Music Matters Definitive Blue Note 45 RPM and 33 & 1/3 RPM vinyl series (pt7)

Andrew Hill "Point of Departure" and Sam Rivers "Fuchsia Swing Song" are must have, but you have to stretch a little beyond the mainstream. I would add some Grant Green tiles, like "Idle Moments" or "Talkin' About." Larry Young, "Unity" is way up there too. Any of the Stanley Turrentine titles are great. I really like "Lookout" as well as his work on Kenny Burrell "Freedom"

 

Have you ever heard the Classic mono? Just curious if you had thoughts on the mono mix by comparison.

 

I haven't.

 

thanks so far for some input, guys.. you gave me a few ideas....I'm thinking of some of these..


Stanley Turrentine: Jubilee Shout
Dexter Gordon: Our Man In Paris
Horace Parlan : Happy Frame of Mind
Larry Young : Into Somethin
Grant Green : Solid
Grant Green: Matador
Sonny Rollins : Volume I
Fushcia Swing Song : Sam Rivers
Song For My Father : Horace Silver

Decisions Decisions LOL!

 

I have all of these. Great selections.

Larry Young "Unity" is a better album than "Into Somethin", IMHO
FWIW: Unity is a top reviewed album, receiving five star at AllMusic and a Rosetta in the Penguin guide.

Stanley Turrentine's "Look Out" and "Up At Mintons" are both better than "Jubilee Shout", IMHO

I also love the Horace Parlan albums with Stanley and Tommy Turrentine.

 

I'll throw a vote in for "Our Man in Paris". This is one of my most-played albums over the years, and one of the first MM titles I obtained when I began buying them last year. It sounds terrific! Someday I'd love to hear the other titles you mention, esp. the Grant Green's and Sonny Rollins. I definitely must get "Song for my Father"....

 

My vote is for Sam Rivers, though I like the stuff out of left field best. A close second would be Green's "Matador." But you'll be hitting a home run with pretty much any of these, really.

 

I thought Search For The New Land was OOP, I would get that while you can.

 

Why not go to Youtube and listen to each one and see which you prefer?

 

Leaning towards Our Man in Paris and Unity... I love Dex and i listened to Unity on youtube.. it sounds awesome musically!!

 

Can't go wrong there!

 

Random -- Just doing some sleuthing around, per the "Blue Note Label" discography compiled by Michael Cuscuna and Michel Ruppli. We were speaking of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" album.

Trivia: Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, George Coleman and Ron Carter recorded the majority of that album, cuts 1, 3 and 5, originally on Thursday, March 11, 1965 with a drummer named Stu Martin. The studio went dark, dormant, vacated for almost a full week, until Herbie and company went back to the Englewood Cliffs studio the following Wednesday, March 17, 1965, and cut the album again to include all five tunes with Anthony Williams on drums.

Drummer Stu Martin is not mentioned before or after this event in Blue Note's historical discography -- and it's totally complete, over 900 pages in full. As a drummer myself, I found that interesting.

 

I've wanted to get the Naim Label 3 LP set of Charlie Haden's "Private Collection" and Elusive Disc had it, so I also ordered the MM 45 RPM of Lee Morgan "Volume 3." The MMs are still on sale at 15% off.

Looking forward to Lee Morgan, but looking forward even more to the Charlie Haden.

 

Ordered Dex "Our Man In Paris" and Larry Young "Unity"... looking forward to these.. something a bit different.. they sound like fun albums... will add to my MM 45 Collection...... now I will have 24 total MM 45's and I own the complete 33 series so far..MM rocks!

 

Hi,

I've bought Tina Brooks True Blue and J. Henderson Page One MM 33.
They both sound very very good. But Henderson Page One was distorted over the whole Side two.
I sent it back and got a new one and this one crackles over the whole Side one.
Is this an exception? Or how is the pressing Quality of MM in general.
Thanks
Ralf

 

Ralf, people have commented about pressing problems from time to time. How representative they are is hard to tell. MM have their LPs pressed by RTI.

 

One thing that bugs me about many of the BN's is an overall lack of dynamics particularly in the rythm section. That percussive snap that really makes music come to life, for me, is missing from many of the recordings.

 

I can't say that has been my experience but we all hear things differently I guess. RGV is known to have not got the best sound of out the piano but his rhythm section sounds good to me.

 

Interesting Steve, most of what I have is the mid 60's stuff except for Somethin' Else and Blue Train. I think I prefer his earlier recordings, distortion and all.

 

Midnight Blue was recorded by RVG at his new studio in 1963 and has plenty of dynamics and "percussive snap" - in fact its one of the most dynamic sounding recordings I have heard from him.

 

Relative to other BN's, yes.

 

Thanks for bringing it up. I remember reading about that session in the liner notes for Herbie's Complete Blue Note CD set. According to Wiki, Mr. Martin had played with Donald Byrd, so that is where Herbie might have known him from... But otherwise, I haven't heard much of him, even though he played with many of the greats in the '50s and '60s. Here is a photo of him:

 

[Tim, I know you didn't really ask this question, but I find the topic interesting, so let me say a few words.]

We can safely assume that there are analog copies of Blue Note tapes in vaults across the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Japanese have been using copies ever since they started issuing Blue Note albums on their own. All of the King Records (1970s) and Toshiba (1980s) reissues are unique masterings, therefore made from copies. Their subsequent exclusive CD reissues were probably also made from those copies, in case they didn't master them in the US.

As for Europe, there were Blue Notes being pressed in Germany during the Liberty era (late '60s), of which some were made from original Van Gelder metalwork, others re-cut (hence, from tape copies). Then there were Dutch Blue Notes in the late '70s (also analog, obviously). The French did a few all-analog pressings in the early '80s, before they switched to direct metal mastering (DMM) and digitally sourced vinyl.

All of those tapes must be lingering somewhere in the vaults in Europe, how many of them still exist I guess nobody knows. So it's not entirely un-logical that a record company that has no access to original masters can still use analog copies where available. It's what audiophile reissue companies like Speakers Corner and Pure Pleasure have been doing all along and nobody seems to be complaining about the sound in those cases.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but do we know which, if any, MM Blue Note 33rpm's will be in the works for 2015?

Thanks!