2026 Tone Poet schedule

[JSngry]

Japan has used the original LT covers when reissuing those records.

Yet another point for Japan.

[felser]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Japan has used the original LT covers when reissuing those records.

Yet another point for Japan.

YMMV.  I much prefer the Roques CD-era covers.

[JSngry]

Some people prefer Phil Woods to Charlie Parker.

[Dan Gould]

9 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Some people prefer Phil Woods to Charlie Parker.

This is not the "gotcha" you think it is.

Fetishizing original (poor) design choices is not the same.

The fact will always remain that they chose to put out archival recordings from an era with classic artwork on the covers in a way that made not the slightest nod toward the era of music it was mining.

Did Cuscuna ever say why those covers were used? I always presumed that for a label that was barely an afterthought, they said OK, put out these recordings but we aren't paying shit for the rest of it.

[felser]

15 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Some people prefer Phil Woods to Charlie Parker.

And some prefer smart phone calculators to slide rules....

[B. Clugston]

I've been mostly underwhelmed by the series (though the Rollins Village Vanguard set was great), but this is a good list. Particularly excited to see Big John Patton, Larry Young and Andrew Hill titles. Hopefully, the latter doesn't have the warbling piano issue that the Black Fire Tone Poet had.

[JSngry]

57 minutes ago, felser said:

And some prefer smart phone calculators to slide rules....

And some people can't even do math at all 

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

This is not the "gotcha" you think it is.

Fetishizing original (poor) design choices is not the same.

The fact will always remain that they chose to put out archival recordings from an era with classic artwork on the covers in a way that made not the slightest nod toward the era of music it was mining.

Did Cuscuna ever say why those covers were used? I always presumed that for a label that was barely an afterthought, they said OK, put out these recordings but we aren't paying shit for the rest of it.

You tell me - is it not also a fetish to "love" the fantasy of a design style that in reality has nothing to do with the reality of the record's original place in time? Not the music, the record.

Truthfully, I still dig what Prestige used to do with certain items - repackage everything, covers, liners, everything. It was the OJC fetishizing of original everything that led to the notion of Roques' Reid Miles porn...talk about a fetish ..

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

When I talked with Michael about those LT album covers, he seemed generally pleased with them. That said, he did admit that it was partly budgetary and that he would not have reissued any of those titles with those covers.

He actually laughed when I told hm that the Japanese reissued a bunch of them using those covers.

[JSngry]

Japan has an amazingly resilient way of having the last laugh 

[clifford_thornton]

The only way to give these albums proper “period” artwork is to build a time machine, go back, and have them issued in the 1960s. Failing that… we get what we get! 
 

FWIW, the Japan-only designs that King used on some titles are pretty appealing. Not all LT’s had concurrent Japanese versions, however. And some of those Kings did not appear in the US until much later.

[Brad]

I have all the ones I want to have on cd. It’s been a few years since I purchased a TP. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

10 hours ago, Brad said:

I have all the ones I want to have on cd. It’s been a few years since I purchased a TP. 

I changed over to that myself after having Blue Note refused to fix a couple of very hot cuts in their LP reissues. When they acknowledged it on their Tone Poet of "Picture of Heath" and basically said, "Sucks to be you", that was my cue.

This is how Blue Note addressed the issue:

We’re aware of the complaints about the Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of Chet Baker & Art Pepper “Picture of Heath” from some customers who are experiencing skipping on side two, while for most it plays fine. We’ve looked into it and have determined there is no defect with the pressing. It is however a very dynamic recording and Joe Harley & Kevin Gray don’t use any limiting or compression in their mastering approach. That can expose the need for some adjustments to be made with particular turntable set-ups. For instance, we’ve found that customers who adjusted their tracking force and anti-skate (even slightly reducing both), and made sure their turntable is level, no longer had playback issues. We hope this helps!

[Brad]

24 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I changed over to that myself after having Blue Note refused to fix a couple of very hot cuts in their LP reissues. When they acknowledged it on their Tone Poet of "Picture of Heath" and basically said, "Sucks to be you", that was my cue.

This is how Blue Note addressed the issue:

We’re aware of the complaints about the Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of Chet Baker & Art Pepper “Picture of Heath” from some customers who are experiencing skipping on side two, while for most it plays fine. We’ve looked into it and have determined there is no defect with the pressing. It is however a very dynamic recording and Joe Harley & Kevin Gray don’t use any limiting or compression in their mastering approach. That can expose the need for some adjustments to be made with particular turntable set-ups. For instance, we’ve found that customers who adjusted their tracking force and anti-skate (even slightly reducing both), and made sure their turntable is level, no longer had playback issues. We hope this helps!

I remember that which I thought was a pretty condescending reply. I found the Pure Pleasure one and that sounded fine to me. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Brad

[Kevin Bresnahan]

12 minutes ago, Brad said:

I remember that which I thought was a pretty condescending reply. I found the Pure Pleasure one and that sounded fine to me. 

I already had the Pure Pleasure LP at that point and I agree that it sounds fine.

[sidewinder]

I have a Tone Poet of the 'Picture of Heath' and it plays fine and sounds nice. A good issue.

Never heard the Pure Pleasure version.

[Niko]

I have that tone poet of Picture of Heath as well, my only tone poet so far, the price was good... And I do hear a good portion of the problems described on the Hoffman board... Ultimately, it affects about five or six seconds of the record, spread over three or four places...  Otherwise the record sounds great, so I am not complaining too much... But the tone of their reply didn't impress me...

Seriously considering some of the newly announced ones like the Washington and the Jackson which I never found on CD...

Edited 1 hour ago by Niko

[sidewinder]

I've got quite a number of them - in some cases duplicating original titles for which I have monos. In most cases they compare favourably and it is good to hear a stereo version on very good vinyl. Sleeve quality is exemplary.

Recently picked up Bobby Hutcherson's 'Montara' - compared it with the CD and it sounds better. Will be giving Andrew Hill's 'Andrew' a first spin later on.

The list of 2026 titles looks pretty good. 'Compulsion' was no surprise - long overdue a good vinyl reissue.

Edited 1 hour ago by sidewinder