is BLUE NOTE. Music Matters, Ltd. is a new record label formed primarily to reissue these definitive vintage BLUE NOTE albums with the best possible quality. http://www.musicmattersjazz.com/ This new numbered limited edition series will cause quite a stir in the jazz world as well as the audiophile and record collecting communities, that’s for sure. The movers and shakers behind the MUSIC MATTERS label are record dealer RON RAMBACH, JOE HARLEY, vice-president of AudioQuest and the legendary MICHAEL CUSCUNA as special consultant. These three BLUE NOTE experts are considered the greatest authorities on the label and have come together to insure that this is the most exciting jazz reissue series ever attempted. Folks, this has been very long in the making. (For example, I was first approached by Joe Harley to master the BLUE NOTE catalog YEARS ago). Just this year it finally came into being, thanks to the good folks at CAPITOL/EMI. The albums are being cut at 45 RPM for maximum quality by Kevin Gray and I. The original Rudy Van Gelder engineered stereophonic session tapes are used when we master these gems. The sound quality is amazing on our test cuts. Like from heaven. First totally uncompressed versions of these jazz classics that I’ve ever heard and trust me, you will be impressed; they sound like no other releases of this music. The sound is lifelike, the horns are in the room with you. Our non-invasive mastering insures the true breath of life on these original session tapes is transferred to the virgin vinyl with absolute authenticity. It is like hearing these BLUE NOTE masterpieces for the first time and that is NO exaggeration. When we heard the first acetate playback from our first mastering session I thought Joe Harley was going to pee in his pants he was so excited. Actually we all were; after 50 years of lackluster and downright bad sounding versions of these albums, hearing the real deal is a humbling experience, even for us hardened music veterans. You will be able to listen to the music exactly like we did when these are ready for sale in a few months. A word about the artwork and jackets. MUSIC MATTERS have really spared no expense in the creation of the album covers. All laminated thick gate-folds, (custom paper, etc.) just like the originals. Better, actually. Even the hi def original session photos are from the absolute original camera negatives. The old BLUE NOTE covers had around 150 dots per inch on their album photos. These are all redone from scratch at 450 dots per inch or more; its astounding! Best quality you'll ever see. I feel there is great merit to the project. At least 63 albums so far are going to be re-released in this high quality fashion. Kevin and I will master all of them at AcousTech Mastering at Record Tech, Inc. http://www.musicmattersjazz.com/ First release is coming soon. Stay tuned!!

Wow - haven't even listened to all of my last batch yet!

I want some of that!

I don''t own any of the Fantasy 45s, but I have heard a few of them and they sound amazing. Better than any LP or CD issue I've ever heard.

I'd never heard of this album before seeing it on that blog. No mention at all on AMG and was unaware of a recent CD release.

You don't have to buy them...