Blue Note Tone Poet

[greggery peccary]

I am just starting to do vinyl again. I’d like to pick up some classic Blue Note. I see that the Tone Poet series is priced out about $38.99 everywhere I check. 
I know the music but are these pressings superior to the point of worth being so expensive?

Thanks. 

[danasgoodstuff]

I have 4 Tone Poets and lot of originals and reissues from every era and series except the most expensive recent 3rd party ones.  The Tone Poets are very nice indeed, as good or better than anything I've heard (both for BN and in general), but whether they're worth roughly $40 a pop is up to you - depending on how much spare cash you have and how much you value what they offer.  I have only bought 4 because I had acceptable copies of all the others that I had any interest in musically.  And I got some of them at employee discount prices.  There are a few more that might possibly make this series, or the cheaper BN Classics series, that I would be interested in.  But I'm glad that I have literally hundreds of vintage Blue Notes already and am not trying to build a collection at these prices.  I've had no defects and am happy with the 4 I have - Contours, The Phantom, Steppin' Out, and Bring It Home to Me.  But as a veteran collector of BN, I knew I would love the music, I couldn't see buying these if I wasn't already a committed BN fan.

[kh1958]

There are multiple Tone Poets on sale on amazon for less than $30 at this moment.

[danasgoodstuff]

2 hours ago, kh1958 said:

There are multiple Tone Poets on sale on amazon for less than $30 at this moment.

At that price the're a very good deal IMHO.

[Pim]

 

[mjazzg]

I have about six of them and I'm very pleased with them all. No sonic issues, lovely pressings, good quality production on the covers. 

As to whether they're worth the cost I think that's probably an individual choice but I don't regret spending the UK price of about £35 on mine. 

[sidewinder]

By my reckoning I have about 30 of them so they must be doing something right !  The quality of the sleeves is superb and the pressings are up there with the old Music Matters series. In the main I have gone for titles which I don’t have on originals or which I only have on inferior pressings e.g. French Pathe Marconi series. I have a few overlaps with originals from the NY and Liberty era and in the main, I would say that the sonics on the originals has more punch, particularly with earlier Van Gelder mono issues. On the whole though, you can’t go wrong with these Tone Poets. I particularly like their coverage of Pacific Jazz titles, where the quality of originals can sometime have issues.

I just wish that they would make available again some of their earlier titles, which seemed to disappear fast, at least over here.

12 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

At that price the're a very good deal IMHO.

A bargain, for sure. A few of them can be had for sub-£30 over here. Poor old Harold Vick never seems to get above £25.

Edited May 25, 2023 by sidewinder

[Brad]

I have a few of them and have had no sonic issues but $40 or so is more than I want to spend if I have the cd equivalent   As others have mentioned it’s a personal choice. Other companies have theirs priced around the same so it’s the industry standard.  Rhino is issuing an audiophile of Coltrane’s Sound at the same price. 

[Dub Modal]

Boutique product for a boutique market. Nothing wrong with that. If you love one of those albums & want to play it on vinyl or hear the new mastering there it is. Maybe get some new LP listeners to explore this music too. 

[Pim]

I just counted and have more than I thought. I’ve got 19 of them. They all sound great and I’ve got zero issues with them. I only buy the personal must haves and skip if I already have a vinyl copy as I am not in a financial position to buy multiple versions (and don’t see the point of it as well). The fun thing with the TP is that Joe Harley also selects some more obscure stuff that should have wider recognition. The Carmell Jones is a recent example of that.

[greggery peccary]

uMusic has a buy two get one free sale going on right now. Most of the Tone Poet titles and the Classic Vinyl series are included. Shipping is free as well. I'm going to take the plunge on three of each as the Classics will price out at about $20 with tax while the Tone Poets are about $28. I noticed just a handful of exclusions.

On a lesser jazz note the Zappa vinyl titles seem to always be excluded from discounts/promotions. I guess that the family trust wants to wring every dollar they can out of dear old dad's extensive recorded legacy.