2026 Tone Poet schedule

[felser]

Reported yesterday in Syd Schwartz's Jazz and Coffee blog.  I'm out for all since I don't do vinyl and they don't do CD's (plus I already own all the titles except the Lawrence Marable and the Petrucciani/Hall/Shorter), but some interesting selections, along with some odd ones.  Note that 'Compulsion' is probably my favorite Andrew Hill album, even though it seems very overlooked:

January 2, 2026   

Hank Mobley – Hank (Blue Note, 1957), 

Tyrone Washington – Natural Essence (Blue Note, 1967)

 

February 6, 2026  

Lee Morgan – City Lights (Blue Note, 1957)

Bennie Green – Back On The Scene (Blue Note, 1958)

 

March 6, 2026

Lawrence Marable – Tenorman (Jazz: West, 1956)

Andrew Hill – Compulsion!!! (Blue Note, 1965)

 

April 3, 2026

Fred Jackson – Hootin’ ‘N Tootin’ (Blue Note, 1962)

Larry Young – Mother Ship (Blue Note, 1969)

 

May 1, 2026

Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling… (Blue Note, 1961)

McCoy Tyner – Asante (Blue Note, 1970)

 

June 5, 2026

Curtis Amy – Tippin’ On Through (Pacific Jazz, 1962)

Bobby Hutcherson – Components (Blue Note, 1965)

 

July 3, 2026

Big John Patton – Got A Good Thing Goin’ (Blue Note, 1966)

Michel Petrucciani/Jim Hall/Wayne Shorter – Power of Three (Blue Note, 1986)

 

August 7, 2026

Jackie McLean – Vertigo (Blue Note, 1959–63)

Ike Quebec – Bossa Nova Soul Samba (Blue Note, 1962)

 

September 4, 2026

Sonny Rollins – Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1957)

Sam Rivers – Dimensions & Extensions (Blue Note, 1967)

 

October 2, 2026

Freddie Hubbard – Hub Cap (Blue Note, 1961)

Booker Ervin – Structurally Sound (Pacific Jazz, 1966)

 

November 6, 2026

Jimmy Smith – The Sermon! (Blue Note, 1957–58)

Hank Mobley – Dippin’ (Blue Note, 1965)

 

December 4, 2026

Curtis Fuller – Curtis Fuller, Volume 3 (Blue Note, 1957)

Lee Morgan – The Sixth Sense (Blue Note, 1967)

[Pim]

I’ll definitely get the Hutcherson and Hill. Quite some are unknown to me but sound interesting: the Amy, Marable and Jackson. Some of the others I’ll have to spin again to make a decision and some I already have.

[Late]

9 hours ago, felser said:

June 5, 2026

Curtis Amy – Tippin’ On Through (Pacific Jazz, 1962)

👍

[JSngry]

The Marble record is a cult classic because of James Clay.

[Clunky]

13 minutes ago, JSngry said:

The Marble record is a cult classic because of James Clay.

This might interest me as the CD copy I have (Japanese ) has pretty harsh sound, I'm not that picky but it was poor. I'll need to relisten. Elsewhere on this list Compulsion and Components are musts- amongst the very best of the 60's freer BN dates.

[JSngry]

Oops, Marable, not Marble.

[clifford_thornton]

I had the Fresh Sound LP of the Marable and thought the sound was poor. If there is an improvement I might be interested.

[JSngry]

 

 

[colinmce]

Good stuff as always, but as always I already have the CDs.

On the one hand, Was is just taking all of Cuscuna's work and restamping it. On the other hand he's smart enough to know that he should just take all of Cuscuna's work and restamp it.

[Rooster_Ties]

Will Mothership get an all-new cover design?  I’m guessing ‘yes’ — but we’ll see.

I don’t buy brand new vinyl, and rarely buy much use vinyl at all either (haven’t for 20-25 years, I’m nearly all CD — except for maybe a couple dozen obscure 60’s or 70’s titles I found used quite cheaply).

Still curious if Mothership gets a new cover design though.

[JSngry]

8 hours ago, colinmce said:

Good stuff as always, but as always I already have the CDs.

On the one hand, Was is just taking all of Cuscuna's work and restamping it. On the other hand he's smart enough to know that he should just take all of Cuscuna's work and restamp it.

Since it's LPs, it's Lion's work, not Cuscuna's.

[colinmce]

Well what I mostly mean by that is he's pretty much just following what Cuscuna prepared for CD release in the 80s-2000s, including many of the unreleased sessions he got into the world and stuff he put out through Mosaic. Both instances also include music from other labels under the EMI ownership umbrella like the Amy and Marable titles above.

[Holy Ghost]

21 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Will Mothership get an all-new cover design?  I’m guessing ‘yes’ — but we’ll see.

Still curious if Mothership gets a new cover design though.

I'm with you on a new Mothership sleeve design. If Mothership looked more like John Patton's Understanding, I'd buy a copy to frame and hang up on the wall for that alone. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Holy Ghost

[Bill Nelson]

The 2026 release schedule fills me with inertia -- and will leave my wallet intact.  

[Dub Modal]

There are some titles there that I really like. But I've been shifting to downloads for the most part due to space issues. I think the concepts of the Tone Poet and Classic series are great, and I hope they continue doing them. Helluva legacy from this label. 

[clifford_thornton]

the cover photo on the Mother Ship CD is all right; I have the 1980 LT version which is a bit less inspiring. Neither match what a 1960s design could have looked like.

[Eric]

7 hours ago, Holy Ghost said:

I'm with you on a new Mothership sleeve design. If Mothership looked more like John Patton's Understanding, I'd buy a copy to frame and hang up on the wall for that alone. 

Killer album (and cover)!

[danasgoodstuff]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

Killer album (and cover)!

To me Understanding is an OK album and cover.  Blue John is my favorite Patton album, but it has the worst cover.  Mothership is a great album and I'm an outlier in that I like most of the LY/rainbow series covers, maybe nbecause I own most of them that way having bought them as cutouts back in the day.

[Pim]

This one’s up in the schedule. It’s my favorite Patton and love the artwork. Got an original and no need to replace but good to see it will have new listeners. 

[mikeweil]

On 11/12/2025 at 1:24 AM, Rooster_Ties said:

Will Mothership get an all-new cover design?  I’m guessing ‘yes’ — but we’ll see.

I don’t buy brand new vinyl, and rarely buy much use vinyl at all either (haven’t for 20-25 years, I’m nearly all CD — except for maybe a couple dozen obscure 60’s or 70’s titles I found used quite cheaply).

Still curious if Mothership gets a new cover design though.

Probably the cover of the later reissue:

[mikeweil]

On 11/11/2025 at 5:36 PM, JSngry said:

The Marable record is a cult classic because of James Clay.

..... and Sonny Clark! I like Clay best as interpreter of Clark's compositions.

[sidewinder]

9 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

the cover photo on the Mother Ship CD is all right; I have the 1980 LT version which is a bit less inspiring. Neither match what a 1960s design could have looked like.

Whoever designed that one must have just come out of the movie theatre having seen 'Close Encounters..'

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

Probably the cover of the later reissue:

Gets my vote too. That one I will buy.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

15 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Whoever designed that one must have just come out of the movie theatre having seen 'Close Encounters..'

Gets my vote too. That one I will buy.

I don't know that Blue Note will use that Connoisseur CD cover. They've been re-designing many (most?) of Patrick Roques covers for some reason. Someone over on the Hoffman forums claimed to know why this is happening but says that he was asked not to relay the rationale behind this. Maybe Roques managed to get a copyright for that particular use, so it can't be used for a different use without further compensation?