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Tone Poet Blue Notes

From what I can work out both the Liberty and solid dark-blue ‘70s pressings can often be from the original stampers, I’ve certainly got a couple that have the Rudy Van Gelder stamp in the run-off and they sound great. He may have re-cut them I guess, but they are certainly great sounding records. I’d personally take that stamp ahead of any particular label design.
 
Yes, I invested in quite a few 70s BN pressings with RVG in the run out. The bonus is the fact that the pressings have been excellent to near mint, and at a fraction of the cost of original pressings. They sound great to me.

I love his CTI cuts as well (a whole different story).
 
From what I can work out both the Liberty and solid dark-blue ‘70s pressings can often be from the original stampers, I’ve certainly got a couple that have the Rudy Van Gelder stamp in the run-off and they sound great.

Likewise, I have some brilliant sounding Liberty pressings with RVG stamp. I wish I had more.
 
I was playing my 1977 Liberty solid blue pressing of Tender Moments this afternoon ( but no RVG run off sadly) which sounds lovely enough that I don't feel the need to get the TP edition. I dug it out after reading about Passing Ships and realising they have an almost identical instrumentation and some overlapping personnel ( Bob Northern, Howard Johnson and Julian Prester) .

The 70's sleeve does feel flimsy and cheap but that's no reason to replace it.
 
I was playing my 1977 Liberty solid blue pressing of Tender Moments this afternoon ( but no RVG run off sadly) which sounds lovely enough that I don't feel the need to get the TP edition. I dug it out after reading about Passing Ships and realising they have an almost identical instrumentation and some overlapping personnel ( Bob Northern, Howard Johnson and Julian Prester).

Tender Moments is an interesting session, with some great arrangements and nimble playing. Waiting for my copy to arrive. Looking forward to Passing Ships. (Thread spoiler alert - Strata East not BN - but caved in on the recent Charles Tolliver Compassion reissue as well; by all accounts it’s been nicely mastered and pressed at Pallas. Maybe we need a Strata East reissue thread to compare notes).
 
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Tender Moments is an interesting session, with some great arrangements and nimble playing. Waiting for my copy to arrive. Looking forward to Passing Ships. (Spoiler alert - Strata East not BN - but caved in on the recent Charles Tolliver Compassion reissue as well; by all accounts it’s been nicely mastered and pressed at Pallas. Maybe we need a Strata East reissue thread to compare notes).

Graham,
I'm now enjoying my copy of Tender Moments although did take me a few plays to fully appreciate it.

I can't see a Strata East issue of Passing Ships. I thought the only previous issue was the 2003 CD? Do you know the provenance of these latest Strata East reissues that I see on Honest Jon's and Juno. I have been tempted by a couple, but I'm always a bit suspicious of Pure Pleasure reissues as they always just say "mastered from the best available sources" and with Strata East that usually seems to be 'needle drops'.

I thought you were considering starting a Strata East thread some time back? :cool: Not that I really need yet another source of good jazz vinyl as I've over spent already and I've also nearly run out of storage space. :oops:
 
Jim - I was referring to the recent Charles Tolliver Compassion on Strata East which I have ordered alongside TP of Tender Moments. I’ve adjusted my comment to make better sense.

I’ll see how the Tolliver sounds. I now have about half dozen or so Strata East Pure Pleasure reissues, enough to make a fair assessment.
 
I've just enjoyed my early Toshiba press of Tender Moments. It's a stupendous record, far better than I remember from playing long time ago. Perhaps I am more ready for the music today. While we are on Tyner, I can't recommend highly enough, Sahara, Atlantis and Enlightenment (the latter two are live performances). These contain very exuberant high energy music, in quite a different vein from Tender Moments. And still available used at reasonable prices.

I have heard some of the PP reissues of Strata East, they don't sound that great to me and I've been informed they are mostly from digital files (needle drops likely). But given how expensive the originals go for these days, they may have to do. For instance, I recently saw an original Shamek Farah going for 500euros (the PP is 20-25 euros). I also cratered and bought a nice original copy of Alkebu-Lan Land of the Blacks (it is the most expensive album I've ever paid for but still less than the Shamek). I was in mild shock about the amount I paid for it weeks after I had bought it. TBH in such a situation, I'd be happier with a cheaper decent CD version if one were available.

Re. RVG stamped records on Liberty and UA, shhhh please! We don't need more punters driving up the price of these records. Collectors and purists will usually sneer at them but I've often found them to be as good or better than any of the reissues out there, including MM or TP. They definitely have a different sonic signature from the reissues though but ain't this always the case?
 
Jim - I was referring to the recent Charles Tolliver Compassion on Strata East which I have ordered alongside TP of Tender Moments. I’ve adjusted my comment to make better sense.

I’ll see how the Tolliver sounds. I now have about half dozen or so Strata East Pure Pleasure reissues, enough to make a fair assessment.
Graham,
Thanks my mistake I thought you were referring to both being on Strata East. I didn't take in account your (....). :oops:

Let us have your impression of these Strata East PP reissues but I expect as Hockman Notes digital and probably 'needle drops' as well. A CD would suffice, but also as he also says (in most cases) there are none and the few there are are more expensive than these reissues. I suppose I should just try a (very) few myself.
 
I have six Strata East reissues, seventh on the way. I’ll make an assessment on a new thread later, need to check a few things first.

All I can say at present is the Harold Vick reissue is definitely a needle drop, and an annoying on to boot. Glass Bead Games is an enigma - some tracks sound very clean, others grainy. One side, I think it’s side 3, appears mono or the mix has been altered to almost mono. So something very odd going on, perhaps some sections of tape were so poor a needle drop was used.

Having said that they are acceptable in the main, and great music that can’t be obtained unless you can afford circa £500 a pop for some titles. And the music is what it’s about, but it’s nice when it can be presented sans compromise.
 
Thanks Graham the Glass Bead Game was one I was going to get sometime ago, but was I put off by it being a needle drop and also reports of poor sound quality. Seems from what you are saying it is even worst than I thought (at least in parts). I was interested in the Shemek Farrah 'First Impressions' (that Hockman mentioned), Billy Parker's Fourth World and the Cecil Payne Zodiac. Do you have any of those?
 
The Shamek Farrah reissue sounds decent unless you want to splash out for the original...

IIRC the Billy Parker one is not so great but I could be wrong since memory is not reliable. The Glass Bead Games was also reissued by Superfly. It sounded ok although I know it is mastered from vinyl. It's out of print but you may be able to source one from the 2nd hand market. Unrealistically I am still holding out for a reasonably priced original. Last time I saw one in the wild 4 years ago, it was only 40 euros but TBH those days are probably long gone.
 
Unrealistically I am still holding out for a reasonably priced original. Last time I saw one in the wild 4 years ago, it was only 40 euros but TBH those days are probably long gone.

Glass Bead Games double version on Discogs currently about £250 for VG+ to over 500 for NM. Good luck!
 
Currently enjoying Tender Moments. A title I’ve never heard before. Love the orchestrations. Almost Mingus like at times. And the sound of Joe Chambers drum kit is quite something, especially on his solo in Man From Tanganyika.
That’s what I love about this series, as someone who’s really only been a jazz dabbler until the the last couple of years, these “new to me” titles coming out and sounding as good as I guess they ever have done. It’s all very pleasing.
 
Oblique up next. Stunning! The delicacy of the playing...and Joe Chambers again. What a force of nature, and a composer as well. First time I’ve heard Albert Stinson. Life tragically cut short at 24. This is so so good. I need to hunt down more Bobby H.
 
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