The Vinyl Guide - Blue Note Audiophile Jazz Records - Music Matters Jazz and Tone Poet
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- čas přidán 9. 03. 2019
- I love my jazz records however there are some Blue Note titles I will never be able to afford on vinyl. Thankfully I've discovered the audiophile reissues from Music Matters Jazz and Blue Note's new Tone Poet series. In this video I will un-box and share the experience with you.
I can't be more thrilled that companies like MM and AS (and others) are putting out these high quality reissues. I'm watching you go through "all the goodies" in that Hank Mobley LP and thinking, "This is what makes vinyl such a blast". I'm not going to get into the whole sonic quality argument, but there's no debating that the whole "vinyl experience" is part of the magic. The beautiful cover art; the feel of a quality LP sleeve; the liner notes on the back; the little "bookets & stuff" that come with some LPs. There's just something so special about vinyl. IMHO
Great video, thanks for posting it. Cheers!
Great video Nate. I am a huge bluenote jazz fan and have been curious about music matters jazz since your podcast episode. These records look like must haves in my collection. The quality is phenominal and a significant step up from the 75th anniversary series which I personally thought was also very well done compared to other modern age pressings.
Beautiful choices
Agreed it is beautiful
I just ordered the Kenny Burrell Tone Poet record. I can't wait to hear it.
Love that your dipping into the world of BN music matters! I’m a huge fan, and my current collection of MM’s is at 88 and counting!
The Mobley quintet is part of their newer SRX series, which is cut on a different and higher quality vinyl. Hold it up to a light and you should see its translucent. There’s a subtle but noticeable sonic benefit to them as well, as they play with lower groove noise overall, even though your normal MM’s are already pretty quiet. Thanks for posting!
Wow, that is amazing
Those pinkish sleeves from RTI definitely leave an oily like film on the vinyl. I've got a number of them from different labels who press at RTI, the worst was that Miles Davis mono reissue series a couple years back, the ones with the round silver RTI stickers on the bags. They were all blotchy right from the jacket. The milky-clear poly sleeve RTI puts the vinyl in most of the time seem to be fine, just the pink ones. I prefer the Sleeve City ultimate sleeve to the MOFI, they're a lot less crinkly, but the MOFI sleeve is trusted and gets the job done.
I have the following Tone Poet vinyl records: Kenny Burrell Introducing, Hank Mobley Poppin, Lee Morgan Corn Bread, Stanley Turintine Hustlin, and Dexter Gordon Clubhouse. I ordered Grant Green Born to be Blue and have plans to order Lee Morgan The Cooker, Donald Bird Chant and a few more in the months to come. The over all quality of these records and packaging is excellent.
UA records sound great
They're wonderful reissues. Keep in mind, a small correction, that the current SRX vinyl series from Music Matters is cut at 33 1/3rd rpm. I'll tell you what, though, the previous series cut at 45rpm sounds somewhat better. More air and space around the instruments, and the bass is a little better defined. That's all to do with the physics of cutting at 45 vs 33. And the mastering and cutting engineers might allow a bit more dynamics to be unleashed on a 45. So what the Vinyl Guide has before him are two albums cut at 45rpm and one (the SRX) cut at 33 1/3rd.
The SRX vinyl is a new vinyl formulation is designed to deliver a blacker background from which the music arise. It might allow the cutting engineer to cut at a lower level, allowing for greater dynamics. And again, 45s inherently allow for greater dynamics, so this better vinyl might help reduce some of the quality differences between the 33 and 45. This SRX vinyl, according to Joe Harley, adds $8 to the cost of producing each disc. The result is the SRX 33 1/3rpm series costs $60 each! The prices on the original 45 series, which originally retailed for $50 for the 2-disc set, have largely increased due to supply and demand. All of the Music Matters releases were reissued in limited editions. As certain more popular reissues came toward the end of their pressing run, MM started to increase the price on them. A few titles, in contrast, have remained close to or at original retail. They're relative bargains.
The real bargains may be the Tone Poet series. While not a limited edition run the way Music Matters reissues are (and that keeps the prices of the MM releases high), the Tone Poet series is done as exacting and to the same quality as the Music Matters releases. At $35 each, they're stunningly great, bettering the sound of original Blue Notes (while not replicating the sound of the original Blue Notes - some prefer the brighter, more in your face presentation of originals, while the new ones are tonally richer and have more depth and weight).
The Tone Poet series is not a limited edition series, as I mentioned. ETC (Etcetera) has sold out its initial batch, but not in the long run. Don Was, President of Blue Note, didn't know what to expect in terms of sales. He was actually close to blown away by the general reaction and sales to the first two (as seen in the video above). So they pressed 500 initially (if I recall the number correctly). They'll be pressing more and are expected within the month. The REALLY limited ones are the Music Matters ones. Unlike the Tone Poet series, which is part of Blue Note itself, Music Matters is a separate company which pays Blue Note to license titles to their company. They have contracted for a limited number of pressings of each title.
Wow fantastic info Jeff, thanks for sharing. I'm am but a newbie to BN Audiophile presses, I'm keen to check out some of the Analogue Productions catalogue too. Blue Note is doing a terrific job of reissues, today in fact they just announced a whole other slate which will come out over the next year. They aren't the same audiophile quality as MMJ or Tone Poet but still good to see them get the reissue and 'new life'. Cheers~!
@@TheVinylGuide Yup. One difference between the wonderful Tone Poet series and the standard 80th Anniversary BN series is that the latter MAY be sourced from digital masters. That was the case with the 75th Anniversary LPs. That's not necessarily the end of the world, but the 75th Anniversary series was not good. They were dynamically flat, and a little colorless. Certainly a big step down from the Music Matters releases.
But BN didn't have the Tone Poet series to compete with. Let's hope that BN, itself, picks up their game.
All of the Tone Poet series, other than State Of The Tenor, which was recorded digitally to begin with, are all AAA - analog recorded, mastered, and, of course, laid down to vinyl.
I also had poor experience with those pink tinted sleeves. It's a shame that there are probably a lot of unsold albums at record stores with those sleeves slowly leeching out the oily residue onto the vinyl. But there are similar sleeves without the pink tint that I have which seem to be OK.
The Tone Poet serious is outstanding and I have them all except one, the double lap by Cassandra Wilson. I wonder how this will be done with the Tone Poet vs Music Matters, will they release some of the same titles sconce the Tone Poets are cheaper or is their some kind of contract in place to prevent it because I would love to see the Thad Jones and the Hank Mobley stuff come over to the Tone Poet side. It is a great time to be a Bluenote collector. Also the 80s Anniversary series is of better quality than the 75th Anniversary, I have them as well as the 75th.
Hello, I just found your channel. Great news about these pressings. Please let us know how the Chick Corea sounds. I have an original SS and it does not fare well. Very noisy. Charles
Definitely replace those awful sleeves that fog up those beautiful LP’s. Nice video!
Does anyone ever see blue note 45s?
My only hesitation is the price point. $200 is steep.
mmatters and tone poet have the same quality ,the only difference is that mm are more limited than tone p, so they are 3 times the price as a t poet,,