dreamcatcher_43 Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 This is one of the latest batch of Blue Note remasters from Analogue Productions (Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman). I love this album and as a jazz fan, you should, too! I'm ambivalent about the Blue Note catalog; some titles are indispensable and others I simply don't care for, but of the 30 or so AP BN titles I've purchased, all sound VERY good (speaking only of the redbook layer from personal experience). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 (edited) I have several versions of this and am not going to rebuy it on SACD. The Blue Note and Impulse SACDs I've bought from AP haven't knocked my socks way off. They're good, but so are other versions I have. Great album! I love the soulfulness of both Ike and Grant, they both have these deep lines that just reach out and grab you. And everyone else is there to make it so possible. A classic. I've a strong relationship with Blue Note, very few I don't like. I especially like the first fifteen years or so, not much talked about but real labor of love music from all concerned, timeless. Edited June 20, 2011 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 I love this album and as a jazz fan, you should, too! Would you be willing to sacrifice a human life so that this album may live? That's love. And I do love this album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Great record. I don't give a crap about the "AP hybrid SACD"!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkboughtlunch Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 The circa 1999/2000 JRVG was heavily compressed and sounds like crap. Thus, I'm in for the AP SACD. They've all been uniformly excellent so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamcatcher_43 Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 I love this album and as a jazz fan, you should, too! Would you be willing to sacrifice a human life so that this album may live? That's love. Yes. Offhand, I would gladly behead all religious extremists, pedophiles, violent criminals, abusers of animals, wifebeaters....The list is virtually endless. All of them, gone -- just so that this album may "live." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Well, get busy then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyeSpeech Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 I have not heard the AP Blue and Sentimental, but if the other SACDs in this series are any indication it is worth getting. Blue Note remains my favorite label and Alfred Lion is a hero to me, not to mention artists like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bud Powell, Bobby Hutcherson and countless others recorded extensively by Blue Note. I honestly don't see how anyone can call themselves a jazz fan and be "ambivalent" about the Blue Note catalog. That's a head-scratcher for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Blue Note remains my favorite label and Alfred Lion is a hero to me, not to mention artists like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bud Powell, Bobby Hutcherson and countless others recorded extensively by Blue Note. I honestly don't see how anyone can call themselves a jazz fan and be "ambivalent" about the Blue Note catalog. That's a head-scratcher for sure. You mean you're an Alfred Lion fan, right? Otherwise, you're "unambivalently" down with Bobbi Humphrey & Keren Ann, to name but a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 the SHM-CD series out of Japan is the one that I'm really enjoying..."logical compression" is actually preferable to me than "no compression at all". I wonder if they'll release any Blue Notes in that series (or maybe they have and I've missed them)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyeSpeech Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 (edited) Shawn, I think SHM is used predominantly for Universal affiliated labels, so I doubt any BNs are gonna appear on SHM. You mean you're an Alfred Lion fan, right? Otherwise, you're "unambivalently" down with Bobbi Humphrey & Keren Ann, to name but a few. I admire Lion's entrepreneurial spirit that sparked Blue Note, the fact that he paid musicians for rehearsing and got involved with the compositions, lineups, his rapport and long-term relationships with many artists he signed, etc. And yes, I like his stewardship of the pre-'67 Blue Note catalog much, much more than the post-Lion catalog. Let's put it this way: I'm more a fan of Lion than of Bobbi Humphrey or Keren Ann. Edited July 7, 2011 by EyeSpeech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 the SHM-CD series out of Japan is the one that I'm really enjoying..."logical compression" is actually preferable to me than "no compression at all". I wonder if they'll release any Blue Notes in that series (or maybe they have and I've missed them)? Please define "logical compression". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Shawn, I think SHM is used predominantly for Universal affiliated labels, so I doubt any BNs are gonna appear on SHM. You mean you're an Alfred Lion fan, right? Otherwise, you're "unambivalently" down with Bobbi Humphrey & Keren Ann, to name but a few. I admire Lion's entrepreneurial spirit that sparked Blue Note, the fact that he paid musicians for rehearsing and got involved with the compositions, lineups, his rapport and long-term relationships with many artists he signed, etc. And yes, I like his stewardship of the pre-'67 Blue Note catalog much, much more than the post-Lion catalog. Let's put it this way: I'm more a fan of Lion than of Bobbi Humphrey or Keren Ann. Makes sense to me. The Lion-Wolff label was a good thing for real, although some of the 50s dates can be of markedly lesser quality than others (and an honest "ambivalence" is perfectly acceptable there, I think. For example, there's a few Clifford Jordan sides that I have just to be having them, not that I'm really proud of that...). Although none are really bad, some are a tad...pedestrian. But hey, how could it not be so? People talk about "Blue Note" like it's all one thing, and it's definitively not. Hell, by now it's been non-Lion (or Wolff) for longer than it was, and the results speak to that. So all the emo "I Blue Note" that has been in the air all these years, really, really needs to be qualified, especially as time marches on. Not that nothing good happened post Lion-Wolff, yeah, plenty did, but it all happened in a different way and for a different reason (i.e. - Stick-Up & Knucklebean are both damn good records, but.., That's certainly not a factor in liking/loving the music, but Label Love & Music Love aren't really the same thing, that's all I'm saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyeSpeech Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Makes sense to me. The Lion-Wolff label was a good thing for real, although some of the 50s dates can be of markedly lesser quality than others (and an honest "ambivalence" is perfectly acceptable there, I think. For example, there's a few Clifford Jordan sides that I have just to be having them, not that I'm really proud of that...). Although none are really bad, some are a