Sorry, knew that you were very familiar with the music, was talking only about the sound quality...my bad.
Nigeria is absolutely superb! I'm cash poor at the moment, so will be cherry-picking the real gems from the next batch - until I'm back in the black! got The Prisoner and Money Jungle on pre order - as the fall into the 'real gems' category!
With very (very) few exceptions, I am not a fan of traditional jazz singing with the vocal improv ups and downs of the voice and the “boo doo da duh beee boop” style and so I LOVE Chet. If someone asked me if I was a fan of jazz vocals I’d say no despite the stack of Chet Baker records I have. Hence the emoji I put after my statement too.
I feel you, man. I wish I could just go ahead and buy all the ones I like immediately while still hunting for used records like always. It hurts to cherry pick. I just pray that these are available for quite some time.
Man, I’m behind. I didn’t even know Chet and Nigeria were being released this week. Guess I need to go to the record store today...
Looks like the next two Tone Poets are up for pre-order on Amazon. Lee Morgan - The Cooker and Lonnie Smith - All in My Mind
Nigeria - to my ears - is one of the best sounding Tone Poets. Blakey’s drum work has not sounded this pristine on any other copy I’ve heard. This was one from my initial “want list” and I’m pleased they knocked it out of the park.
I cannot wait for The Cooker - It's the album I've been most excited for since being announced. I bet it rivals and maybe trumps the Classic Records version from 06.
I’ve listened to Nigeria start to finish 3 times now since yesterday afternoon. I 100% agree with you on your observation of the drum sounds. Hearing Blakey yelp adds even more to the excitement, yet the snap of the cymbals and the vividness of the drums is damn near perfect. The sound of Grant’s guitar feels so real and present on top of the drums. These tunes simply come to life right in front of me. I’m beyond happy with this reissue and I look forward to continue reading others’ impressions on this one (and the other 3 of course).
That's funny, Blakey's exhorting the other musicians on "It Ain't Necessarily So" is clearly audible in my system on the CD set with Sonny Clark. It's a raucous cut, and possibly my favorite Green cut ever. The LP is waiting downstairs to be opened and played.
I love this track too and have the new TP as an upgrade from the Waxtime cheapie. However as a drummer who is a fan of Blakey, esp his use of cymbals, it seems that his sizzle cymbal always brings out the worst of RVG’s trademark slight distortion. I find myself adjusting my clarity expectations when listening to titles like Autumn Leaves from Something Else or the whole first side of Nigeria last night. Does anyone else hear this distorted quality of Blakey’s sizzle? I think it was because of exotic nature of his cymbals clashing with RVGs miking - I know I’ve read that RVG himself commented about how hard it was to record Blakey.
I have the classic records version and will acknowledge there’s something about it that is “dead” sounding. Like there is more life inside the tape that could have been brought out more or evoked from. That was one TP I was planning on not double dipping because I own the classics, but I’ll be curious to hear your impressions when it does.
I'm just having one heck of a Saturday morning. I have not felt this good in a while and to have these new Tone Poets waiting for me to dive back into this afternoon has a smile on my face so big it almost hurts. When I first listened to "Nigeria" Thursday evening, I had my mind on other things so was not the best kind of listen for me. I think I commented on how Art and Grant were talking to each other big time. It was the way Art would be playing and just hand it over to Grant to blaze in, pretty incredible. Well I'm going to give it some nice volume today and let it rip! Last night I checked out the Mobley and the Turrentine. I absolutely love Poppin', just a fantastic record! Sound is sweet as can be and just love the way it is staged. Comin' Your Way was better than expected and when you get music like this mastered the way it is, just brings the musicians to life so to speak. Just cool as heck to get records that sound and complete with awesome covers and pics for these incredible prices. $26 per at my local store. And to top it off when I was picking these up I found an original CTI in excellent shape of my favorite Freddie Hubbard record "Straight Life" featuring Henderson, Hancock, Carter, and DeJohnette. Sound quality of this version is outstanding and what an amazing record, an absolute classic! And also a copy of one of my favorite Van Morrison albums "Veedon Fleece" Vinyl Me, Please version, an almost follow up to Astral Weeks. Anyhow, just love reading all of the awesome posts from you wonderful people with the exquisite tastes in good music. Just a special time for me hanging with all of you and sharing our passion for outstanding Jazz. What a beautiful day!
Poppin' is recorded really well too, but man I wish the instrumentation was panned better! Piano, all horns on right. Bass kind of centered and drums left. The advantage here is the clarity of the drums, in Darn That Dream you can hear the stick hitting the ride so clearly it tricked me multiple times and made me look up to see what that noise was. Thought it was real in the room!
Chet Baker sings, being mono and SO DAMN CLEAR, helped me find tune my antiskate. Trumpet was causing some distortion in the right channel haha. This round of releases has been really great and so far I hear NO WARBLE on anything. Hmmmm
https://www.amazon.com/Cooker-Blue-Note-Tone-Poet/dp/B083LVZTTD/ https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Blue-Note-Tone-Poet/dp/B083LSDN29/
I think someone mentioned that the APs of Somethin' Else and Maiden Voyage are better partly because they tame the hot end that renders that cymbal issue.
We're hearing the same thing; the same effect. I believe it's a very strange mix of sizzle cymbal, microphone placement, and perhaps reverb. When I first listened to Nigeria I wondered if this was why it was not released in the first place. It's that strange! The effect reminds me of what's happening with Jimmy Cobb's sizzle on the Miles Davis Someday My Prince Will Come album - especially the first self-titled tune. Watching the Davis band perform this live I was struck by what looks like Cobb allowing the cymbal to rebound back up to his stick. Said another way, he presses the stick into the cymbal. It's really strange and I don't much care for this technique. You can catch glimpses of it on this video of Cobb performing So What live from that era. The following clip is only to help one visualize this technique. I don't consider the above a tangent. It is the evidence: Exhibit A. I am now, however, venturing on a tangent related to a discussion we had on the BN80 thread per the Grant Green Sunday Mornin' album, also with Sonny Clark on piano. There was a much-debated moment when I conclude Sonny Clark plays a little trill in the upper register on the piano during "God Bless the Child;" others conclude it is a beer glass being knocked over in the studio. Well, to corroborate what I am hearing, please note that strange trill again at the : 49-second mark on the tune "Airegin" (link below) on the Nigeria album. It sounds more like a piano on "Airegin" than a beer glass, but check it out, compare it to the tune "God Bless the Child" from Sunday Mornin', and I think all will agree with me. It's the same trill. That is all. Airegin - Grant Green
Thank you Mr Britt! I am not THAT crazy... Now let me revisit the Sonny trill on both records and weigh in on said tangent. I was firmly in the beer bottle camp previously (like In A Silent Way?) but my ears and mind are open.
I got Nigeria & Chet yesterday. Couldn't get them cleaned and spinning fast enough. Both arrived in fine shape from Amazon. Sure wish I knew why some come in mailers and others are just loose in the box. Both sound great and had no pressing problems! I'm especially impressed with Chet. The warmth, detail and bottom end is just incredible. Finding this tape was a major discovery! Another World Pacific title I'd love to see get the Tone Poet treatment is Joao Gilbertos Legendary recording. He was never happy with that release. I think it was even the subject of a law suit. Bet his estate would love to see that happen too.
Are you saying that amazon doesnt double box the records anymore? I pre-ordered all 4 between weeks apart and received notification today for 4 different orders been shipped minutes apart - definitely some automation going on there. Minor Move and Born To Be Blue were the first TP titles from amazon.com that werent double boxed, I sent them back 3 times because each one was pretty much destroyed in the mail (international shipping).
