advertisement


Tone Poet Blue Notes

He did make an important point about 'returns' and mastering for the lowest common denominator in terms of people's record players. RGV rolled off the bass but gave a bit of a boost in the mid bass to compensate so the bass is there but indistinct. He kept making the point about the bass pedals on the organ tracks. This would have happened well into the 60s.
Gavried, Yes I have mentioned that Joe Harley has said about the people's playback systems before. The B3 Organ mention is very interesting though and that he has a little involvement in QC of the Classic series.
 
The RVG Edition CDs are so bad I find it very hard to believe RVG had anything to do with them, either that or he had become very deaf and couldn’t interpret what he was hearing from the monitors.

It is interesting to balance the Harley interview with Ken Micallef’s earlier stated opinion that he (like me) prefers RVG-stamped vinyl to the various audiophile reissues. I still maintain the young RVG knew exactly what he was doing and focused on the core artistic intent. Mastering is always a compromise, and turning up the bass and treble, as the TPs tend to do, inevitably has the effect of moving the mid back, and that real bite and attack to the brass, smack to the snare etc is where Blue Notes are to me. Same with Impulse, my RVG-stamped Canadian Spartan Impulse of Coltrane’s Ballads puts him right in the room like no other pressing I’ve ever heard. That can’t be accidental!
I don't have any original Blue Notes nor could I afford them. So I can't judge with my own ears and system and that will be the case for nearly all of us. Harley of course has most of them and compares his when they master the TP's. LJC has many BN originals and has not thought much of any audiophile reissues before, but has been very complimentary about the TP's. The couple of BN Liberty's I have are good, but a little noisy compared to the TP's. With regard to the AS Verve Impulse reissues where I have compared some US and UK originals in that thread. I have to agree with you. Judged on their own the reissues are good, but UK originals have just a little more presence and the US ones quite a lot more. Very noticeable on the Sonny Rollins on Verve. Chad Kassems approach to overseeing mastering seems to be quite a bit difference to Joe Harley's though.
 
I don't have any original Blue Notes nor could I afford them.

You don’t need to, you can often find a RVG mastering stamp in the run-off of Liberty and even dark blue label ‘70s cuts. Many of these titles were not big sellers at all so were being stamped from old masters for a good decade or more. Definitely worth hunting through your pressings (also later Impulse label designs, Verve etc), you might be surprised how many you actually have! As an example the All Seeing Eye I referred to a page or so ago is a ‘70s blue label, yet it has the stamp and sounds superb!
 
I suspect you are wrong about artist costs. The 50 year thing that enabled all the dreadful DOL etc bootlegs and pirates was an EU thing. I think intellectual property runs longer elsewhere in the world, and these are a US product largely for a US marketplace. They are also a Blue Note product, and if Don Was is using them to raise some revenue in a collapsing low-value streaming marketplace then good on him. Blue Note has a legacy that needs to be properly curated and cared for. It represents one of the finest artistic achievements of the 20th century. Likewise Impulse, Verve and the rest of them. I’m happy to pay to preserve and care for this legacy.

An interesting report here. Maybe not quite "a collapsing low value streaming market place" after all. It looks like the parent company may become even more flush in the coming months and that reports of the demise of the music industry might be as premature as the home taping is killing music warnings back in the 80s.

Universal Music chief predicts billions of dollars of growth from digital listening | Universal Music | The Guardian

It will be interesting to see if they invest in their heritage and their artists rather than line the pockets of investors. I'm not holding my breath.

Back to the music - I revisited the Cassandra Wilson TP yesterday. It is a quite beautiful recording.
 
Sounds like just a promotional hype because they are going public and anticipating $40 billion from it with very substantial transaction bonuses for the present owners. Selling parts of the business to hedge funds is never a good long term sign and the artists are unlikely to benefit from that. If unlike they say streaming has reached a "Profitable" peak for a large group it would be a good move to take some money out now.;)

I must revisit my TP Cassandra Wilson. I wish they had done 'Belly of the Sun' though, but I expect that was digital.
 
Still waiting for my copy of Shorter's All Seeing Eye and I have notification of further delays for my Konitz, Mulligan now 8th October.

Joe Harley now has two more Wayne Shorter's in the pipeline first Odyssey of Iska and then a bit later Supanova. Tony should like this one (if he does not already have a good copy) as he wanted later Blue Notes. This was recorded by Shorter straight after the recording of Miles Bitches Brew, but released the year before that in 1969. Mind you the amount these are getting delayed now it may be 2024 before we see it. ;)
 
Still waiting for my copy of Shorter's All Seeing Eye and I have notification of further delays for my Konitz, Mulligan now 8th October.

Joe Harley now has two more Wayne Shorter's in the pipeline first Odyssey of Iska and then a bit later Supanova. Tony should like this one (if he does not already have a good copy) as he wanted later Blue Notes. This was recorded by Shorter straight after the recording of Miles Bitches Brew, but released the year before that in 1969. Mind you the amount these are getting delayed now it may be 2024 before we see it. ;)

I have an original 'Odyssey of Iska': it's definitely more challenging than his earlier output. I got this at Rays Jazz in Foyles a few years ago for not very much. The vinyl has BERT in the deadwax (no RVG): I assume because it was a United Artists recording, though on the BN label.
 
I have an original 'Odyssey of Iska': it's definitely more challenging than his earlier output. I got this at Rays Jazz in Foyles a few years ago for not very much. The vinyl has BERT in the deadwax (no RVG): I assume because it was a United Artists recording, though on the BN label.

Liberty/UA I would think, West Coast master perhaps. I'm not certain about BERT but I think it could refer to Bert.Co (but maybe that just refers to the label printer) or just Liberty

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpre...guide/labelography-2/blue-note-liberty-years/

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpre...s-of-blue-note-a-division-of-liberty-records/
 
Liberty/UA I would think, West Coast master perhaps. I'm not certain about BERT but I think it could refer to Bert.Co (but maybe that just refers to the label printer) or just Liberty

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpre...guide/labelography-2/blue-note-liberty-years/

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpre...s-of-blue-note-a-division-of-liberty-records/
I doubt they would have the label printers name in the dead wax as it seems that the lacquer was cut at and pressed at Craft Research that seems to be the goto West Coast plant around that time. Probably a coincidence with the name of the cutter. Looking at Discogs Theo's looks like a 1st pressing from 1971 that has
  • Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): BNST-84363-A BERT
  • Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): BNST-84363-B BERT
  • In the dead wax. The next also 1971 pressing has Bert 44 rather than just BERT.
I have never heard this Shorter so I'll catch a listen somewhere.
 
I doubt they would have the label printers name in the dead wax as it seems that the lacquer was cut at and pressed at Craft Research that seems to be the goto West Coast plant around that time. Probably a coincidence with the name of the cutter. Looking at Discogs Theo's looks like a 1st pressing from 1971 that has
  • Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): BNST-84363-A BERT
  • Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): BNST-84363-B BERT
  • In the dead wax. The next also 1971 pressing has Bert 44 rather than just BERT.
I have never heard this Shorter so I'll catch a listen somewhere.

You just beat me. I had to look up other releases from bitd. He also has Engineering credits.
 
Playing the new Lee Konitz, and comparing it to my 1968 reissue.

Recorded in 1953 and originally released in 1957, I’ve always enjoyed this “cool jazz” mono recording and thought it was an excellent pairing.

13-CFCA27-FAD1-47-C3-A5-FE-9-A384-C120537.jpg


Simply put, the new BNTP reissue is better in all ways I can think of. Clearer, more dynamic, greater depth and so on. Anyone have an original to compare to?
 


advertisement


Back
Top