tad...pedestrian. But hey, how could it not be so? Absolutely agree. Some of the '50s Blue Note stuff is too formulaic, but nowhere near as formulaic as a lot of other labels recordings from the same period. Anyway, can you imagine the legacy of Monk, Bud, Miles not to mention Andrew Hill, Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley without their Blue Note recordings? Lion deserves a lot of credit. People talk about "Blue Note" like it's all one thing, and it's definitively not. Well that's understood--how could it be "one thing" when it spans different decades and styles and artists as varied as Don Cherry, Clifford Brown and Hubbard just to quickly name horn players. That's certainly not a factor in liking/loving the music, but Label Love & Music Love aren't really the same thing, that's all I'm saying. Well, not to drag this into semantic debate territory but when someone like Lion, who loves the music on a level beyond 99.9% of everyone else walking the planet, heads up a label I think music love and label love are as close to synonymous as you can get. I think most jazz fans consider Lion's productions to be the "real" Blue Note and that kinda goes without saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 the SHM-CD series out of Japan is the one that I'm really enjoying..."logical compression" is actually preferable to me than "no compression at all". I wonder if they'll release any Blue Notes in that series (or maybe they have and I've missed them)? Please define "logical compression". Compression isn't necessarily an "evil", which seems to be antithetical to the MOFI crowd. Some of the MOFI releases I've heard are a little too "clinical sounding" and lack punch, mild compression tightens things up and gives the recording "heft". Too much compression destroys dynamic range, but there is a happy middle ground between the two that I prefer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 I think most jazz fans consider Lion's productions to be the "real" Blue Note and that kinda goes without saying. I'm know they do, but that's the "emo" thing I'm talking about. It has no basis in reality. "First" and "real" are so not the same thing...I know it "feels" good to revel in all the...aura, but by any objective standard, Joe Lovano on Blue Note is just as "real" and just as "Blue Note" in this time as Hank Mobley was in his. Of course, to admit that is to admit that things ain't what they used to be, which is true, but that's what makes it real, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyeSpeech Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 I dunno, I tend to think of a Liberty Blue Note and an EMI Blue Note, etc. Blue Note was only really Blue Note in Lion's time. It was subsequently owned by other labels that allowed Blue Note to keep its banner and operate (more or less) independently, depending... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 emo-bop. Jim, come on with the "emo" already. The word sucked a decade ago. Use your vocabulary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 I dunno, I tend to think of a Liberty Blue Note and an EMI Blue Note, etc. Blue Note was only really Blue Note in Lion's time. It was subsequently owned by other labels that allowed Blue Note to keep its banner and operate (more or less) independently, depending... Well then, I'd think you'd also have to thinl of a "Lion Blue Note" or an "original Blue Note" or something like that, then. If only because "Blue Note" is ultimately just a label name, and the only time it's not "real" is when somebody who doesn't own it uses it. The sentimental pull of what the "Lion Blue Note" stood for & accomplished is certainly understandable and real, but...the real respect for me comes from the actual accomplishments, not the mere "brand name". And in these times, "business interests" are all about blurring, if not outright erasing, that line, and not just with Blue Note. I'm full agin' it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Duke Pearson remained with the label until '71 I believe and Wolff was still involved as well (at least until 1970). There are MANY albums from the post-Lion period that I find equally enjoyable to anything produced during his tenure. I'd say that the 1967-1970 period was damn impressive and still very much Blue Note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 emo-bop. Jim, come on with the "emo" already. The word sucked a decade ago. Yeah, I know. But it still works! But you got me thinking..."emo-bop"...would that be like Richie Cole, or later Phil Woods, or...what exactly? Anything dealing with Stanley Crouch? This is an opportunity for another critical controversy to stir up sales. How emo! Duke Pearson remained with the label until '71 I believe and Wolff was still involved as well (at least until 1970). There are MANY albums from the post-Lion period that I find equally enjoyable to anything produced during his tenure. I'd say that the 1967-1970 period was damn impressive and still very much Blue Note. Yeah, as I understand it, Wolff almost single-handedly kept the organ fire burning after Lion booked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EyeSpeech Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 What exactly do you have against a knee-jerk dopamine release when the subject of Blue Note (or any favored label for that matter) comes up? Live and let live, man. Do you have BN confused with BP? Duke Pearson remained with the label until '71 I believe and Wolff was still involved as well (at least until 1970). There are MANY albums from the post-Lion period that I find equally enjoyable to anything produced during his tenure. I'd say that the 1967-1970 period was damn impressive and still very much Blue Note. I can agree with that, as some of my favorites such as the Hutcherson - Land collaborations were initiated then, but one could argue the label still had Lion's mark on it and was running on inertia from the past 20 years, as much as anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 The biggest immediate change after Lion left was the mixing/mastering/whatever (I should know exactly, but don't). Wolff let(?) Rudy start putting in all that extra reverb, and the "classic" Blue Note "sound" (which Rudy himself credited to Lion) was gone. Too bad, it was a good sound, at least for me, even if the pianos didn't sound like pianos per se. There was a mix of wet and dry, of presence and distance, that was just too seductive to resist. At least for me. Rudy would continue to add that reverb on until, in the latter days of Muse, there were times when the reverb appeared to be in the foreground, like it was generating the sound, rather than the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Do you have BN confused with BP? OOPS, my bad! Seriously, brand names are used to sell dreams at least as much as they are product. Buying a dream is cool until you wake up. Product is what it is, and endures according to its merits. Fantasy, otoh, got bought by Concord. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 [ Fantasy, otoh, got DESTROYED by Concord. Fixed that for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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