The Blue Note Thread

Looks like both Kenny Burrell and Grant Green's Feelin' the Spirit are up for preorders with a street date of June 3. Both are fantastic albums that I already have nice copies of, but... the lure of the Tone Poets is strong. Does anyone else have a problem with grabbing Tone Poets even when you have the album already? So far, I have successfully held off on picking up Out of the Blue and The Latin Bit, because I already have nice Japanese pressings... but listening to Tippin' the Scales last night created a strong desire to give and buy them...
Definitely getting the Grant Green.
 
Looks like both Kenny Burrell and Grant Green's Feelin' the Spirit are up for preorders with a street date of June 3. Both are fantastic albums that I already have nice copies of, but... the lure of the Tone Poets is strong. Does anyone else have a problem with grabbing Tone Poets even when you have the album already? So far, I have successfully held off on picking up Out of the Blue and The Latin Bit, because I already have nice Japanese pressings... but listening to Tippin' the Scales last night created a strong desire to give and buy them...
I'm definitely getting that Grant Green. Uncertain about the Burrell.

And to answer your question, I sometimes double up on albums. I already have a clean copy of Wayne Shorter's Adam's Apple, but I'll be grabbing the upcoming BN Classics reissue because of Kevin Gray's mastering. I also have the AP45 of Somethin' Else, but then I picked up the BN Classics 33rpm (because I don't always want to flip 4 sides), and I also (probably stupidly) preordered the MoFi One Step, because I just love that album. And if I miss the one step now, it'll quickly be out of my financial reach. And then I'll start thinking..."does it sound better than the AP45?" It likely won't because that AP45 is incredible, but my mind will wonder. Ha ha.
 
I'm definitely getting that Grant Green. Uncertain about the Burrell.

And to answer your question, I sometimes double up on albums. I already have a clean copy of Wayne Shorter's Adam's Apple, but I'll be grabbing the upcoming BN Classics reissue because of Kevin Gray's mastering. I also have the AP45 of Somethin' Else, but then I picked up the BN Classics 33rpm (because I don't always want to flip 4 sides), and I also (probably stupidly) preordered the MoFi One Step, because I just love that album. And if I miss the one step now, it'll quickly be out of my financial reach. And then I'll start thinking..."does it sound better than the AP45?" It likely won't because that AP45 is incredible, but my mind will wonder. Ha ha.
What, no love for the SRX Somethin' Else? ;)
 
I'm definitely getting that Grant Green. Uncertain about the Burrell.

And to answer your question, I sometimes double up on albums. I already have a clean copy of Wayne Shorter's Adam's Apple, but I'll be grabbing the upcoming BN Classics reissue because of Kevin Gray's mastering. I also have the AP45 of Somethin' Else, but then I picked up the BN Classics 33rpm (because I don't always want to flip 4 sides), and I also (probably stupidly) preordered the MoFi One Step, because I just love that album. And if I miss the one step now, it'll quickly be out of my financial reach. And then I'll start thinking..."does it sound better than the AP45?" It likely won't because that AP45 is incredible, but my mind will wonder. Ha ha.

I have the same hang up Somethin' else. It's the one album I have a much of copies of, and had to oder the One Step, even though I have the AP, an RVG, the Classic series etc.

edit - I also missed out on all the SRX (all Music Matters titles tbh. Shipping to the UK wasn't cheap)
 
Looks like both Kenny Burrell and Grant Green's Feelin' the Spirit are up for preorders with a street date of June 3. Both are fantastic albums that I already have nice copies of, but... the lure of the Tone Poets is strong. Does anyone else have a problem with grabbing Tone Poets even when you have the album already? So far, I have successfully held off on picking up Out of the Blue and The Latin Bit, because I already have nice Japanese pressings... but listening to Tippin' the Scales last night created a strong desire to give and buy them...
Late to the party here but I have avoided doubling up in most cases. I did get the Tina Brooks despite having it in the Mosaic box because I found a cheap enough copy to justify trying it.

