Alan Yoshida and Bernie Grundman mastered Blue Note 75th Anniversary Vinyl Reissues

I came across this post from the Blue Note site:
http://www.bluenote.com/news/blue-note-records-kicks-off-75th-anniversary
"
Blue Note will commence an extensive vinyl reissue initiative on March 25 with the release of five classic titles (Art Blakey Free For All, John Coltrane Blue Train, Eric Dolphy Out To Lunch, Wayne Shorter Speak No Evil, and Larry Young Unity). The vinyl releases are set to continue monthly and will also include modern classics from Blue Note’s recent catalog such as Joe Lovano Quartets: Live At The Vanguard,Jason Moran Soundtrack To Human Motion, and Terence Blanchard Flow. For Record Store Day in April, Blue Note will also reissue the label’s first two releases as limited edition 12” vinyl: Meade “Lux” Lewis “Melancholy”/”Solitude” (BN1) andAlbert Ammons “Boogie Woogie Stomp”/”Boogie Woogie Blues” (BN2). Other catalog releases including a 75 track digital bundle spanning Blue Note’s entire history will be announced shortly.
"

Anyone have any idea about who might be involved in these reissues, especially whether they will be remastered? I think it's great that some of the more recent BN artists like Terence Blanchard will get on vinyl. Looks like it will be a major push. I just hope the sonic qualities of the vinyl will be important to them.

 

Lets hope the folks who are now running this label do this right by only releasing well-pressed records that have been mastered from the analogue tapes.

The good news is that if they don't, people still have the option of ordering these titles from Music Matters, which always does a first class job.

Looking forward to reading any info on the modern classic releases (Lovano, Moran, etc.).

 

Who are Joe Lovano and Jason Moran?

Didn't Lovano play the bass on Ready for Freddie?

 

I'll wait to see if the dreaded "S" appears in the run-off. Sssssssssssscorpio.

 

What does this mean ? I've got a couple of Hank Mobley vinyl reissues with an "S" in the deadwax but they sound fine to my ears

 

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but an S-xxxxx in the deadwax is one indication a pressing is by Scorpio. Most (if not all) the recent Blue Note repressings that go for really cheap (like $15 new) are pressed by them. You can do a search on this board and see for yourself, but they are generally panned for the quality of the jackets and sound (likely cd sourced).

 

There' s definitely nothing wrong with the jacket , solid cardboard, excellent color reproduction, if they are cd sourced I can# t tell but the two I've got sound fine

 

Lovano is a 60+ year old sax player,possibly Blue Note's most durable artist in the last quarter century with tons of recordings out as leader and another couple of tons as a sideman,including a time early on with the Mel Lewis Orchestra.
Moran,approaching 40,plays fine piano and,while not as prolific as Lovano,has some fine music available.Try Ten.He came from Greg Osby's late '90s touring group.
What's interesting is that at 60 & almost 40,these guys are still kinda perceived as Young Lions.I suspect that many a jazz listener will not catch up to Lovano till a reissue program in introduced,maybe 2030.

 

I've been checking out a number of interviews with Don Was, the new Blue Note president. He successfully brought Wayne Shorter back to BN. As a professional player and producer, it seems like he would be interested in high quality vinyl records. Just as is the case with the Legacy KOB, there's no reason that you can't make good vinyl for <$25 if you've got a reasonable amount of production. I'm curious whether MM or any of the other BN vinyl reissue companies have interacted with him yet.

 

I think we do jazz a real disservice when we focus exclusively on the jazz greats and ignore the "young" musicians trying to add a new voice to the genre. There's this new Blue Note artists--Ambrose Akinmusire--for example, who's doing some strong work. As much as I love Grant Green or Hank Mobley, the future is not with them.

 

I saw in Elusive Disc's email that Music Matters is putting out 12 Blue Note titles in celebration of the 75th anniversary. All cut by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180 gram vinyl at RTI. I'm really looking forward to the Grant Green Idle Moments release.

