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Blue Note 2019 80th Anniversary Series

Paul, thanks for that. CJ Shearn gives it a really positive review and the one on JazzWax by Marc Myers: https://www.jazzwax.com/2020/07/art-blakey-just-coolin.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=FeedBlitzRss&utm_content=Art+Blakey:+Just+Coolin' is also pretty positive. Apparently Michael Cuscana when he was in charge at Blue Note thought this was a substandard session and did not want to see it released:
"Ah! if you heard it, you would think that it was five high school students trying to play like the Jazz Messengers. It is so horrible! I don’t know, all I can think of is that maybe the guy selling the drugs didn’t show up, I don’t know. Everybody’s playing very bad. Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan sound horrible. Art Blakey is not even swinging, nothing happens, it’s just really embarrassing. So that’s one that will never come out, never."
It seems though that all the many takes for this session had various faults and a lot of this may have been sorted by editing in this release.

Personally I think Mobley is a bit below par, but I hear some excellent playing from both Morgan and Timmons and Blakey is not 'over powering' everyone as he sometimes can.

Shearn was listening to the Digital/CD release that is a different mastering, but he seems to confirm that the LP is AAA mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed by RTI. I looked at the matrix numbering style on mine again and it it still looks more like Optimal rather than RTI to me. It seems most people in the States are not getting the LP till September because of pressing delays at RTI due to the earlier lockdown so perhaps some were pressed in Europe. Not that it matters it is (at least my copy is) a good pressing.
 
I finally got a copy of Andrew Hill's Smokestack today and .... it came with an inner sleeve with a window and poly lining. No static!!

Its a shame they've not used these for the BN Classics. It took an age to get Something Else out of the paper sleeve when it first arrived last week.
 
kjb said:
I finally got a copy of Andrew Hill's Smokestack today and .... it came with an inner sleeve with a window and poly lining. No static!!

Its a shame they've not used these for the BN Classics. It took an age to get Something Else out of the paper sleeve when it first arrived last week.
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Smokestack was one of the later ones and mine came with one of those sleeves at the time of release. The BN80's seemed have been changed to these because of the many complaints so it seems crazy they would then revert to the paper ones for the Classics. I haven't purchased any as I have good copies for most, but I think, at least in the states, some people have said they have had the better ones for the later Soul Station or Moaning? But then many of those have multiple surfaces marks, in most cases not audible, as it seems they may have replaced the sleeves after sleeving them in paper because of complaints. Surely they can't be saving much money by using the terrible paper ones?
 
RickyC6 said:
You mean Soul Station! And LJC has his left and right channels mixed up. Can we therefore take him seriously?!
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Ricky, you are quite right or is that left? I also got my wires crossed. ;)
Something Else, where KJB first complained about the sleeve above was further down his home page. He liked that as well and seemed not to have crossed his wires on that. :p
 
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