The Blue Note Thread

mdmost said:

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Blue Note Records has announced the 2024 line-up for the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. The acclaimed series is produced by the “Tone Poet” Joe Harley and features definitive all-analog, 180g audiophile vinyl reissues that are mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio. Tone Poet vinyl is manufactured at RTI and packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets.

The titles were once again handpicked by Harley and include acknowledged treasures of the Blue Note catalog as well as underrated classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note umbrella including Pacific Jazz, Transition, and United Artists. Newly announced titles begin January 5th at the start of Blue Note’s 85th anniversary year with the release of Elvin Jones’s unfettered 1969 post-bop exploration Poly-Currents and Lou Donaldson’s 1968 soul jazz manifesto Midnight Creeper, both of which are available for pre-order now on the Blue Note Store.

“We are thrilled to present the 2024 Tone Poet line up,” says Harley. “You’ll notice 3 rare titles from Transition Records, the label founded by legendary producer Tom Wilson. These mono titles from the mid-50s may be new to you but the artists featured on these sessions include Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Art Blakey, and Horace Silver. For you Bobby Hutcherson and Jackie McLean fans, 2024 will be a banner year with 3 each of their most cherished albums. 2024 also sees the release of one my all-time favorite Wayne Shorter albums, the majestic Odyssey of Iska. There’s much more greatness but do keep your eyes and ears open for a very special addition to the line-up that will be announced early next year. As always, every one of these was cut directly from the original analog master tapes.”

Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series – 2024 Release Schedule:

January 5, 2024

February 2, 2024

  • Blue Mitchell – Down With It (Blue Note, 1965)
  • Joe Lovano – Trio Fascination: Edition One (Blue Note, 1997)
March 1, 2024

  • Jackie McLean – Action (Blue Note, 1964)
  • Booker Ervin – Tex Book Tenor (Blue Note, 1968)
April 5, 2024

  • Horace Silver – Silver’s Serenade (Blue Note, 1963)
  • Anthony Williams – Life Time (Blue Note, 1964)
May 3, 2024

  • Donald Byrd – Byrd’s Eye View (Transition, 1955)
  • Bobby Hutcherson – Total Eclipse (Blue Note, 1968)
June 7, 2024

  • Doug Watkins – Watkins At Large (Transition, 1956)
  • Kenny Dorham & Jackie McLean – Inta Somethin’ (Pacific Jazz, 1961)
July 5, 2024

  • Donald Byrd – Byrd Blows On Beacon Hill (Transition, 1956)
  • Wayne Shorter – Odyssey of Iska (Blue Note, 1970)
August 2, 2024

  • Lee Morgan – Taru (Blue Note, 1968)
  • Bobby Hutcherson – Medina (Blue Note, 1969)
September 6, 2024

  • The Modest Jazz Trio (Jim Hall/Red Mitchell/Red Kelly) – Good Friday Blues (Pacific Jazz, 1960)
  • Jackie McLean – Let Freedom Ring (Blue Note, 1962)
October 4, 2024

  • Booker Little – Booker Little 4 and Max Roach (United Artists, 1958)
  • Donald Byrd – Kofi (Blue Note, 1969-70)
November 1, 2024

  • Clifford Jordan – Cliff Jordan (Blue Note, 1957)
  • Bobby Hutcherson – Dialogue (Blue Note, 1965)
December 6, 2024

  • Freddie Roach – Good Move (Blue Note, 1963)
  • Hank Mobley – A Slice of the Top (Blue Note, 1966)
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Some gems, some clunkers IMO.

Gems - Midnight Creeper, Polycurrents, Dialogue, Let Freedom Ring, Taru, Total Eclipse, Tex Book Tenor.

Clunkers - Good Move (bingo hall music), Inta Something (neither McLean nor Dorham really near their BN peaks), Kofi (kind of a mish-mash of two very different sessions, a later day attempt to put out what was passable from both), Modest Jazz Trio (pleasant pseudo chamber stuff, needed a drummer to liven it up), and I'm not a huge Joe Lovano guy, so a pass there.

Interesting - the Byrd Transition titles. Beacon Hill is the better of the two. Byrd later did much better work as his playing matured, but still interesting. A Slice of The Top is also interesting, but not really top Mobley.