I avoided Lee Morgan's The Cooker, and will pass on Grant Green's The Latin Bit & Feelin' the Spirit because I'm fortunate enough to have clean OG pressings of those. I also have the Japanese pressing of Jackie McLean's Tippin' The Scales (which I guess was technically the first) which I actually listened to again earlier. Its that level of sounding great where I won't be getting the TP. I personally really like it when the later era releases get the Tone Poet treatment (especially the ones that had the awful covers) because they really are the best versions of them both in terms of the Joe Harley/Kevin Gray treatment and the updated cover art. Plus the ones that never saw the light of day, there's still probably a lot out there.

I really like Sonny Clark My Conception, thats one of my favourites to date I think. The ones that I really do want to get when I can find affordable copies are Bobby Hutcherson – Oblique, and Andrew Hill – Passing Ships. Looking forward to those.
 
I'm not sure I would double up on anything I have a Music Matters copy of already, so I don't think I'll have any problem passing on the BN Classic of Adam's Apple. I've bought all the MM 33 rpm releases as they were coming out, up through that first round of SRX titles, and though it sounds like Kevin Gray has made some upgrades since all of those came out... I feel like I'm probably good there? I hope so, anyway! It's the Japanese, Classic Records, and '70s pressings that make it a question.
My rule is that I cash in on my MM 45's when a Classic 33 comes along. The advatnage of 33 rules, and the earlier MM 45's with the Hoffman formula sound way better in the Classic series. MM 33's I generally hang on to. They are actually the best sounding on the MM series anyways.
 
Makes sense. Fortunately, I didn't start buying the Music Matters Blue Notes until they launched the 33 rpm series, so I've only had a few MM45s in my collection over the years and they're long gone at this point.
About 10 years ago, Rambach told me (not always to be believed, BTW) that he wasn't satisfied with either Hoffman (didn't understand jazz and bad mouthing RVG) or 45rpm, but when launching MM, he felt he had to go 45 as that was the fad passing through at the time. He went to 33 primarily to re-do those titles he felt were the worst affected by the Hoffman influence, added a few new titles to keep interest up, and then kept going re-doing 45's in 33 as they were selling. Rambach moved from MM being a passion/vanity project to a pure cash grab during the 33 period, when he screwed over his distributors and went direct, and by the time it went SRX, it was milking the cow to pack the retirement fund one last time.

If Rambach is to be believed, and it is his baby, the 33's are what he considers definitive. The titles he did not repeat for 33 are simply those that didn't sell well and he had 45 stock still to move.
 
Looks like both Kenny Burrell and Grant Green's Feelin' the Spirit are up for preorders with a street date of June 3. Both are fantastic albums that I already have nice copies of, but... the lure of the Tone Poets is strong. Does anyone else have a problem with grabbing Tone Poets even when you have the album already? So far, I have successfully held off on picking up Out of the Blue and The Latin Bit, because I already have nice Japanese pressings... but listening to Tippin' the Scales last night created a strong desire to give and buy them...
I was happy to upgrade from my BN75 Cornbread to the TP version. But if I already owned a decent, specially pre-1985 pressing of any given record, then I’d probably stick with that instead of buying the TP.
 
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The ones that I really do want to get when I can find affordable copies are Bobby Hutcherson – Oblique, and Andrew Hill – Passing Ships. Looking forward to those.

Yep, these are the two "old" Tone Poets at the top of my wishlist.

Don't know that they would qualify as affordable once shipping is factored in, but as of yesterday my local definitely had at least a couple of copies of Passing Ships left - if I recall correctly they were $49.99 CDN, and shopping would likely run $20-25 CDN. Likely not worth your while, but just in case!
 
with the recent repress of now he sings now he sobs (still available @Plaid Room / Colemine ) hopefully we start seeing more Tone Poet represses. I would love to see The Kicker, Blues & Roots, Cornbread, Nigeria, and of course the now legendary Chet Sings 😊
You will be seeing loads of represses in the next year. 80% of Europe's nickel supply comes from Russia, and that has not only stopped plating cold throughout Europe - as nickel is a key material - it has placed massive pressure on the non-Russian supply, meaning almost none will be diverted to pressing plants.

The existing plates are going to get heavy use in the next few years.
 
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