Kevin Bresnahan

No - Kevin Gray mastered and cut these LPs. Joe Harley is the reissue producer and he's the one who came into that thread and said it sounded fine to him and it matched what he heard on the master tape.

I used to have the CD of Dick Hyman playing with his daughter Judy on violin. It is entitled, "Late Last Summer". I picked it up because my mother used to work his daughter at the Holyoke Halo Center. I can't find it now so I must've given it to my mom. Lost for sure now.

That is the question. Ron McMaster, Wally Traugott, Larry Walsh, Malcolm Addey & Bernie Grundman too. Many people have pulled these tapes over the years. There have been many Blue Note reissues these past few decades and I can't remember too many with noticeable pitch problems. It may simply be that Kevin Gray is getting the most out of them and pulling out the bad with the good.

So Kevin Gray replied to a Hoffman forum member about the possibility of warbling during tape playback: “Scotch (3M) 111 was the very first U.S. recording tape formulation produced in quantity in the U.S. It was released in 1948 and was about all there was in the U.S. until 1964. About 90 percent of the recordings I master from that period are recorded on 111. All the RVG Blue Notes from that period are on 111. It is a red/orange iron oxide basically glued to clear acetate. It bears no resemblance to modern tape. “Acetate is very unstable over time. It becomes extremely brittle. You can pull on it slightly and it breaks. This tape never wound totally smooth on the reel, but that has also gotten much much worse over time. “The biggest problem occurs when the tape was wound off at high speed, as opposed to being played though. This might occur when a tape was perhaps wound to the head to copy one song. Then the rest of the tape is wound off in “Fast Forward”. The result is that the tape cinches slightly and if left that way develops a permanent curl or ruffle. This is very common on 111. Once this has happened the tape does not wrap smoothly over the playback head and tends to wander slightly. This is clearly visible as the video shows. Another problem is that NONE of the recorders from the 50s and early 60s had constant tape tension, which all modern tape recorders have. The tension would be higher at the end of the reel than the beginning. This also took a toll on tape. “The 2nd generation 3M tape was Scotch 201. Although the oxide changed (dark brown), the base was still acetate, and the same problems exist. Around 1965, 202 was released, which was on modern mylar/polyester. But RVG used both 111 and 201 for several more years. “So the tape wandering over the heads as opposed to staying flat does introduce speed anomalies. How could it not? And it isn’t consistent from tape to tape. Some wind smoother than others. Fast winding, as mentioned before, things like temperature and humidity in storage, and age have taken a toll. “There are other factors effecting speed, such as sticking splices. The adhesive in the splicing tape oozes with age. It can’t be cleaned off very effectively because of the brittleness of the tape.”

The Amazon blurb says that it is being released under the permission of the original producer, Bob Porter. Does Bob keep the rights to the Phoenix Jazz masters? I still think Turk Mauro has the weirdest All Music Guide entry ever. It's written almost like an obituary and gets deep into his personal life - as if the person writing it knows him too well. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/turk-mauro-mn0000169721

Oh boy, that's gotta get scrubbed out of there... I can't see any way that Steve Hoffman leaves that up there.

I don't know what Rudy did when he cut those CTI records but they don't sound like Blue Note LPs. There's also the unfortunate fact that original CTI pressings seem to be cheaply pressed. I've gotten many mint originals that are noisy as heck.

Regarding the feeling of more bass, Joe Harley did an interview with the Jazz Arkiv: https://arkivjazz.com/exclusive-interview-joe-harley. In it, he says, "He (RVG) would roll off the extreme low end. By that, I mean he would reduce frequencies from 30 Hz up to maybe 80 Hz, and then he put a bump in around 90 Hz or 100 Hz. So, what you hear on those records is a sense of bass. You think you're hearing bass notes and you are to a degree, but you're not hearing full low-end extension". So basically, Harley & Kevin Gray are cutting these for modern turntables that can handle more bass extension so they sound fuller. These new LPs do show this but as he says, RVG knew how to get a feeling of bass, just not to the level that was on the master. Consequently, some listeners who are used to their originals may find that these new LPs have too much bass.

I think you have a typo - it's The Beach Boy.

Carter is a blast to see/hear live. Yes, he has the chops and yes, he shows them off. That's what I pay for. I would much rather a foot-stomping mad man like Carter than sit for hours listening to a navel-gazing bore.

Regarding Lee Morgan's "Cornbread" - I've listened to Side 2 of both the 70's era UA Van Gelder and the new Tone Poet and while the new cut is indeed more dynamic, particularly with respect to the bass, that's really about it. There is a little weirdness on the piano intro to Ceora but it's slightly there on the original RVG pressing too. So if you don't have this on LP and want it on LP, this Tone Poet LP is an excellent way to get it. But if you have it, you might be able to pass and save a few bucks.