Silver's Serenade is a good album, but I wish Joe had the balls to go later - Serenade To A Soul Sister, Jody Grind...likewise, Action is a good session, better than average really and I suppose was chosen becuase the Jackie well is running dry. I have always felt Medina was too obtuse a listen, and someone should make Joe aware that later BN Hutcherson records are amazing. Odyssey of Iska is also here to complete the Wayne run, it is also on the meandering side, but at least it is better than Super Nova.

Not every title will be a must, so this is actually a pretty good list. I see 16 that I will pick up, four of which will replace Japanese OG's.
 
RHANDMJ said:
Some gems, some clunkers IMO.

Gems - Midnight Creeper, Polycurrents, Dialogue, Let Freedom Ring, Taru, Total Eclipse, Tex Book Tenor.

Clunkers - Good Move (bingo hall music), Inta Something (neither McLean nor Dorham really near their BN peaks), Kofi (kind of a mish-mash of two very different sessions, a later day attempt to put out what was passable from both), Modest Jazz Trio (pleasant pseudo chamber stuff, needed a drummer to liven it up), and I'm not a huge Joe Lovano guy, so a pass there.

Interesting - the Byrd Transition titles. Beacon Hill is the better of the two. Byrd later did much better work as his playing matured, but still interesting. A Slice of The Top is also interesting, but not really top Mobley.

Silver's Serenade is a good album, but I wish Joe had the balls to go later - Serenade To A Soul Sister, Jody Grind...likewise, Action is a good session, better than average really and I suppose was chosen becuase the Jackie well is running dry. I have always felt Medina was too obtuse a listen, and someone should make Joe aware that later BN Hutcherson records are amazing. Odyssey of Iska is also here to complete the Wayne run, it is also on the meandering side, but at least it is better than Super Nova.

Not every title will be a must, so this is actually a pretty good list. I see 16 that I will pick up, four of which will replace Japanese OG's.
Click to expand...
Tex Book Tenor is a nice surprise. Should be stellar.
 
RHANDMJ said:
Some gems, some clunkers IMO.

Gems - Midnight Creeper, Polycurrents, Dialogue, Let Freedom Ring, Taru, Total Eclipse, Tex Book Tenor.

Clunkers - Good Move (bingo hall music), Inta Something (neither McLean nor Dorham really near their BN peaks), Kofi (kind of a mish-mash of two very different sessions, a later day attempt to put out what was passable from both), Modest Jazz Trio (pleasant pseudo chamber stuff, needed a drummer to liven it up), and I'm not a huge Joe Lovano guy, so a pass there.

Interesting - the Byrd Transition titles. Beacon Hill is the better of the two. Byrd later did much better work as his playing matured, but still interesting. A Slice of The Top is also interesting, but not really top Mobley.

Silver's Serenade is a good album, but I wish Joe had the balls to go later - Serenade To A Soul Sister, Jody Grind...likewise, Action is a good session, better than average really and I suppose was chosen becuase the Jackie well is running dry. I have always felt Medina was too obtuse a listen, and someone should make Joe aware that later BN Hutcherson records are amazing. Odyssey of Iska is also here to complete the Wayne run, it is also on the meandering side, but at least it is better than Super Nova.

Not every title will be a must, so this is actually a pretty good list. I see 16 that I will pick up, four of which will replace Japanese OG's.
Click to expand...
I started my day with Odyssey of Iska. Love Wayne Shorter, but that album is a struggle for me.
 
RHANDMJ said:
A Slice of The Top is also interesting, but not really top Mobley
Click to expand...
I actually think that album is quite good. It’s fun to hear Mobley play with a bigger ensemble than his usual BN sessions. I’ll probably pick it up as an upgrade to my 2009 copy… but only if they go with something other than the boring, plain blue cover that was inexplicably used on that reissue.
 
zdkaiser said:
I started my day with Odyssey of Iska. Love Wayne Shorter, but that album is a struggle for me.
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That's kinda what I was getting at. You can look at Odyssey of Iska as part of a late BN trilogy - along with Super Nova and Moto Grosso Feio, and although IMO it is better than those two, still pretty self-conciously artsy and abstract.

Interesting that the next album following those three is a masterpiece - Native Dancer.
 
RHANDMJ said:
That's kinda what I was getting at. You can look at Odyssey of Iska as part of a late BN trilogy - along with Super Nova and Moto Grosso Feio, and although IMO it is better than those two, still pretty self-conciously artsy and abstract.

