The Blue Note Thread

MikeH said:
@johnpisme here is the Down Beat review of Blakey:

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They also review The Big Beat and say that “Morgan, Shorter and Blakey live up to average expectations.” Haha
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J.S.W. is John S. Wilson, who was a jazz critic for the New York Times. It is interesting that he chose to take a shot at Leonard Feather, a fellow critic who was writing several liner notes for jazz albums at the time, while mentioning very little about music.
 
doncornelius said:
J.S.W. is John S. Wilson, who was a jazz critic for the New York Times. It is interesting that he chose to take a shot at Leonard Feather, a fellow critic who was writing several liner notes for jazz albums at the time, while mentioning very little about music.
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There is a lot of shade being thrown in many of these reviews. I thought the line about Feather was pretty odd too. I think Feather was a contributor to Down Beat too.
 
MikeH said:
There is a lot of shade being thrown in many of these reviews. I thought the line about Feather was pretty odd too. I think Feather was a contributor to Down Beat too.
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Yes, he wrote the famous Blindfold Test columns for the mag. To be fair to Wilson, Feather was not always impartial in his writing and made writing promotional liner notes an art form. Wilson was a traditionalist and probably was offended a little by Feather's active writing career. :)
 
btf1980 said:
Soon to be framed. Art Blakey and Elvin Jones lithographs.

EEtjewPXoAAtHwf.jpg
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Amazing lithographs!
That Elvin Jones one is 😍
 
seeirwin said:
If anyone is interested, here are needle drops of the MMJ (45 RPM) and BN80 versions of Indestructible. I'll keep the identities of each file to myself for the time being.

A version
Another version
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Interesting!. I assume the digital conversion may lose a little something, but pretty hard for me to tell a difference -- really trying to listen carefully to the trumpet and I *might* hear a only a very slight difference, and I think my ear prefers the 1st ("A version"). But, it is very close for my untrained ears. If that BN80 sounds so good I would really be happy with this vs. MMJ.

Did you buy both just for this purpose?
 
adrock said:
Interesting!. I assume the digital conversion may lose a little something, but pretty hard for me to tell a difference -- really trying to listen carefully to the trumpet and I *might* hear a only a very slight difference, and I think my ear prefers the 1st ("A version"). But, it is very close for my untrained ears. If that BN80 sounds so good I would really be happy with this vs. MMJ.

Did you buy both just for this purpose?
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I agree that the BN80s are very good, especially for the money. My analytical brain wants to like 45RPM versions better but I think--if I'm being honest with myself--most of my listening isn't "critical" anyway, so the 33RPM appealed to me and I thought the comparison would be fun.
 
seeirwin said:
I agree that the BN80s are very good, especially for the money. My analytical brain wants to like 45RPM versions better but I think--if I'm being honest with myself--most of my listening isn't "critical" anyway, so the 33RPM appealed to me and I thought the comparison would be fun.
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Yeah, I have a few 45’s and I understand the differences in theory but prefer 33’s so I don’t have to get up to flip the disc so much.

Thanks for sharing - even if the MMJ is better “live” you’ve sold me already on the BN80 :)

Those MMJ are so nice, though. I’m hoping they will restock a few that are sold out. I tried to chat up Carol to see if maybe they would get more but never heard back.
 
seeirwin said:
I agree that the BN80s are very good, especially for the money. My analytical brain wants to like 45RPM versions better but I think--if I'm being honest with myself--most of my listening isn't "critical" anyway, so the 33RPM appealed to me and I thought the comparison would be fun.
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I really can’t notice much of a difference on 45 vs 33. The Tone Poets and MM33 I have all sound incredible to me.
 
seeirwin said:
If anyone is interested, here are needle drops of the MMJ (45 RPM) and BN80 versions of Indestructible. I'll keep the identities of each file to myself for the time being.

A version
Another version
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Is the first BN80 and the second MMJ? I'm listening on cheap earbuds that my dog partially chewed, but I think the second version sounds a bit clearer. My BN80 copy distorts a bit during Fuller's solo and the first version here doesn't do that, but seems closer to that then the second one, so that's totally biasing my guess. I haven't yet investigated what could be causing the distortion on my copy. Might even just be adjustments I need to make on my table? If you haven't revealed the answers when I get back from school I'm gonna have to listen on some good headphones and try again.
 
seeirwin said:
If anyone is interested, here are needle drops of the MMJ (45 RPM) and BN80 versions of Indestructible. I'll keep the identities of each file to myself for the time being.

A version
Another version
Click to expand...

Yep I'm having trouble telling them apart as well. That was my impression when I compared the 33rpm MMJ with the BN80-- almost impossible to hear the difference. There is definitely a difference between the modern reissues and the RVG Liberty copy I have though.

All this tells me is basically: If I have a BN80 copy of something, I don't need another version unless I REALLY love it. Then I'll get an OG copy before any other modern reissue. The BN80 series really is great.
 
johnpisme said:
Is the first BN80 and the second MMJ? I'm listening on cheap earbuds that my dog partially chewed, but I think the second version sounds a bit clearer. My BN80 copy distorts a bit during Fuller's solo and the first version here doesn't do that, but seems closer to that then the second one, so that's totally biasing my guess. I haven't yet investigated what could be causing the distortion on my copy. Might even just be adjustments I need to make on my table? If you haven't revealed the answers when I get back from school I'm gonna have to listen on some good headphones and try again.
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BN 80

MMJ 45 RPM
 
botherly said:
Yep I'm having trouble telling them apart as well. That was my impression when I compared the 33rpm MMJ with the BN80-- almost impossible to hear the difference. There is definitely a difference between the modern reissues and the RVG Liberty copy I have though.

All this tells me is basically: If I have a BN80 copy of something, I don't need another version unless I REALLY love it. Then I'll get an OG copy before any other modern reissue. The BN80 series really is great.
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Indeed! Actually, I can reveal I'm a (grumpy-old) 45 year old and I am aware my ears no longer hear some higher frequencies like I used to so a second career as a mastering engineer may be out of the cards. :) On the bright side, this is apparently better for my wallet! Thanks again to seeirwin for posting.
 
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