Blue Note - Elemental Music Source - Good News

Hey

Now that I have some good pieces in my audio chain, I've begun to pay attention to what pressing I have in general and of Blue Notes in particular. I can't afford to collect original pressings that run $1000s. I do collect the Music Matters and Analougue Productions versions. I also have some digitally sourced versions, such as the 180g Elemental Music albums out of Spain.

I've been going through my collection, seeing what pressings I do have and what I may want to replace, according to this interesting opinion on sound quality: Blue Note recordings: guide to audio quality

Also, I've been factoring in a comment from Steve, as far as the quality of digitally sourced masters for vinyl reissues. In a past thread he asked "were the digital masters used the "digital unmastered originals" that were then remastered by someone or were they the already mastered to CD, EQ'd and limited production copy masters?" The theory being that the first scenario is a "purer" route and has the potential to be nice sounding and the second scenario is a waste of time, a CD on vinyl.

I've always thought that the Blue Note 180g reissues from Elemental Music sound very good on my system. I reached out to Carlos Agustin at Elemental and asked him how their reissues are sourced. He said the following: "All these titles are sourced from HI RES unmastered originals in digital files delivered by UMG. They were prepared for vinyl in a Studio here in Europe. Don’t have much info about the mastering process involved in preparing a master for vinyl."

With this info, I personally feel good about keeping the Elemental Blue Notes in my collection, as they seem to fit the criteria of a "properly" digitally sourced vinyl and they're affordable. In my opinion, whoever is doing the mastering is doing a good job!

 

Good news then. I have some of their blues releases.

 

Heard back from Mason Williams @ Craft Recordings about their new Way Out West Sonny Rollins box set: "Joe Tarantino mastered the audio from hi-res digital transfers of the original analog tapes."

 

I have to agree. I just picked up a couple of these from another member here. I played Horace Parlan yesterday and thought it sounded quite nice, better than I expected for the price.

I know that here in the US, people sometimes get these reissues from Half-Price Books brick and mortar stores. We don't have those around here (that I know of) but I will keep my eye out for these going forward.

I might also try to find a complete list of BN titles that Elemental has released.

 

I pulled this list of BN reissues together from discogs. Elemental's facebook page has been inactive since 2016, and I don't see any reissues since then either. I wonder what their current status is..

Dexter Gordon A Swingin' Affair ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1001 2013
Wayne Shorter Adam's Apple ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1002 2013
Bobby Hutcherson Dialogue ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1003 2013
Duke Jordan Flight To Jordan ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1004 2013
Art Blakey & Jazz Mess. Like Someone In Love ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1005 2013
Kenny Burrell Midnight Blue ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1006 2013
Dexter Gordon Our Man In Paris ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1007 2013
Eric Dolphy Out To Lunch! ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1008 2013
Joe Henderson Page One ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1009 2013
Herbie Hancock Takin' Off ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1010 2013
Grant Green Talkin' About ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1011 2013
Jackie McLean One Step Beyond ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) E RLP 1012 2013
Stanley Turrentine That's Where It's At ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1013 2013
Chick Corea Now He Sings, Now He Sobs ‎(LP, Album, RE, 180) ERLP 1014 2013
Wayne Shorter Night Dreamer ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1015 2013
Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1016 2013
Art Blakey & Jazz Mess. Buhaina's Delight ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1017 2015
Art Blakey & Jazz Mess. The Freedom Rider ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1018 2015
Donald Byrd Royal Flush ‎(LP, Album, RE, 180) ERLP 1019 2015
Grant Green Matador ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1020 2015
Lee Morgan Candy ‎(LP, Album, Mono, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1021 2015
Hank Mobley Reach Out! ‎(LP, Album, RE, Gat) ERLP 1022 2015
Jimmy Smith Bucket ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1023 2015
Lou Donaldson Good Gracious! ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, 180) ERLP 1024 2013
Joe Henderson In 'N Out ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1025 2015
Jackie McLean Destination... Out! ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE) ERLP 1026 2015
Art Blakey & Jazz Mess. The Big Beat ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1027 2015
Lee Morgan The Cooker ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1028 2015
Freddie Hubbard Hub-Tones ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1030 2016
Louis Smith (2) Here Comes Louis Smith ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1031 2016
Stanley Turrentine A Chip Off The Old Block ‎(LP, Album, RE) ERLP 1032 2016
Lee Morgan Leeway ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP1033 2016
Lee Morgan Vol. 3 (Album) ERLP1034 2016
Jackie McLean It's Time! ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1035 2016
Horace Parlan Up & Down ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1036 2016
Baby Face' Willette Face To Face ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, RM, 180) ERLP 1037 2016
Blue Mitchell Bring It Home To Me ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1038 2016
The Horace Silver Quintet Further Explorations ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1039 2016
'Big' John Patton* 'The Way I Feel' ‎(LP, Album, RE, 180) ERLP 1040 2016
Ike Quebec Bossa Nova Soul Samba ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RM, 180) ERLP 1041 2016
Kenny Dorham Whistle Stop ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP1042 2016
Donald Byrd Free Form ‎(LP, Album, RE) ERLP 1043 2016
Hank Mobley A Caddy For Daddy ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP1044 2016
Freddie Hubbard Open Sesame ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1045 2016
Freddie Roach Brown Sugar ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, RE, 180) ERLP 1046 2016
Hank Mobley Roll Call ‎(LP, Album, Ltd, 180) ERLP 1047 2016
Larry Young Into Somethin' ‎(LP, Album, RE, 180) ERLP 1048 2016

 

I picked up a few at HPB the favorite being Freddie Roach-Brown Sugar. also...

Baby Face Willette-Face To Face
Hank Mobley-Roll Call
Big John Patton-The Way I Feel
Lou Donaldson-Good Gracious

I passed on another 10 or so thinking I'd get them next time I had a coupon but when they were gone....they were gone. I haven't seen any in the past year except Roll Call. It was the only Elemental BN in stock.

 

Ordering Face to Face now. Been after this one for a while but wasn't sure if this was a decent reissue. Thanks for the details!

 

John Patton‘s „The Way I Feel“ is fantastic. In particular the sound of Williams‘ trumpet and Jackson‘s baritone sax is very good on this release. One of the few occasions where I prefer the digitally sourced LP over older analog releases. It really is that good.