Interesting that the next album following those three is a masterpiece - Native Dancer.
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Isn’t Odyssey just an extension of Bitches Brew. And it’s a bit tame considering what was coming out of Miles’ Lost quintet before this time that Wayne participated in.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Isn’t Odyssey just an extension of Bitches Brew. And it’s a bit tame considering what was coming out of Miles’ Lost quintet before this time that Wayne participated in.
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You could look at it that way.

But Bitches Brew is very electric and Odyssey of Iska acoustic. I would look at it also as a precursor to the first iteration of Weather Report.
 
RHANDMJ said:
You could look at it that way.

But Bitches Brew is very electric and Odyssey of Iska acoustic. I would look at it also as a precursor to the first iteration of Weather Report.
Click to expand...
It’s not about the instrumentation. It’s about the loose improved song form. Both of those enjoy the chaos. While weather report and native dancer are tight and composed.
 
RHANDMJ said:
That's kinda what I was getting at. You can look at Odyssey of Iska as part of a late BN trilogy - along with Super Nova and Moto Grosso Feio, and although IMO it is better than those two, still pretty self-conciously artsy and abstract.

Interesting that the next album following those three is a masterpiece - Native Dancer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for pointing out Native Dancer. I have not checked it out till now.

Is there a new reissue? It would be nice to get some Milton on vinyl since his classic records are not that affordable here in the US.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Thanks for pointing out Native Dancer. I have not checked it out till now.

Is there a new reissue? It would be nice to get some Milton on vinyl since his classic records are not that affordable here in the US.
Click to expand...
The only reissue is the Speakers Corner which is very good and pretty easy to find at a reasonable price. Truly magnificent record.
 
It seems like the BN Tone Poet jackets have increased in size by a few millimeters and now using Sleeve City 2.5mil outer sleeves is a very tight fit. Anyone else notice this? Last few I have purchased are all a bit tight. Guess it could be the batch of outer sleeves I am using.

Also, just listened to the recent BN Classic of Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer. It's great. No pressing defects. Crispy drums. Nice separation between musicians. Wonderful release. Moving on to the recent Sonny Clark Trio Tone Poet now.
 
zdkaiser said:
It seems like the BN Tone Poet jackets have increased in size by a few millimeters and now using Sleeve City 2.5mil outer sleeves is a very tight fit. Anyone else notice this? Last few I have purchased are all a bit tight. Guess it could be the batch of outer sleeves I am using.

Also, just listened to the recent BN Classic of Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer. It's great. No pressing defects. Crispy drums. Nice separation between musicians. Wonderful release. Moving on to the recent Sonny Clark Trio Tone Poet now.
Click to expand...
I've been having this problem with Tone Poets, AS reissues, and some others for at least the last year or two. I used to be able to cram them in standard Sleeve City sleeves, though they were never ideal. I've bought several different varieties on Amazon claiming to be 12.75" or more, and none of them really accomodated the deluxe. I finally grabbed another bag of Sleeve City's Oversized Ultimate Outers and they do the job well. I know people love the Canadian ones, but they were always a little more expensive than I wanted to spend. I know they just had a BF sale though, so I suppose they go on sale every so often.
 
It seems like all stoughton gatefolds to me (actually all tipons, it just isn’t as big of a problem with a single jacket). Anyhow, the vss 12.75 gatefold sleeves are perfect for tone ports, analog production and VMP gatefolds.
 
Lee Newman said:
It seems like all stoughton gatefolds to me (actually all tipons, it just isn’t as big of a problem with a single jacket). Anyhow, the vss 12.75 gatefold sleeves are perfect for tone ports, analog production and VMP gatefolds.
Click to expand...
That's great to know. I think part of the reason I haven't ordered from VSS was that I wasn't sure whether I wanted the 12.75" or 13" sleeves.

I guess I'm oldschoold. I tend to prefer the single pocket and to remove the record and jacket form the outer sleeve when I listen to something. I tried some of the gatefold outers listed on Amazon (Big Fudge?) and after 15 minutes of wrestling with one to get it on a Tone Poet jacket, I decided they're not worth it to me. Plus I like to actually feel the texture of the jacket rather than plastic outersleeve material all the time.
 
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