advertisement


Tone Poet Blue Notes

Colonel_Mad said:
I've been wanting to buy one of these Tone Poet releases for some time just to hear the quality for myself. That thread (70 odd pages???!?!?!?) on Steve Hoffman is pretty bizarre and I'd taken it all with a pinch of salt to be honest. Seems others here have the same view.

What release would you recommend to try first? I like the classic jazz saxophonists of the late 50s early 60s. Any thoughts as to which release you'd recommend?
Click to expand...

Yes the Dexter Gordon as Stunsworth says or the very first Wayne Shorter - 'Etcetera'. The sound quality of the Blue Note 80's (see BN80 thread) in most cases is as good, all mastered by Kevin Gray as with the Tone Poets, but sleeves etc. are not as lavish and the inner sleeves are a bit of a pain due to static. These are quite a bit cheaper. For great saxophonists records on there try Johnny Griffin - 'Introducing' and Joe Henderson - 'In & Out' also a little 'freer' Pete La Roca - Basra, that features Joe Henderson.
 
As Poco a Poco says the BN80 releases are very good - and like the Tone Poets were mastered from the original master tapes.

All of these albums are available to stream if you want to 'try before you buy'. Just make sure you listen to the Blue Note version as there can be pirated versions of the older albums.
 
Colonel_Mad said:
I've been wanting to buy one of these Tone Poet releases for some time just to hear the quality for myself. That thread (70 odd pages???!?!?!?) on Steve Hoffman is pretty bizarre and I'd taken it all with a pinch of salt to be honest. Seems others here have the same view.

What release would you recommend to try first? I like the classic jazz saxophonists of the late 50s early 60s. Any thoughts as to which release you'd recommend?
Click to expand...

Definitely Clubhouse and Etcetera. The two quiet tracks on both these releases, Shorter's 'Penelope' and Gordon's 'I'm a Fool to Want You' are a must for any saxophone lover, and the vinyl mastering is state of the art. The Tina Brooks, Sam Rivers, and Joe Henderson releases are all excellent also, and Lee Morgan's Cornbread has some great playing by Hank Mobley and Jackie Mclean. I also really love Pepper Adams's Baritone sax on Donald Byrd's 'Chant'.

You have some treats ahead, but your bank balance will suffer.
 
poco a poco said:
The same thing on their BN80 site with February releases pushed into March. I think it all may only be in the US as there is a problem with the national distributor that all the major record labels signed up to use for independent record stores. I expect they could still get them to Amazon USA, but that wouldn't go down well with the independents. It may not effect us here. No change on Amazon UK & European release dates.
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thre...majors-from-independent-record-stores.862753/
Click to expand...
Well it seems there is something that is causing a delay here as well. Possibly a knock on effect From the above? I have not yet had a change of date on the Tone Poets, but Amazon have emailed me to say all the February BN80's will now be released on 17th March.
 
Graham H said:
As an aside, I see the 2020 Music Matters list comprises of titles they have already issued but this time on SRX vinyl. Bit of a disappointment:

https://www.musicmattersjazz.com/category-s/121.htm
Click to expand...

I expect they can't afford new licences from Blue Note / Universal or they do not want to issue new licences since they have taken things in house with the Tone Poets & BN80's. Apparently they are only initially pressing 500 of each. They are using new stampers, but made from the original mother. The only one I might have been interested in is Blue Train, but that is already sold out in a few days. I don't really need it as I have two stereos and a mono, but not MM and at the $75 plus postage and duty in the U.K. these are very expensive here now.

I have 10 of those listed on the previously issued MM 2x45's and all of them except 2, Inner Urge and Adams Apple, in reasonable other pressings so as they say on Dragons Den - I'm Out. ;)
 
As Graham's link also shows the 2019 SRX's with the 2020 ones and the 'Out of Stock' listing for the others really means not released yet, here is their official release schedule. Apparently the Coltrane release is the second half of the delivery of the 2019 SRX due from RTI that was late. Not sure if they are going to press another 500 as well?

Release Schedule
  • Art Blakey - "Moanin’ SRX - January
  • John Coltrane - "Blue Train" SRX - January
  • Lee Morgan - "Search for the New Land" SRX - February
  • Hank Mobley - "Soul Station" SRX - February
  • Grant Green - "Idle Moments" SRX - March
  • Herbie Hancock - "Maiden Voyage" SRX - March
  • Lee Morgan - "The Sidewinder" SRX - April
  • Cannonball Adderley - "Somethin’ Else" SRX - April
  • Wayne Shorter - "Speak No Evil" SRX - May
  • Kenny Burrell - " Midnight Blue" SRX - May
Still at probably about £85 or more each with delivery and duty I don't think there will be many UK buyers?
 
Stunsworth said:
The Amazon prices for Comin' Your Way seem all over the place, and very expensive in the UK.

UK - £41.99
US - $26.99
FR - 38.99 Euro

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZLKV696/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I'm thinking of ordering from the UK on the basis that the price will drop before release, but I'm concerned that it won't.
Click to expand...

Just noticed that Amazon UK price hasn’t moved. Very strange as Dealer Price hasn’t changed from previous releases (confirmed with my local Record shop)
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
mikechadwick said:
Just noticed that Amazon UK price hasn’t moved. Very strange as Dealer Price hasn’t changed from previous releases (confirmed with my local Record shop)
Click to expand...

It’s also odd that one of the two releases is at the expected price. I’m going to hold off ordering to see what happens after release.
 
Stunsworth said:
It’s also odd that one of the two releases is at the expected price. I’m going to hold off ordering to see what happens after release.
Click to expand...

