mikechadwick
pfm Member
I gave the Konitz/ Mulligan a miss - trying to be a bit more selective with regard to the TP & Classic issues.
Tone Poet Blue Notes
- Thread starter poco a poco
- Start date
Nagraboy
Ausculta fili
Lee Konitz just arrived here. Interesting to read the comments from @poco a poco. I’ll give it a spin this evening.
poco a poco
I'm Jim
I hope you enjoy it more than I did yesterday. The first Tone Poet I have bought that I personally considered a disappointment, but I did pass on a very few I knew would not appeal to me. I'll give it another spin in a few days time to see if I want to reconsider.
Nagraboy
Ausculta fili
I saw a video where Ken Micallef recommended it, so I thought it would be worth investigating. Besides, I’m always keen to try any early 50s mono.
gavreid
Pretty Words...
I ordered it on the strength of Motion and passed on the Wayne Shorter (for now anyway.) The only other I have is Alone Together but that's an entirely different thing.
RickyC6
Infuriate the frog-men
Agree it’s definitely lacking in excitement…nice pressing but I think the session is just a tad mediocre.Gavreid asked in the "What are you listening..." thread what is it like. I have played it through twice to try to warm to it but ....Well I don't want in anyway to influence others who may like it better than me so I'm interested to hear others take on it. I do like both Konitz and Mulligan, but for me in this pairing it all is a bit lacklustre. I like the 'live' side 2 a bit more than side 1 and the track "I'll Remember April" does work for me both in the solos and the ensemble towards the end. There are a few sparks from Konitz elsewhere, but the rhythm section seems to lack drive to me and occasionally the horn and saxes seem to me to come in a fraction late, mainly Baker, and seem a little directionless. Sound quality is OK, I'm playing using my mono cartridge, but not exceptional. No problems with my pressing. I personally was hoping for something a bit better. Please persuade me I'm wrong about it.
I may be just having a poor mood day?
Edit:
I have just played Konitz's 'Motion' to follow just because I knew that it has 'I'll remember April' as well, although Konitz reconstructs it inventively upwards from its parts here. Not really comparable as 8 years later and this is just a Trio, but you do hear what the good rhythm section of Elvin Jones and Sonny Dallas contribute both to the whole and to inspire Konitz. You can appreciate how carefully they listen to each other's contribution and use that to bring a clear direction to the Music as a whole.
poco a poco
I'm Jim
Lee Konitz didn't want this released at first after it was recorded as he mostly thought Chet Baker's playing wasn't good enough, but he relented as he thought he was very good on ' Too Marvellous For Words'.
gavreid
Pretty Words...
I'm no expert but I would want to compare it with the albums of the day and '53 was still pretty early. It's a departure from say Oscar Peterson, Ellington Uptown (52?) or Armstrong plays W C Handy in 54. I'm prepared to be forgiving as these sessions were not usually very well funded, which meant there was little if any rehearsal time. I think that's one of the main reasons that the 60s Blue Notes stand out so strongly.
RickyC6
Infuriate the frog-men
Yeah that’s a fair point. No expert either. And maybe I’m expecting RVG standard every time?
poco a poco
I'm Jim
For those who may not have seen this on the Hoffman forum ‘Scottie’ there posted this from Joe Harley about the success of the Tone Poet series and the current delays:
Scotty' tells me that the Tone Poet thread on the SFMF has made it to 1000 pages...that's pretty amazing! One of the things that has impressed me so much since we started this program is the deep passion for the music shown by Blue Note fans. I recall when we first started planning out the 1st year releases I had put Sam Rivers ' Contours album in the second month. Some questions were raised about the viability of having a lesser-known "name" in the schedule. Needless to say, that Sam Rivers album ended up selling just as well as anything else we released the 1st year.
At the time, there were no plans to have anything other than a one year program of releases. As I think you all know, this series was a wild success beyond anyone's expectations, so it was decided we would continue for a second year. Somewhere in the middle of the second year, as we kept increasing the number of albums pressed, and struggled to repress past titles, we stopped thinking of the Tone Poet program in finite terms. I was encouraged to plan releases for the foreseeable future.
