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

You guys are horrible. I just bought :
Mobley - Feelin Good
Turrentine - Jubilee Shout
Ike Quebec - Easy Livin
Parlan - Happy ... Mind

 

Of course, if any one still needing MMs doesn’t already have it, and is in their right mind, they’d go over to Music Matter’s site and order Elvin Jones’ Genesis 2x45rpm (for $35, and you might as well add on his Puttin It Together, for $40).

 

A shame these apparently haven't sold better. Two of the best, in my opinion.

 

The genesis cover probably scared them off

 

I will defend that cover to my grave. Puttin' It Together has the weaker cover, I think.

 

Most importantly, Genesis has the better music.

 

It's incredible. I've got no idea what puts jazz fans off this record.

 

If not the cover, then it must be the late 70’s reverb lol

 

I’ve got an original of “Genesis” (picked it up in .99 cent bin) and I dig it. Strangely enough the cover sorta drew me to the album.

 

Yeah, some folks are allergic to it but hell, reverb was used in jazz before. To me the compositions and playing shine thru any effects (which I dig btw).

 

The cover? The reverb? But, man, have you read those liner notes? Really kills it for me.

 

Oh golly, we almost forgot, there’s flute to boot.

 

Genesis is amazing, I can't believe it's $35 on their site!!! This is the steal of the century for anyone who doesn't have it yet.

 

Agreed. I hope people take my above comments in jest, as I do dig the music and the sound quality is excellent (I’m agnostic about the reverb). The groove between gene perla’s bass and Elvin is pretty magical, I could probably just listen to those two alone and be happy.

 

I think the availability and affordability of clean originals of both Genesis and Putting It Together are probably a factor in their slow sales/discounted price on MM’s site. I loved MM’s Genesis so much I bought a NM original on eBay for around $20 awhile back, just for the convenience of having it on the 33rpm 1LP format. The MM sounds better, but it’s nice to have both.

 

Most of Blue Note's more "avant styled" releases have historically been very poor sellers, even back in their heyday. It's why most reissue programs skip them. You might not understand it, but it's the truth. The fact that these Music Matters Elvin Jones LPs are still available simply enforces that this is most likely still true.

 

That may be true, especially for the Liberty era. Putting the music aside, that cover art doesn't have the same cachet.

But there are several avant or post-bop releases that seem to have done well for Music Matters:

Out to Lunch
Matador
Solid
Empyrean Isles
Maiden Voyage
Speak Like a Child
In 'n' Out
Inner Urge
Mode for Joe
Judgment
Point of Departure
Happenings
Basra
Destination . . . Out!
Evolution
Search for the New Land
The Procrastinator
Night Dreamer
Juju
Speak No Evil
The Soothsayer
Adam's Apple
The Real McCoy


That's quite a list!

 

I never said I didn’t understand it.

Originals are are still affordable, so the MM haven’t been such hot sellers. That’s all I said. This begs the question why are originals still affordable? Which leads us to the point you’re making.

Edit: Also, Liberty era Blue Notes have historically never been the most sought after by hardcore collectors. My suspicion is that this is partly about the music, but also partly about the history of the label, exclusivity of earlier originals, quality of Plastylite pressings, etc.

 

You and I seem to have a little different definition of avant garde or "out" Jazz (don't take this statement wrong - I do not have any problem with this at all).

From your list, I would consider "Out To Lunch", "Evolution" and "Point of Departure" as being a bit out but even those are only mildly so in the realm of free jazz. Unusual song forms, yes, but free? Not really. Even Jackie McLean's "Destination Out!" doesn't get to where he says he's going.

BTW, "Out To Lunch" and "Point Of Departure" are really the only "a little out" Blue Note LPs that sold fairly well back in the day. And you have to realize that "Out To Lunch" was released posthumously, which probably helped to increase sales.

If you expand your look into Blue Note to titles from Don Cherry, Larry Young & Ornette Coleman, you'll find that they go much further out than many Blue Note fans were willing to go and as such, didn't sell well back in the old days and many still don't sell well today. Mosaic's Larry Young box set timed out, so even that great box of music didn't sell well. Sad but true.

 

I don't think Gabe intended that list to go as far as "out".
It's a great 'post hard-bop' collection of titles, capturing another era.

 

I'm not talking about free jazz, and I'm not talking about Don Cherry or Ornette Coleman. Genre boundaries can be tricky, and some people might even consider some of the titles I posted to remain in the hard bop category. But I think there is a genre between hard bop and free jazz that existed alongside free, drawing inspiration from it, but without abandoning composition, structure, melody, harmony, an order to solos, and so forth. This is what I refer to as avant or post-bop. Not free.

 

Just got that ORG Sonny Rollins in and it sounds great. I’ve read a lot about the sound oddities on the MM Newk’s Time. But really haven’t seen much about their Vol 1. I know it’s mono. Any opinions on it? It’s not my favorite Sonny, I prefer him more stripped down, and that $75 price tag... and despite any sound issues plus how short it is I’m still tempted by Newk’s Time since it’s still at $50.

 

Haven't heard Vol. 1 but there aren't any sound issues with Newk's Time unless they're referring to it being one of Van Gelder's earlier stereo (1957 I believe) efforts and instruments are placed differently in the soundstage. Sonny takes center stage and the drums are left of center if I remember correctly from the last time I played it. He does a couple of covers, Wonderful Wonderful and Surry With The Fringe On Top but only as Sonny can but the album is worth Asiatic Raes and Blues For Philly Joe though I'll listen to anything he does..

 

There are pretty well documented tape dropouts on Newk's Time, including mentioned on the tape box. Michael Cuscuna warned Music Matters against using it for this reason. Joe Harley had a pretty lengthy post on this board in which he says Steve Hoffman believes they aren't dropouts, but rather Sonny Rollins moving around the room, creating an unstable stereo image. Joe describes Steve's efforts at the control board to keep Sonny's performance focused in the image. In my opinion, this was done at the expense of other musical elements, most especially the drums. But, y'know, I bought it anyway.

The mono version from Disk Union is on my wishlist, but it never pops up at a reasonable price.