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Tone Poet Blue Notes

Any thoughts on why they've not gone down this line? Are the tapes lost or have they all been leased out to other companies?

It's a good question. Lots of the Miles catalogue has had the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab treatment which suggests the tapes are still around. The most recent Miles Smiles states:

Remixed from the Original 4-Track Tapes by Mark Wilder, Sony Music Studios, NYC
Mastered by Krieg Wunderlich, assisted by Shawn R. Britton at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab® in Sebastopol, CA on the GAIN 2 ULTRA ANALOG SYSTEM ™
Mastered from Original Master Tapes
Specially Plated and Pressed on 180g High-Definition Vinyl
Production by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab® in Sebastopol, CA
Pressed at RTI
 
Ellington’s 50s to 60s era - predominantly recorded for Columbia and the era I like best - received some very nice CD remastering in the late 90s, but very few vinyl reissues (a few, such as Mood Indigo and Blues In Orbit were released on MOV). It’s a great shame as I think we all appreciate. Thing is, And His Mother Called Him Bill was released on RCA Bluebird, and goodness know what has happened to that catalogue, or who owns it. Fingers crossed someone will pick up on it. Might investigate original USA pressing.
 
There's little interest in Ellington probably because big band music is out of fashion and not regarded as 'cool' by new collectors/audiophiles (who always need to collect/acquire only stuff that signify their 'coolness' on social media). It's sad because Ellington/Strayhorn were responsible for some of the greatest jazz compositions, together with a path breaking orchestration of the band that goes beyond playing dance music. Similarly I find little interest as well in Gil Evans besides the odd reissue of Out of the Cool. Again, someone who brought a new and different approach to a big band.

Original 6-eye Columbia albums of Ellington are not difficult to find and often are relatively cheap, so I don't really care for some audiophile reissue. The earlier '30-'40s performances are interesting as well although the vocals often don't do much for me. In any case I already have a fair bit of Ellington on LP and CD and don't really need much more. It's just depressing to see so little interest in the music of one of the greatest 20th century composers and musicians.
 
My way into Ellington was through Mingus. I went from Ah Um backwards and realised what a genius he was. Before that, in my ignorance, I'd only seen it as generic big band music and not taken in the sheer beauty of the arrangements and the playing.

I'd love to get some good pressings of Ellington - any suggestions besides seeking out 50s and 60s originals?

And Never No Lament being out of print is unforgivable.
 
It was the availability of the first LPs that showed what Ellington could really do with his longer compositions, first with Masterpieces in 51.

Columbia 6 eyes can be expensive but canada got US metal work apparently so those pressings are a lot more accessible (I have a Canadian Sketches of Spain.)

Indigos 1958 is a must have.
 
Ellington’s 50s to 60s era - predominantly recorded for Columbia and the era I like best - received some very nice CD remastering in the late 90s, but very few vinyl reissues (a few, such as Mood Indigo and Blues In Orbit were released on MOV). It’s a great shame as I think we all appreciate. Thing is, And His Mother Called Him Bill was released on RCA Bluebird, and goodness know what has happened to that catalogue, or who owns it. Fingers crossed someone will pick up on it. Might investigate original USA pressing.
RCA catalogue is owned by Sony. Surprised it hasn’t been reissued by MOV, although they did reissue a CD (MOCD!)
 
Odd MOV releasing CD and not LP. Their Blues In Orbit vinyl is very good.

I managed to buy a six eye first press of BIO about 10 years ago, looked immaculate in the shop, and was nice and quiet when played. Unfortunately, although we’ll cared for, it had probably been played many times on a late 50s early 60s system with a heavy tracking force as the HF had been cleanly erased. Prefer the MOV.
 
Columbia 6 eyes can be expensive but canada got US metal work apparently so those pressings are a lot more accessible (I have a Canadian Sketches of Spain.)

