The Blue Note Thread

So what’s everyone’s general consensus on the BN80s? I got all of the first batch and love them. A noticeable step up from the 75s. Doin Allright was the stand out for me from the trio.

I haven't pulled the trigger on any of those yet, though they've been sitting in my Amazon cart for a while. With the Dexter Gordon coming with the Anthology and another album of his coming up next in the Tone Poet series, I haven't felt the urge to get that one (or the other two) that strongly yet. I did, however, preorder the next three (Grant Green, Freddie Hubbard, and Johnny Griffin) and I'm really looking forward to those
 
Sure doesn't look like it in the promo photos.

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EDIT: I assume Ambrose Akinmusire's When the Heart Emerges Glistening will be as it's 2LPs.
Yeah I guess it sure doesn't look like it. I thought maybe those pics were mockups and that the actual jacket will be of a higher quality but yea I don't believe that they'll be gatefold. Those Tone Poet albums have super nice jackets, some gatefold and some not, and really I might actually prefer the regular tip-on single sleeve. The pics on the inside are cool but maybe not worth the cost/waste. I'm just hoping for a jacket the same quality of the Joe Henderson tone poet album.
 
So what’s everyone’s general consensus on the BN80s? I got all of the first batch and love them. A noticeable step up from the 75s. Doin Allright was the stand out for me from the trio.
Herbie and Gordon are great. Like others, I find them to be near Tone Poet quality. I’m ready to place an order for Green, Hubbard and Griffin. And then many others. Bye bye U$D! 👋 👋
 
Hey all, new to the thread (was more of a lurker last one). Received both BN80s over the weekend and both sound great!

If I’d have to pick just one BN at the moment, I think I’d go with Cape Verdean Blues. That title track is just so groovy.
 
Here's something I wrote up about modal jazz, which may help.

The phrase “modal jazz” is more explanatory, but also more intimidating than the the names of some of the other sub-genres in jazz (e.g. cool jazz, bebop, hard bop, etc.). It sounds very technical (it is), and that might make it feel hard to understand (it is not). Like the word “irony,” many of us have a vague sense of what “modal jazz” means, but might not be able to give a succinct definition. Fortunately, it’s not too large of a task, and James Brown can help us get there!

Here’s James Brown in a live performance of Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine:
It’s worth watching the whole thing, especially if you know the studio version of the song. Musically, the song is built around what musicians call a “vamp:” the band is repeating a short snippet of music while James Brown does his thing. In the case of Sex Machine, the vamp is only one chord on the guitar. Listening to this live version (and then to the studio version, if necessary:
), it seems like a safe bet that the exact number of beats before James Brown asks whether he can “take it to the bridge,” the length of the bridge, or any other part of the song differs between the two versions. In other words, the band is not running through a sequence of chords a set number of times before changing to a new section. Instead, James Brown is freely improvising (with vocal assistance from Bobby Byrd) and is not restricted by being forced to get back on any sort of script because the band is going to the bridge with or without him. While a neat feature of the song, the freedom most closely relates to modal jazz is not the undefined length of the verses. Rather, it’s the fact that the whole verse (before Brown “take it to the bridge”) only uses one chord. Because the vamp only uses one chord, there is an implied family of notes that are going to be consonant with what the rhythm section is doing. Since the chord never changes, the family of notes never changes. Brown is free to explore this family of notes in the melodies he sings. He can get in the groove and really lock into how he wants to express himself with that family of notes, using them in whatever combination and whatever rhythm he feels will best help him convey to the listener his desire to stay on the scene. Like a sex machine. This freedom exists in contrast to some other James Brown classics (e.g. I Got You) in which Brown has to change the melodies he sings in order to fit what’s happening with the chords underneath him.

