As a transplanted Toronto resident, i was really hoping for a Jays/Dodgers world series. Overall, while there have been some great playoff games, no team carried the kind of momentum and exciting, explosive play the Jays brought to their final stretch. It's a shame they just missed out. Yankees and Rays teams were both duds in the post season, Houston has looked worthy, really make it happen when they need to get going. Should be interesting how they and Atlanta match up.
Right up my alley! Just curious, how do Tone Poets compare to original pressings? Are they generally equal to (barring exceptions such as the Andrew Hill tape debacle) or improvements upon the original pressings? I have an original Love Call and a black label Empty Foxhole, would these new versions be a major upgrade?
I was surprised to see a slide of the box cover on Blue Note's Instagram page two weeks ago, with just a 'stay tuned', would have expected the details to link to their website when they were ready. Anyway, good to know it's still in the works.
Yeah, they only did that because word was getting out. They've yet to officially announce, even though they ran the ads in Downbeat and Jazz Times. Just the nature of the beast in 2021. Supply chain issues are expected to mess Christmas shopping up for a lot of items, too.
He didn't say. My guess is that there's some hesitation to put out Ornette Coleman records, or other avant-garde stuff, but if you put it in a nice box in limited quantities, the diehards will buy.
Another thought: As an Ornette Coleman fan, I wouldn't want his stuff woven into the Tone Poet release schedule, parceled out over time. For example, At the Golden Circle, Vol. 1 in one calendar year, and then Vol. 2 in some subsequent year. Give it to me all at once!
I think we will start to see more stuff like this from the Tone Poem team now that the brand has gotten so well known all over. Just speculating, but fairly easy to do so at this time. Plus I believe the OC box will be limited, maybe not out of the gate, but still limited. If it's limited and numbered at the start, better get it quick. I will order my set instantly either way!
Yeah, and I've said before that I think sales of The All Seeing Eye are encouraging. But we know Joe likes to pair "new thing" Tone Poets with something more traditional. I'm guessing the Ornette box will be limited simply because it's a logistical and operational challenge to put these things together at RTI and Stoughton. It takes a lot of time, attention, and man hours.
A reasonable guess. I'm not quite die-hard enough, so disappointed not to be able to buy just some of them, but c'est la vie. The Two Golden Circle volumes would have made a nice, obvious double LP instead of releasing them at separate times.
Well, sorry for being the voice of discordance, but I'd very much prefer it if I wasn't "forced" to spend €300+ for 6 records when I maybe would like to have two or three. We have Tone Poets, Verves, Classics and who knows what else (Contemporary maybe?) and this is only for jazz. So yeh, money does not stretch and I sure as hell would be happy to buy some Ornette Tone Poets, but spending €300 for 6 albums that I may or may not want + all the other stuff that's coming out is just out of my reach. Market is flooded right now. Happy to see some more out there stuff finally being released, but not happy with the way they chose to do things
I've written to Joe with the idea to take many of Blue Note's two-volume sets, where the liner notes are identical and so are the covers, but for the colors used, and reissue them as 2xLP gatefolds. He hasn't taken me up on that yet.
Agreed. It makes it hard for us who already have a couple albums from this set already. I don't own most of it, and yeah, the tone poet will be an upgrade, but I it is just barely out of reach for me. I would much rather spend that money on tone poets I don't have or something else.
I prefer Kevin Gray's approach to Blue Note tapes over Rudy Van Gelder's. That's a personal and subjective choice, and there are many who disagree.
With earlier titles I tend to lean towards originals, I get what Joe and Kevin are trying to do and appreciate the TPs strengths, but I'm just more comfortable with the RVG cuts, I'm not so certain of which way I'll go with later titles like the Ornettes, I have first presses of four of them and it will be interesting to compare those with the TPs. I'm happy owning both original and TP copies of the same title, most other reissues are expendable and get sold when I find a nice early pressing or they get a TP issue.
They won't do a Tone Poet as it was done twice by Joe's own Music Matters. But you might see it in a Blue Note company release.
Joe did Unity (twice!) while at Music Matters, so he's not going to do it as a Tone Poet. But I could easily see it being done as part of the Classic Series down the road.
Oh, gosh. Thelonious Monk, Genius of Modern Music. Miles Davis. Jutta Hipp At the Hickory House. Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland. The Fabulous Fats Navarro. Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights. There are other candidates, but those would be top of my list.
I don't even like the idea of box sets unless it is something like the Lee Morgan set. Release everything individually I say. But, a sweet box set would be something along the lines of a 10" box with maybe 10 records from the early years. Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music 5002 The Amazing Bud Powell - 5003 Kenny Drew - New Faces, New Sounds 5023 Elmo Hope - New Faces, New Sounds 5029 Gil Melle Quintet - Vol. 2 5033 Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland Vol.1 5037 Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland Vol.2 5038 Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland Vol.3 5039 Clifford Brown Quartet - 5047 GiGi Gryce / Clifford Brown Sextet - 5048 They could price somewhere around $200 -$240, and give it the 10" style tone poet (non gatefold) treatment with a small booklet talking about Blue Notes early years.
I totally understand why some folks want to see titles individually released from box sets like the OC. But the way folks are scarfing these boxes up as of late, I truly believe they will see some really strong sales from the Coleman set and likely better than if individually released. I feel that these new masters will be the definitive ones to have and Ornette has a strong enough fan base to draw some major interest around this. I didn't recall hearing any concern from Joe about how the sales of The All Seeing Eye would be. Heck its Shorter, plus having the Tone Poet brand on it surely didn't hurt. And agree with you regarding the way he likes to pair releases. Personally, I like it that way as well. But it was pretty clever of him releasing Katanga! and The Witch Doctor together though, if not a stroke of genius.
I was going to suggest Dorham/Café Bohemia and the JJ Johnsons but occurred to me they may not meet all your criteria. Edit: and the Dorhams weren't even two albums... I'll get my coat...
Music Matters Jazz has done it twice, and Joe is on record saying he won't duplicate what they did as a new Tone Poet. Maybe it will show up as a BN Classics reissue sometime, but don't count on the Tone Poet treatment.