 

Those MM Blue Note 33's are really something. Almost, ALMOST, as good as their 45's. Ron and Joe did it right here. Grab every title you even think you might want, cause reissues like these won't be coming round again very soon - if ever.

 

You don't have to look for the S.
If the record has a Park Avenue address... it's a Scorpio press.

From LondonJazzCollector


DIGITAL-TO-ANALOGUE CLONES – “304 Park Avenue South” address

 

I'm all over that. However, I wonder if the Blue Note press release was specifically pointing to MM. If so, that would be a great example of Blue Note supporting quality vinyl reissue companies. However, I suspect otherwise...

 

The titles above, except for Blue Trane, differ from the Music Matters 33 RPM reissue program.

 

How many times have I heard this before

 

Seriously. And warhorses like these are given a "new and improved" remastering just about annually anymore. As much as I love some of these titles, it's gotten a bit ridiculous.

 

Let's be clear, I'm not saying there will be no reissues of these titles in the future. Of course there will be. BUT, there will not be many (if any) mastered from the original analog tapes. Blue Note has digitalized their catalog and, according to a source with knowledge of their plans, will now only offer those digital master to reissue companies. So as I said, grab all of those MM LP's now as they may very well be the last chance you have to get properly analog tape mastered reissued - not to mention the top notch packaging.

 

I am not of fan of 45 rpm LPs so I avoided the first batch of Music Matters Blue Notes and bought most of the SACDs. However, I am a subscriber of this new 33 1/3 rpm series. I have been playing a lot of vinyl lately and these are right up my alley.

 

The Music Matters 33 rpm titles are not limited editions. There's no need to use the cheesy, "get them now before they're gone forever" which has been repeated ad nauseam in every daily email flyer I get from the audiophile vinyl retailers.

I'm aware Blue Note has digitized their tapes to 32/192. I am certain we'll see many more all analog reissues of these titles in the future. Audiophiles will always demand them. Where there is money to be made, it will be.

 

Really? And you know this how? Spoken to Ron and/or Joe? I have.

While I hope this is true, I fear that it will not be, else why would so many (not just Blue Note) be digitalizing their recorded archives? the purely analog mastered album is going the way of the dinosaur. Not that LP's mastered from digital sources are all bad - they aren't. But for those of us who love all analog, yes, buy now.

 

Do you care to share your insider information? My subscriber email from the 45 rpm series said the 33 rpm reissues will not be numbered copies. Why would they stop numbering them if they weren't limited?

 

I actually scanned a few of the jazz titles I have, as Scorpio popped up in another recent thread on jazz reissues. And, sure enough, I own two -- they were $11 a pop when I bought them in 2011.

And the backs do look "meh", original liners but kind of like a photo scan. SQ on the two I have seem fine and, in the case of "Blue Train", I had a CD pressing as well and, to my ears, the LP pressing sounds a little better. Cart colorization maybe.

As for CD sourced - I just don't know (my Blue Train has tons of info above 22khz so I tend to doubt it). But they were cheap so probably not too bad a deal -- I wouldn't spend $25 on them though.

EDIT: This one may not be Scorpio, my bad -- I think it's a Capitol release. Has an S number, but not Park Ave. I have another one that's definitely Park Ave, would need to do a deep dive on that one.

 

Reissue series are limited by their very nature. Record labels only allow a certain number of LP's to be pressed per licencing deal. The fact that the 33 series won't be numbered doesn't mean MM can press an unlimited number of LP's.

 

Yeah, there is almost no such thing as non-limited vinyl pressings anymore. Even material that is owned by the issuing label -- say, Springsteen's LPs on Columbia -- tends to be produced in batches. When they're gone, they're gone (at least until the next reissue, which may or may not come).

For at least five or six years, I saw The Rising for $18 or so in every record store in Boston. Right now, the cheapest copy on eBay is $250.