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Tone Poet Blue Notes

Tony L said:
Just taken a punt on the Byrd, £34 at Amazon which seems fine given the Hutcherson San Fransisco BN Classic I also want is still £29, which I’m not paying!
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Tony L said:
Yes, I definitely want it. I’m tight enough to wait though! BN Classics are £20 records IMO, I’m not paying £30 for one!
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I was holding off on San Francisco as well at first, but in the end chickened out as it already sold out on a number of sites. In the end overall I paid about £27 at Amazon (with free prime delivery), but I had a £25 voucher that relieved the pain a little.

It seems most dealers are now charging about £24.50 up for BN Classics plus postage. OK the BN store charges £22 plus £3.50 postage (sold out anyway), but I won’t buy from them because of too many past problems. If I can get into London I’ll buy in person from Honest Jon’s where I usually get a little discount, but that is not always possible,
 
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poco a poco said:
I’m not sure how many bought or passed on Donald Byrd - ‘At The Half Note Cafe’ as I have not noticed much comment about it here. I have now played it quite a few times and can’t get enough of it. Ok it may not be breakthrough or cutting edge, although there is great construction and imaginative invention in ‘Cecile’ with its key changes, modulations and shifts in pace, but this is a fabulous recording with all the musicians are on top form, not vying with one another, just working together to get the best from each song. Listen to how they all get the best from the Ballard - A Portrait Of Jennie. Beautiful subtle playing from in particularly from Byrd, Pepper Adams and Pearson.

This is one of the very RVG best live recordings as well. Probably one of best of any live Jazz Club Recordings, at least that I have period. Byrd and Pepper’s tonality are captured beautifully with not even a slight hint of overly hot miking on Byrd’s Trumpet. Pepper’s Baritone sounds about the best I have heard this difficult to capture sax on record. If I wanted to be hyper critical Pearson’s piano still has a bit of RVG boxiness and is perhaps a bit low in level, but possibly I just want to hear even more of his excellent solos and comping . The front to back depth of the recording is outstanding with the audience noises audible in the back ground throughout, but not disturbing the music. Really captures the Jazz Club atmosphere. The applause sounds way back, but still very real as does Ruth Mason’s opening introduction at the start. For those who do not know she went on to marry Alfred Lion and was a big influence on him and Blue Note as well as the model on a couple of covers.

Top recommendation of this Tone Poet from me as it is in my top tier of those released so far. I’m just regretting they did not release it as a double with volume 2.

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/dr-ruth-lion
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At The Half Note Cafe arrived in today’s mail. Looking forward to comparing it to my 1986 US reissue!
 
I believe that this was a problem with certain batches of Mofi sleeves a while back. People complained of them leaving a powdery white residue on their records.

Tony L said:
Just taken a punt on the Byrd, £34 at Amazon which seems fine given the Hutcherson San Fransisco BN Classic I also want is still £29, which I’m not paying!

PS Can you describe the muck from the MoFi inners? That is worrying. I’ve only got one or two of them and haven’t noticed anything here.
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Hook said:
At The Half Note Cafe arrived in today’s mail. Looking forward to comparing it to my 1986 US reissue!
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I didn’t have another pressing of it and had not heard it before. I just took punt based on the line up, but Joe & Kevin have done a great job on an excellent RVG live recording. Gives us your thoughts after you compare.
 
The thing that swung me to it is it is a live recording which makes it quite a rare thing in the Blue Note catalogue. Allegedly a very good live recording too (I’ll commebt later once it turns up). The negative is I wish they’d done vol 1 & 2 as a double given the gatefold sleeve as it would have made for better value and less shelf-space.
 
hockman said:
I believe that this was a problem with certain batches of Mofi sleeves a while back. People complained of them leaving a powdery white residue on their records.
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I have quite a few records in these MoFi inner sleeves so I checked through a few and mine look OK. I generally regard these as the best inner sleeves, but they getting a bit expensive now. The Spincare ones mentioned above seem as good, but I wish they marked the open end as they don’t open so easy just using one hand while the other holds the record while not touching the playing area.
 
poco a poco said:
I have quite a few records in these MoFi inner sleeves so I checked through a few and mine look OK. I generally regard these as the best inner sleeves, but they getting a bit expensive now. The Spincare ones mentioned above seem as good, but I wish they marked the open end as they don’t open so easy just using one hand while the other holds the record while not touching the playing area.
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I agree! The open end is opposite the 'wide end' but then you have to remember that! They are better than the sort with no rice paper insert but no they don't open very easily. I much prefer the sort that comes with the Classic series (for me with my disability) but they don't slide into a Stoughton so well and they are very bulky in a double gatefold or a bigger set. I'm glad I don't have thousands of records for sure.
 
poco a poco said:
I didn’t have another pressing of it and had not heard it before. I just took punt based on the line up, but Joe & Kevin have done a great job on an excellent RVG live recording. Gives us your thoughts after you compare.
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Just listened to both, and it was such a nice reminder of how good the Byrd/Adams/Pearson combo was!

Much prefer the TP over my 1986 DMM version. The TP has smoother, more balanced overall sound, with bass notes sounding much more clear. By contrast, the DMM sounds thinner, even a bit harsh in the treble. I like the DMM version and have played it quite a few times over the years, but it is clearly time to sell it on. I’ll keep my 1963 stereo version of volume 2 in the hope that it someday also gets the TP treatment.
 
Hook said:
Just listened to both, and it was such a nice reminder of how good the Byrd/Adams/Pearson combo was!

Much prefer the TP over my 1986 DMM version. The TP has smoother, more balanced overall sound, with bass notes sounding much more clear. By contrast, the DMM sounds thinner, even a bit harsh in the treble. I like the DMM version and have played it quite a few times over the years, but it is clearly time to sell it on. I’ll keep my 1963 stereo version of volume 2 in the hope that it someday also gets the TP treatment.
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Joe Harley has confirmed that Volume 2 is going to be a Tone Poet, but it’s seems it is not likely to get a release til 2025. It seems he and Kevin have now mastered all of the proposed 2024 and have started on 2025. So seems the Tone Poets will going for sometime. Probably longer than me. :oops:
 
I commend Harley for picking the more obscure and less obvious titles for TP but I suspect the Ornette box is not popular. I also passed on it, preferring to just stick with my early pressings of some of the records. Contrast this box with the 12LP Lee Morgan live at the Lighthouse box. Not sure of the number of sets produced in comparison but that one is a lot harder to find. In fact my dealer was only allotted a single box when he actually ordered 3.
 
I’ve just taken a punt on the Ornette box as I’m now so close to being able to pay for it by listing the records I already have in my collection. I’ve got an ‘ear’ stamped mono of Stockholm Vol 2, a ‘70s dark-blue stereo of Vol 1 and the Connoisseur Series press of Empty Foxhole. I’ve not fully done the math yet, but that lot should easily get me over £100 back (the ‘ear’ one is a VG+, it sounds amazing though).
 
Round Trip landed and a very fine thing it is too. Amazon’s packaging was a minimalist nothing at all in a large but soft outer box, I’d never have shipped something of this weight like that, but it landed in absolutely perfect condition, not a hint of a ding anywhere. I’m convinced their having a fully in-house delivery network saves them a whole world of pain, My Hermes would have rendered the box set spherical with that little packaging!

Only played a couple of the ones I don’t know so far, certainly sounds good. I hadn’t noticed one is actually a Jackie McLean album! That was the first on and it’s very good indeed.
 
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