And so that's exactly what I've done. As many as you have heard, supply chain issues have wreaked havoc with our release schedule these past few months. Pressing plants worldwide have been overwhelmed, but there are other issues as well, including a shortage of the cardstock we use for LP jackets. The good news is that the issues are being dealt with and I have good reason to believe that the situation will improve in a few months. To say we appreciate your patience would be an understatement. Meanwhile we keep prepping jacket art, and Kevin an I keep mastering...'next week' Kevin and I will be mastering titles that will come out in the fall of 2023 if you can believe that.
None of this would have been possible without the passionate support of so many Jazz fans like you and for that we are grateful! We have so much coming up, including a few surprises.
Stay tuned and enjoy!
Scotty' tells me that the Tone Poet thread on the SFMF has made it to 1000 pages...that's pretty amazing! One of the things that has impressed me so much since we started this program is the deep passion for the music shown by Blue Note fans. I recall when we first started planning out the 1st year releases I had put Sam Rivers ' Contours album in the second month. Some questions were raised about the viability of having a lesser-known "name" in the schedule. Needless to say, that Sam Rivers album ended up selling just as well as anything else we released the 1st year.
At the time, there were no plans to have anything other than a one year program of releases. As I think you all know, this series was a wild success beyond anyone's expectations, so it was decided we would continue for a second year. Somewhere in the middle of the second year, as we kept increasing the number of albums pressed, and struggled to repress past titles, we stopped thinking of the Tone Poet program in finite terms. I was encouraged to plan releases for the foreseeable future.
And so that's exactly what I've done. As many as you have heard, supply chain issues have wreaked havoc with our release schedule these past few months. Pressing plants worldwide have been overwhelmed, but there are other issues as well, including a shortage of the cardstock we use for LP jackets. The good news is that the issues are being dealt with and I have good reason to believe that the situation will improve in a few months. To say we appreciate your patience would be an understatement. Meanwhile we keep prepping jacket art, and Kevin an I keep mastering...'next week' Kevin and I will be mastering titles that will come out in the fall of 2023 if you can believe that.
None of this would have been possible without the passionate support of so many Jazz fans like you and for that we are grateful! We have so much coming up, including a few surprises.
Stay tuned and enjoy!
poco a poco
I'm Jim
There has already been quite a few lesser known or perhaps challenging with regard to potential sales that they have taken a risk on Eg:
Andrew Hill - Black Fire
Andrew Hill - Passing Ships
Jackie McLean - It’s Time
Wayne Shorter - All Seeing Eye
Curtis Amy - Katanga
Duke Pearson - The Phantom
I have been glad to have had the opportunity of acquiring superb copies of these at a reasonable price. All seem to have sold well and awaiting most are repressing and many have therefore already shot up in price on secondhand market.
And
Luckily there are quite a few more in the pipeline that Joe & Kevin have already mastered for future release as Tone Poets
:Jackie McLean - Demons Dance
Herbie Nichols Trio - 1519
Elvin Jones - Poly-Currents
Lou Donaldson - Midnight Creeper
Bobby Hutcherson - Spiral
Bobby Hutcherson - Medina
Jack Wilson - Easterly Winds
Andrew Hill - Dance with Death
Carmell Jones - the Remarkable Carmell Jones
Wayne Shorter - Odyssey of Iska
Although with all the delays I hope I’m still around to listen by the time they get released.
Tony L
Administrator
I think I’m going to be quite selective from now on. There is a risk of tipping my whole collection too far towards one label and series. I’m only going to buy if I really want the specific title, not just because it’s available and ai haven’t got it. I may even chuck a couple in the shop at some point in time if I can’t remember anything about them!
mikechadwick
pfm Member
You raise an interesting point. My Blue Note collection has ballooned in the last couple of years and there are some titles I'll probably never get around to playing again. Luckily there's only a few of the forthcoming titles that really excite me.
poco a poco
I'm Jim
Rickey,
Those are only the less well known ones. If they are starting now on (the supposedly for) Autumn 2023 releases at the normal rate they release that will be at least 48 in total Tone Poets including those already on the release list between now and then. Plus the odd extra releases like the Ornette Box Set. When I have time I will try to add an updated list of those that seem to have been confirmed.
Then there is the Classic and Verve series as well. I have been fairly safe from the expense of adding most of those as so far I have had decent enough copies, but Classic at least seems to be now reverting to the BN80 roots with more unusual items that I don’t have. I think like Tony I will need to be much more selective both to avoid poverty and actually to have time to play what I already have. I already only seem to be playing the Jazz in my collection these days.