Assume you mean "Poppin" but that's £33.80 now, I pre-ordered at £30.87, same as the other one, so that's gone up too....
 
If you add into the equation the fact that a lot of recent ECM vinyl is now out for under £17, at least on Amazon, the BNs look slightly less tempting.

tps://www.amazon.co.uk/Trio-Tapestry-VINYL-Joe-Lovano/dp/B07KZHV8X3/ref=pd_sim_15_1/261-7452096-1891658?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07KZHV8X3&pd_rd_r=9b19a349-ff16-4465-9401-88ca09b5cded&pd_rd_w=lopBC&pd_rd_wg=uiHPv&pf_rd_p=05c9c4d3-198c-496b-ad47-2926eee73e5b&pf_rd_r=J4HV59S4EC8YZCCY3B0D&psc=1&refRID=J4HV59S4EC8YZCCY3B0D

To my ears the ECM recordings sound close to as good as the BNs, the pressings are pretty reliable and, in many cases, the music is a bit richer than some of the second division stuff BN are charging a premium for.

On a side note, if you go to 1.50 of the clip below and see the array of mic's Lovano is surrounded by you get an idea of how the atmosphere of ECM recordings is captured.


Kevin
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
poco a poco said:
As Graham's link also shows the 2019 SRX's with the 2020 ones and the 'Out of Stock' listing for the others really means not released yet, here is their official release schedule. Apparently the Coltrane release is the second half of the delivery of the 2019 SRX due from RTI that was late. Not sure if they are going to press another 500 as well?

Release Schedule
  • Art Blakey - "Moanin’ SRX - January
  • John Coltrane - "Blue Train" SRX - January
  • Lee Morgan - "Search for the New Land" SRX - February
  • Hank Mobley - "Soul Station" SRX - February
  • Grant Green - "Idle Moments" SRX - March
  • Herbie Hancock - "Maiden Voyage" SRX - March
  • Lee Morgan - "The Sidewinder" SRX - April
  • Cannonball Adderley - "Somethin’ Else" SRX - April
  • Wayne Shorter - "Speak No Evil" SRX - May
  • Kenny Burrell - " Midnight Blue" SRX - May
Still at probably about £85 or more each with delivery and duty I don't think there will be many UK buyers?
Click to expand...

Spot on: I have most of these as MM 2x45rpm releases. I thought they were steep at £45-50 when I got them, and I'm certainly not going to stretch to £85. I'm also far more selective in my BN80 and Tone Poet purchases too.
 
Theo said:
Spot on: I have most of these as MM 2x45rpm releases. I thought they were steep at £45-50 when I got them, and I'm certainly not going to stretch to £85. I'm also far more selective in my BN80 and Tone Poet purchases too.
Click to expand...
I think they are likely to be even higher than £85 minimum I suggested if you end up paying full import duties. A guy in Germany says it is 125 euros to import to Berlin. That is about £96 + possible bank charge exchange rate conversion. Ouch!

I need to be more selective as well with the Tone Poets and BN80's. I have passed on a couple, but still ended up with some that will not get much turntable time here. I should be cutting down on my spending, but the as Kevin mentions there are other good things about like the ECM recordings.

I have some early ECM releases that I bought originally when issued on vinyl and a few later issues on CD, but none in duplicate to compare. As ECM have recorded digitally almost from their start I wonder if there is any benefit from buying them as vinyl copies. Has any one compared ECM vinyl to CD or high res. download? Not that I do streaming at the moment.
 
The only ECM recording I've got on both CD and vinyl is Anouar Brahem's Blue Maqams. There are differences between the two but it is difficult to say whether this is the hardware ( Rega Saturn via Audio Note DAC v Gyro SE with Dynavector cart). Both sound very good to me but the vinyl playback presents a richer more instrumental texture/ timbre and a greater sense of space around the instruments but they do sound a little less clearly defined yet at the same time larger. The CD has a crispness. Rhythmically, there's not much in it.

The issue about analogue v digital and vinyl v cd is interesting. For the most part I'm a big fan of the sound of ECM on CD - I'm listening to Leo Smith's Divine Love as I type this. I've never been sure if its a worth getting digital recordings on vinyl. There is an aesthetic factor I guess and I know others here think, in some cases, the mastering is a very different process. With the BNs, the ones I have on vinyl are significantly better than the CDs I've owned, and not just the RVG remasters.

Has anyone got an pre digital ECM recordings for the 80s to do an a/b comparison? Do vinyl issues of the analogue recordings ( Mal Waldren's Free at Last, their first release, which has just been reissued on vinyl) come from the original tapes? It's be interesting to know. I'm sure the answer is on Steve Hoffman's site somewhere but I try to keep a good distance....

Kevin
 
I remember Later That Evening by Eberhard Weber was one of the first digitally recorded ECM titles, although there was an earlier title that escapes me now also circa 1980. So roughly the first 10 years of ECM are all analogue. I have quite a few from that period on original vinyl with about 10 duplicates on CD.

Comparing formats from this period both vinyl and CD sound great, and I could live with either, but I generally prefer vinyl. The CD transfers of titles such as Garbarek’s Afric Pepperbird, Sart and Rypdal’s Odyssey sound just a little too clinical to my ears. Perhaps it’s what I’ve got used to. One exception - Eberhard Weber’s The Following Morning - CD all the way. I tried about 3 copies of that on vinyl over the years and couldn’t find one I was happy with. Silence is golden, especially when it’s this quiet.

I’ve not compared vinyl and CD titles since they went digital.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top