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

I was watching a TED talk and was surprised to come across Joe Harley as the audience volunteer:

 

Some recommendations. Obviously all can't be done, but since we're throwing titles out there, might as well. I'll cap it at 15. I got a bit generous with Andrew Hill...lol. I'd be happy with any of these from MM.

Elvin Jones - The Ultimate
Donald Byrd - Off to the Races
Donald Byrd - A New Perspective
Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music
Eddie Gale - Black Rhythm Happening
Herbie Hancock - My Point of View
Andrew Hill - Black Fire
Andrew Hill - Passing Ships
Andrew Hill - Compulsion
Andrew Hill - Smokestack
Sam Rivers - A New Conception
Sam Rivers - Contours
Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye
Wayne Shorter - Schizophrenia
Jackie McLean - Jacknife

 

Great list overall, I just recorded Donald Byrd's Off To The Races yesterday (vinyl-to-CD). If you don't mind, I'll take one of these when I update again.

Andrew Hill - Black Fire
Andrew Hill - Passing Ships

 

Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue is a brilliant title that I'd love see on MM. Also, Sheila Jordan's Portrait of Sheila.

 

How about:

Horace Silver Quintet - Horace-Scope

 

These two would be great. I have a 1964 mono edition of 'A new Perspective' which I actually bought from Ron. This is a truly original record. If you don't know it, listen to it here.
Of course, another great car cover.

 

I have "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love" on LP. Wish I had the Mosaic set, but now too pricey for my budget. Would still love to see any (ALL!!) of Herbie's Blue Note LP's get the Music Matters treatment.

 

We can hope. But is it really gonna happen...

 

Ah, Andrew Jones Compulsion is so ripe for the MM treatment, what with all that dense percussion going on throughout. My NY mono copy makes it all sound like mush. Original does not always equal "better".

Out of that list, the one that seems most viable, all things considered, is Byrd's New Perspective. That cover, the recognition of Donald Byrd in the public eye, and the very approachable tunes. I think it would sell.

 

It's very surprising to me that MM never did this one in 2x45 back early in the schedule.
When Universal Japan did this title in Mono for the Disk Union series, it was one of the first titles to sell out,
and has been pretty much impossible to find, i've been looking for two or three years now.

 

I could list more new titles, but really if there was just one more MM record i would ask for a 33rpm version of Wayne Shorter "Adam's Apple"

 

NP Dave Pike - Pike's Peak (Epic)
W/Bill Evans on piano and Herbie Lewis and Walter Perkins on bass and drums respectively. Sold straight ahead set from a less known vibraphonist.

 

Wayne Shorter - Etcetera (ETC)

Holy cow, Joe Chambers absolutely smokes on that record (as do Wayne, Herbie and Cecil, but Joe was the epiphany for me when I first heard it years ago). And hey, if we're going to ask for Schizophrenia and The All-Seeing Eye, we gotta have Etcetera in there too!

 

I believe MM looked at the master tape. Not good. "The master tape was not in good enough condition to meet the quality standard for Music Matters' releases." I am paraphrasing, while I absolutely do not want to put words in the mouth of Ron Rambach. But that is my understanding.

 

Weird because a year or so later, Kevin Gray 'himself' used the original tape for that diskunion Blue Note Mono serie release...

 

When I began, my rule was only one title per poster, while I know some of us have a deep list. What one BN title would you absolutely love to see given the MM treatment?

I agree with LeeS, Joe Harley and Ron Rambach know the BN catalog forward and backwards, have evaluated outstanding titles for suitability along these screens; 1) Do they want to release that title (i.e., do they dig the music), 2) Is master tape available for lease and in sufficiently good condition for the endeavor, and, to a lessor degree, 3) Will the title sell?

End of Day 2, I've included AMG's take on the session:

1. Tina Brooks - Minor Move, GXF 3072 in Japan, 1958 (released in 1980). ★★★★½ AMG
2. Don Cherry's - Complete Communion, BST 84226, 1966. ★★★★½
3. Sonny Clark Trio - Sonny Clark Trio, BLP 1579, 1958. ★★★★
4. Herbie Hancock - The Prisoner, BST 84321, 1969. ★★★
5. Andrew Hill - Compulsion, BST 84217, 1967. ★★★★
6. Andrew Hill - Passing Ships, Blue Note 90417, 2003 (recorded 1969). ★★★★½
7. Bobby Hutcherson - Dialogue, BST 84198, 1965, ★★★★★
8. Grachan Moncur III - Some Other Stuff, BST 84177, 1965. ★★★★½
9. Herbie Nichols Trio - Herbie Nichols Trio, BLP 1519, 1956. ★★★
10. Freddie Roach - Brown Sugar, BST 84168, 1964. ★★★★½
11. Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple, BST 84232, 1967. ★★★★★
12. Wayne Shorter - Et Cetera, LT 1056, 1980 (recorded 1965). ★★★★½
13. Horace Silver Quintet - Horace-Scope, BST 84042, 1960. ★★★★
14. Stanley Turrentine - Joyride, BST 84201, 1965. ★★★★
15. McCoy Tyner - Expansions, BST 84338, 1968. ★★★★½
16. Anthony Williams - Life Time, BST 84180, 1964. ★★★★½
17. Anthony Williams - Spring, BST 84216, 1966. ★★★

Looking for a few more selections. Twenty say.

 

Horace Silver Quintet/Sextet The Jody Grind. I don't believe this has been reissued on vinyl since the 60's, has it?

 

I did an incomplete survey of release/record (in one case) dates for the Music Matters 45 RPM series and the first batch of 33 RPM. My math needs checking.

1953 1 LP Release
1954
1955 4
1956 4
1957 9
1958 11
1959 6
1960 14
1961 9
1962 7
1963 7
1964 18
1965 10
1966 5 Blue Note was purchased by Liberty.
1967 2
1968 3 Transamerica Corporation, an insurance company, purchased Liberty and combined it with their other label United Artists Records.
1969
1970
1971 1

 

Just focusing on Andrew Hill's Passing Ships here – there are a lot of Blue Note sessions that haven't been released on vinyl in the US, or at all. And then there's the LT series from the '70s, some of which were issued in Japan, that would definitely benefit from better mastering and packaging.

 

Released on vinyl in both stereo and mono in 1967. Released on CD in 1991. This lp is overlooked and under appreciated for sure. It is a really good record. And an original Liberty pressing is readily available on eBay for less than $25, frequently below $10. But I'll add it to the list tomorrow.

 

Then I may be dead wrong.

 

Tyrone Washington and Woody Shaw make this album a stoned cold classic.

 

They definitely had the tape in the mastering studio. There's photo proof.

How to remake a Blue Note jazz album – in pictures

 

I can only conclude that there is some issue with the master tapes for Hancock "My Point of View". For the OCD/completists amongst us (not me), it's got to drive you nuts. MM covered his entire classic BN run with the lone exception of this great title.