This goes for Impulse and other titles too. I have a Canadian ‘Spartan’ Impulse stereo 1st press of Coltrane’s Ballads with an RVG stamp both sides and it is an astonishing sounding record. Sadly not in the best of condition (over-graded from an eBay seller), but it plants Coltrane in the room with some serious attitude like no other record in my collection. He is just ‘there’ with an amazing presence and bite to the sound.
 
As a real fan, with all the MM 45s and about 40 of the tone-poets, and at the risk of sounding over-contentious, here is an alternate view:

Tone poets are beautifully packaged, but....
· Pressing quality can be patchy – some are quite noisy and many seem to have more than their fair share of clicks & pops
· The mastering, in general, seems very toppy - trumpets can “spit” and drums can “tizz” (strangely, the classic series remasters I have bought recently don’t seem to share this – the bobby Humphrey blacks & blues is excellent and I would have been very happy with this had I been told it was a Tone-poet)
· The blue note UK store is majorly bad

Ok – now I am ducking for cover
 
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Mono Single.

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Stereo and Out Takes double.
The Tone Poet covers for the forthcoming Blue Train. Still no final release date.
 
Great pics!
I'm wondering what the deal is regarding the Mono - its well publicised that once RVG went to stereo he created the mono mix by summing the channels, as opposed to say, the beatles (i believe) having different mixes for mono & stereo - so beyond some possible work on adjusting levels, these 2 versions are going to be essentially the same?
 
Great pics!
I'm wondering what the deal is regarding the Mono - its well publicised that once RVG went to stereo he created the mono mix by summing the channels, as opposed to say, the beatles (i believe) having different mixes for mono & stereo - so beyond some possible work on adjusting levels, these 2 versions are going to be essentially the same?

The mono was the initial release. I think the stereo came a few years later as demand for stereo increased, I would imagine.

Edit:

This is the first release

https://www.discogs.com/release/11786823-John-Coltrane-Blue-Train

and the stereo in 1960

https://www.discogs.com/release/8201511-John-Coltrane-Blue-Train/image/SW1hZ2U6MjIxMjI3ODc=
 
Great pics!
I'm wondering what the deal is regarding the Mono - its well publicised that once RVG went to stereo he created the mono mix by summing the channels, as opposed to say, the beatles (i believe) having different mixes for mono & stereo - so beyond some possible work on adjusting levels, these 2 versions are going to be essentially the same?
This is the ‘experimental’ period for Van Gelder when he was running both Mono and Stereo tape recorders simultaneously. It was a bit later that he just recorded in Stereo and summed the channels. The Mono was released before the Stereo, but both had just the 1577 number rather than with BLP or BST prefix. The Stereo had a gold sticker on the front cover indicating it was a stereo release. This was typical of early Blue Note stereo releases.

Edit: As Gavin indicates most Stereo Records didn’t sell well at first as few people had Stereo replay. It was years in some cases before some that were recorded both ways or as a mono fold down from the Stereo tape got a Mono release. Partly also because the companies had mono stock they still wanted to shift first. They did quickly add stickers or reprinted sleeves that added that mono LP’s would play on (were compatible with) stereo turntables once stereo replay took off.
 
I probably don’t really need either as I have two reasonably decent sounding stereo vinyl reissues and a mono and stereo two LP reissue. Also at least two CD versions. I don’t have the Out takes, but other recordings where I do I find I rarely think they or better or play them. I may get the Mono as Kevin Gray who did the remastering thinks this is the better version and I would expect him to get the best version possible now from the master tape. Perhaps a near mint original mono would be better, but impossible to find or afford?

The covers make both versions attractive though. Mmmmm :rolleyes:
 
I have a 1970s Toshiba stereo pressing. The mono would be nice but if I succumb I'm erring towards the 'Complete' double album for the unreleased tracks and the nice booklet with photos and Ashley Kahn essay. But do I want to spend fifty quid on a record I already have? Hmm.
 


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