Modal jazz isn’t inherently more complicated than the idea behind James Brown and his one-chord vamp. In music, the word “mode” refers to a specific collection of notes. There are lots of modes with fancy names, but none of that knowledge is necessary to listen to the music and get a sense of what’s going on. Instead of being built around sequences of chords moving from one to another until the form is complete, and then starting again, modal jazz is built around the idea that all of the musicians will restrict themselves to the agreed upon collection of notes (i.e. the mode) that is being used at that musical moment. Ready to give listening to modal jazz a try? Here’s “Milestones” (originally just called “Miles,” until everyone remembered that he already had a song with the same name), which was Miles Davis’s first modal jazz recording: . Unlike Sex Machine (and Flamenco Sketches off of Kind of Blue), Milestones shifts from one mode to a second mode after a fixed amount of time, and then switches back to the first mode. The form is 16 measures of note collection #1, 16 measures of note collection #2, and then 8 measures of note collection #1. After that, the form repeats. Rather than try to count the song, it’s probably easiest to listen for when Paul Chambers switches his bass playing from a very steady 1-2-3-4 rhythm to more of a hiccup-sounding rhythm. That occurs whenever note collection #2 is happening. As you listen, you may notice that the chords played by Red Garland on the piano (also the same figure played by the horns at the start of the song) sound an awful lot like synthesizer chords in the Michael Jackson tune Billy Jean. Those chords and their movement are incidental and not a critical part of the structure of the song. That’s another big difference between chord-based songs and modal songs: if Garland played those chords in reverse order, it would have worked just fine (don’t try that with a chord-based song!).

If you’re still not sure whether you’re feeling it, here’s a more focused tutorial on how modal jazz works using the song So What from Kind of Blue. It’s made for the non-musician, so don’t be alarmed by the piano!



Once you’ve got Milestones and So What in your ear, you can check out this instructional on Flamenco Sketches, which is a modal jazz song with a really neat twist:

This is honestly the best explanation of modal jazz I've seen save for Ashley Kahn's description in his book on Kind of Blue. Braaaaavo.
 
This is honestly the best explanation of modal jazz I've seen save for Ashley Kahn's description in his book on Kind of Blue. Braaaaavo.
Wow. That's high praise! I love Ashley Kahn's writing. I'm a big believer that no knowledge of music theory or history is necessary to enjoy jazz, but I'm also a big believer that a little bit of either (or both) can really enhance one's enjoyment of things. I hope that last video I posted helps some people to really dig in to Flamenco Sketches. Thanks for checking out my post!
 
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Hey I'm wondering, do we need a seperate anthology thread? I mean we had one until it all went to sh#t and we couldn't be trusted with a new one. I honestly don't mind but I wonder how those who aren't involved, especially if you wanted to be but missed out, feel about us discussing the ins and outs of what is essentially a VMP sub, with inevitable waves of excitement, anxiety, gripes etc.

I'm just thinking aloud, I love this corner of the forum and I wouldn't want for any of the faithful contributors to feel a bit swamped by us anthology crew
 
Hey I'm wondering, do we need a seperate anthology thread? I mean we had one until it all went to sh#t and we couldn't be trusted with a new one. I honestly don't mind but I wonder how those who aren't involved, especially if you wanted to be but missed out, feel about us discussing the ins and outs of what is essentially a VMP sub, with inevitable waves of excitement, anxiety, gripes etc.

I'm just thinking aloud, I love this corner of the forum and I wouldn't want for any of the faithful contributors to feel a bit swamped by us anthology crew

It's not a problem for me. It'll be nice to know that you all happy with your anthology (I hope you will). It can bring interesting conversations about how you feel about the music and it may open "new roads" to other albums, other artists, etc.... Though, if things go wrong with Anthology (I really hope not but...well...VMP...), please use a dedicated VMP social media to show you insatisfaction.

BTW, I am happy to see that you @stpaulbrowns are here and your helpful spreadsheet is safe! It'll help me a lot to budget my BN80/TP/Vital purchases!
 
I've just purchased / pre-ordered all the available Tone Poet stuff except for Chick Corea (overspent as it is). I'd be interested in understanding a bit about modal jazz @seeirwin if you could repost here?

How do the BN80 records sound?
The Chick Corea one sounds insanely good by the way. I’d recommend grabbing it at some point.
 
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