I'm very lucky to live near Stereo Jack's in Cambridge. Jack keeps his prices very reasonable. If I didn't have that store, I'd probably have to pay a lot more myself and this conversation might have shifted in a different direction.

They seem to have a treble boost. It brings out the horns, which may be why they did it, but on the few I heard, I didn't think it made them better, just different. And don't get me wrong, they sound fine. But if I have the choice between a $15-20 mid-70s RVG stereo pressing or a $25-30 Classic Records mono pressing, I'll choose the stereo RVG every time. And they were the best sounding Blue Note reissue series in quite a few years. They are miles ahead of these new Rainbo pressings, that's for sure. And BTW - Classic Records version of Brubeck's "Time Out" is my play copy. I kept it over many other pressings, including an original mono.

Guigal Cotes du Rhone is almost always a best buy. Great wine for not a lot of money.

Of the few Classic pressings I've listened to, I thought that there was a bit of a high end boost. They sell for close to $25 in my area and I don't think they're worth that, I also think their fetish with mono is a bit foolish. If there is a nice stereo tape, it should be used, especially if the mono master tape is a fold down. That's what the mono button does.

I like the King reissues but I don't generally pay the extra money for a Toshiba cut. I'd rather a 70's era Van Gelder from UA for the same money. I am actually thinking about buying a King LP of "Soul Station" just to hear it but the Music Matters LP sounds pretty phenomenal and the XRCD is great. How many different versions does one need?

Freddie Hubbard's "Open Sesame" is pretty bad. It almost looks like a bootleg.

I'm spinning "Introducing Kenny Burrell" right now and it is indeed a very nice sounding LP. The mono is so good, I had to check to make sure I didn't have my center channel speaker playing! Almost an inch of dead wax on both sides though, which looks weird. Makes me wonder if this could have been even more dynamic if cut with more space between the grooves. BTW - before anyone gets on my case about this, I wrote an experienced LP cutter about this a few weeks back and he said he liked to keep the dead wax area as small as possible because the further apart you made the grooves, the less of chance of a skip.

So I've picked up a few of these "BN80" LPs (Hubbard's "Open Sesame", Gordon's "Doin' Alright" & "Introducing Johnny Griffin") that have been coming out these past few months and they are a great bang for the buck but I think "audiophile" is a bit of a stretch. First off. they are cut at Kevin Gray's Cohearant Audio (good) but I still have to wonder if Gray hasn't gotten the hang of cutting LPs as many of these have very large dead wax area which is not optimal. I haven't seen dead wax this large since the dark days of the mid-70's, when any Joe Blow was sat down in front of a cutting lathe. Secondly, they are pressed at Optimal in Germany (good) but they 're slid into paper sleeves that you have to tear off of the record to get it out cleanly. I almost wonder if they're sliding them in when they're still hot because they're stuck in there so tightly. This sucks. Also, the covers are pretty poor. Yes, they are a budget line, but these covers are often washed out and oddly shaded to the point where they look cheap. Then there's the music. I have a lot of these on old (but not original) LPs, mostly cut by Van Gelder and I'm not hearing huge differences between the two pressings. A bit more bass maybe but not "wow" levels. Of course, it could be me. Maybe at my age with my aging ears i should just stop buying these things?

BTW - I am only managing my parent's health from 200 miles away. It's still hard.

I have the Tone Poet and a 70's era UA Van Gelder LP of this. I haven't gotten around to comparing the two.

My mom finally decided she needed to be someplace with other people so she is moving into a retirement community on Sept. 3rd. I am very relieved as she has been falling more & more and I worry about her being alone in that house. Now she'll be where there is an on site nurse with fall monitors. Like you, I am going through through the gut-wrenching task of preparing to sell the house I grew up in. Unlike you, it's in decent shape and not nearly as old. I am getting sick just talking about it. So many memories going away... well, a lot went away when my dad died but this feels more "final".

"Minor Move" is coming out in the Tone Poet series in October.

I sent Michael Cuscuna the links to the sound samples. His response? "The piano is a well-tempered instrument. Not even Monk could bend notes or use vibrato."

I still hate vinyl as a medium. I remember all the bad things about it. They are all still there. The worst thing about it is that a simple act of failing to lift the stylus safely can permanently ruin your music playback. I hate that more than anything. You scratch that record, there's no fixing it. You have to buy it all over again. I got back into vinyl about 10 years ago mainly because there were still things on LP that have never made it to CD. My problem with all music media is storage. I moved into a much smaller space and I have LPs and CDs piled all over the place. I have autographed CDs and pictures that I can't hang. It's one of the only drawbacks to downsizing.