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

Just because I know folks on this thread appreciate Francis Wolff photography, it looks like Mosaic has worked with Elemental Music to release a new book of Wolff photography. It's flying under the radar on Mosaic's site (I still can only find it from the link they sent via e-mail announcing it). I think this is the third in Elemental's Jazz Images series. I have a copy arriving tomorrow to put alongside my copy of Cuscuna's "Blue Note Photos".

Jazz Images

 

P-Vine produced very good reissues of the few Blues LPs I’ve heard.

Don’t know about their Jazz.

 

P-Vine have long been a great label with very good, less is more mastering, but I think you would have to be willing to understand that you are not likely getting anything analog from them.

Pure Pleasure have carefully worded their hype without ever mentioning source for Glass Bead Games which kind of bothers me. I don’t understand why we can’t be told the truth. If the tapes are lost and vinyl has to be used, what is the big deal? Or at least say nothing instead of this pitch about Ray Staff cutting the album and dancing around the truth about it.

 

Thanks for the link! I have the cuscuna blue not photos as well and it’s fantastic for anyone out there!

 

Another winning Blue Note title . . .


1965/2019 Music Matters Ltd. ‎– MMBST-84189, Blue Note ‎– ST-84189
Translucent SRX Vinyl

 

I highly appreciate your input. I ran back to the store yesterday and purchased the record. The packaging is very high-quality: it's a single cardboard sleeve with obi and inner notes. There is some text in english where it is clearly stated that this is a digital remaster by Malcolm Addey, most likely the same as the CD released over ten years ago (I kind of wish this information was stated on the outside and not the inside of the sleeve!). Hopefully this is cut from higher resolution files than the CD, but who knows. The sound quality is ok but nothing to write home about. The music, on the other hand, is definitely worth getting your hands on and usually quite hard to come by!

I absolutely agree. I'm especially annoyed by the huge ANALOGUE sticker that doesn't mean anything except that you are buying vinyl, which is an analogue format. Because of this lack of information, I automatically assume they did not use the best available sources, but the best sources available to them, which in many cases must be digital.

Anyway, I apologize for having brought this thread a little bit off-topic. I won't be talking about the recent East-Strata reissues anymore!

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

 

Thanks for your review! For an album like that with such a limited release, what you've got in the P-Vine may just be the best available on vinyl at this point. This record was also on CD in the Mosaic Clifford Jordan Strata East box set, but again - not vinyl. And likewise I wish they'd state stuff like that on the outside of the album. Ain't that hard to do...

 

It's really surprising to me - shocking, even - that Andrew Hill's Point of Departure isn't one of the sold out MMJ's or at least nearly sold out and priced at $99 like other hot titles. Maybe because it's available on both 33 and 45 and therefore there are more copies available? It's an obvious highlight of the series both musically and sonically. It's through the roof in terms of artistic merit and boundary-pushing creativity. And I feel like I barely see it mentioned in this thread.

 

It's a masterpiece, for sure. Tony Williams plays out of his mind on this record. Everybody is just crazy good!

Sonically, the 33 in this case is quite similar to the 45.

 

I was just speaking with Ron last night, and in our conversation he had mentioned that for whatever reason the 2 Andrew Hill titles never really sold...so confused! Judgement is one of the best sonically and musically and point of departure has so many wonderful layers, combined with impeccable writing and arranging from Hill. Dorham plays out of his mind on that one too! But it never really sold, and unfortunately I think MM still has a big stack left of those 2 Andrew Hill titles...

 

So interesting! That makes zero sense to me. Fans of this series should be running to the MMJ website and ordering those two if they don't already have them. I'm so glad Tone Poet is doing Black Fire too.

 

Agreed! The only reason why I would tell someone to hold off on those two, I wouldn't be surprised if Ron/MM go ahead and do a price drop to try and rid some of their stock. But even at their current prices I think musically and sonically they are some of the best (I got the 33 of point of departure).

Black Fire is the #1 TP title that has me most excited from the get-go. My local stores are charging up the wazoo for dirty beaten up liberty represses, its insane. My only concern will be the quality of the master tape - there's got to be a reason Ron and Joe skipped black fire in the first place for MM. Regardless, I think the music is stellar, so here's hoping some magic was enabled to bring possibly a questionable tape to life!

 

Are more price drops on the horizon? I would love to pick up Judgement!

 

I love Judgment and Black Fire. On paper I should love Point if Departure but it’s not grabbed me yet. I think for me there’s too much going on with all of them, whereas Judgment and black Fire are complex, but with less instrumentalists it’s easier to hook into? Every few months I give it another try on Apple Music to see if it hits

 

None that I’m aware of, but just my best guess based on what we’ve seen so far.

 

A bit riled up about MM I’d say.

 

I would start off by asking, "who in their right mind would ask him to do a video on pressing quality?"

 

I got my copies of Cat Walk and The Congregation cleaned up and played yesterday. Highly recommend both. For $35 they are an absolute steal.

I was a little worried when I saw some visible non fill on the congregation. However, it seems to just start making noise at the final notes of the album. I’m going to play a few more times on phones to be sure, but I don’t think it will warrant a return.

The QC on the 45s may be the best I’ve seen with modern vinyl. I have quite a few and nearly every disc is flawless. I wish other reissues could deliver this kind of consistent quality. My collection of MMJ 33s are on the noisy side

 

His music is a little more dissonant than most of what I assume
Are the best selling titles. That is probably the reason.

 

Or the fact that he references the awful Youtuber Vinyl Eyezz in that video.

 

Funniest part is he stole the dudes thumbnail. Surely not on purpose, but hilarious.

 

I got this one on blue vinyl. It just seemed to be the right thing to do.

 

My last order is set to arrive tomorrow after a media mail tour of the United States. So excited to get them!

 

Well I think he has some good takes but obviously very subjective. We all have different ears, rigs, tastes in terms of sound.

I like what I have heard so far from MM but it seems his issues are less with the sounds and more with their pricing model, or lack thereof. .

Again one man’s opinion. .

 

What a clown.