Blue Note to start reissuing AAA vinyl

So after all the disappointing digi vinyl re-issues have Blue Note seen the error of their ways?

This from Blue Notes Facebook page Blue Note Records

Blue Note president Don Was & mastering engineer Ron McMaster in the Capitol Vaults holding the original master tapes for Blue Mitchell "Step Lightly" which is reissued on 180g vinyl in the 1st edition of our new boxset subscription series "Blue Note Review" bluenotereview.com.

"Blue Mitchell’s 'Step Lightly' was mastered from the original analog master tapes," Don explains. "There is absolutely ...no advantage to us - from either a financial or quality standpoint - in adding an extra step and mastering from a digital transfer when the entire Blue Note library is easily accessible. If the original tapes were missing or damaged, we would consider using 2nd generation copies rather than see the music perish from the face of the Earth but I am totally aware of the sonic implications and am a strong advocate for analog purity. As a producer, I record to tape whenever it’s feasible.

Listeners should also be aware that there are other significant steps we take to insure that our reissues come as close to the original intentions of the artists and Mr. Van Gelder as possible. Rudy used to master his own recordings and, in doing so, always added some EQ and compression. We listen very closely to determine what he added and take painstaking measures to make sure that we do not editorialize on his work. .5dB of EQ at the wrong frequency can dramatically alter the feel of an entire album as much as working from digital transfers.

We put tremendous care and attention into the acoustic properties of every single Blue Note release."

 

USD 200 per issue?

Count me out.

 

I personally have no problem with them doing this because I know there are folks interested in this high end kind of thing. And on the other hand, the 75th anniversary reissues, while sourced from digital files still sound pretty good and they are dirt cheap. Plus they have great titles in the offering. Something for everyone...

I think Bluenote is moving in the right directions to keep jazz alive.

 

I bought a 75th anniversary issue of Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers, sounded bland and totally uninvolving, then discovered the Music Matters AAA re issues, suffice to say I bought the entire run of 33rpm titles.

With Music Matters now hiking their prices ridiculously its good to see Blue Note now going the AAA route. But I find the hypocrisy of Don Was inexplicable, if he is a "strong advocate for analogy purity" why did he preside over all those digi vinyl re issues? Perhaps he has taken (hopefully) note of Music Matters Blue Note re issues which have shown how good those original analogue masters are in terms of both condition and SQ.
So perhaps in time, hopefully this might lead to some serious Blue Note AAA re issues rather than the Imo gimmicky $200 dollar box on offer here containing merchandise such as a scarf, platter mat and other guff just to get your hands on the single AAA LP.

 

Blue Note mastered the album from the analog tapes, but how is the album cut?

 

Don explains. "There is absolutely ...no advantage to us - from either a financial or quality standpoint - in adding an extra step and mastering from a digital transfer when the entire Blue Note library is easily accessible.

Seems to imply AAA to me?

 

WOW.... The thread title got me excited, so did reading that blurb from Don Was.... I thought they were going to do what Music Matters has been doing for years, just that they were going to do it all "in-house".

Then I saw the details... a $200 "premium" product. You lost me. And a lot of other potential customers, for sure.

 

Only the scarf?
No marbles = No sale.

 

well I guess that answers that question . . .

Blue Note Subscription Series

 

Yeah... I just want the AAA record.

 

Uhh.... guess we can't complain about MM prices anymore.

 

Perhaps if enough people shout loud enough in the right direction, Blue Note/Don Was can be persuaded to just put out the AAA vinyl.

 

Can I just get the scarf? Screw the records!

 

AAA and often from original Van Gelder mastering, original master tapes and around a tenth the price:

 

Roll up Roll up! Get yer scarves here..Only $200 come on you know it makes sense! Kerching!

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php#...me_page&notif_id=1510766955131731&ref=m_notif

 

It doen't matter what it's sourced from if they press them at United again. The last ones were absolute SCHIIT.

 

They are pressing at RTI this time.

 

How much would NM originals cost today?

 

Several hundred $ in many cases. More than 1000$ in others.

 

Yeah... I own a lot of Blue Notes, many originals, Several MM 45's and 33's. But I knew up front that I wasn't gonna get a "you are there experience" from a $15 LP.

It's for people who just want a record but don't want to spend $150-$1000 to get it. Generally a matter of perspective...

 

Depends on the title. I've found many first pressings in great shape for less than $100. Liberty and blue label issues around $30 and under.

 

I thought so.

 

What decade was that? Recently? Or over a long period of time?

 

Big middle finger to Don Was and this horse hockey gouging.

He likes scarfs? HE can wear 'em.

This in no way helps get BN titles in analogue out to the average jazz customer. If this is his and the powers that be way of realizing their error of not using AAA then Id hate to see when they are really realizing their mistakes!

I certainly will not be purchasing some 200$ a piece set that they crumb out twice a year or whatever.

They want to do jazz fans right? Then if they have the master tapes get an engineer that knows how to master these and produce a product that sounds great and is priced at least within reason. Id pay 40 bucks for MM style work on titles that havent been done already. THAT is what jazz fans want. Not this totally eletist crap.

They should have done this right the first time.

 

Editorial rant: Others may have a different perspective than me, but it seems to me that analogue jazz vinyl is finally going the way of classic muscle cars....once fairly common and accessible if you had a bit of cash, some determination, some luck, and especially if you knew how and where to look for them, but now becoming more and more the rarified purview of the Bill Goldbergs, Jerry Seinfelds and Jay Leno type collectors of the world. This project can't have much realistic public interest unless you're already a fairly well-off and dedicated Blue Note/jazz COLLECTOR, or a raving top-flight audiophile (and hats off to you, if you are! this is not AT ALL a diss of either of those types of people; they're just as valid and important as anyone). Jay Leno once pointed out that the car collectors are going to be the ones who SAVE and preserve the classic gasoline cars and their American traditions, like in the same way that regular people don't use horses and buggies any more but the wealthy have "saved" polo and show horses and breeding and all those ancient traditions and equine customs that go along with them, at least the cultural memory is still there in some sense. Well add "jazz vinyl" to the list.


This really depresses me, though, because it kinda proves to my mind that "jazz" is really not relevant to a large number of people, as an art form, anymore. If they can't sell classic deep-title Blue Note LPs for ordinary editions at $25-$35 a pop, it's probably because it's no longer a cultural currency that speaks to enough people who will want to buy it, or be moved by it.