The Record Collector

IN HONOUR OF BLUE NOTE RECORDS' 80th Anniversary, the legendary Jazz label recently launched the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, which is eerily reminiscent of the work Music Matters Jazz was doing. And that's not a coincidence. Blue Note President, Don Was, brought in the original “Tone Poet” - Joe Harley, who co-founded and co-produced Music Matters audiophile vinyl series - to produce this new series of Blue Note all-analogue remasters. By using the original analogue master tapes, pressing the records on 180g audiophile-grade vinyl and slipping them into absolutely gorgeous deluxe sleeves, Was has outdone himself.

The mastering is being looked after by Kevin Gray, of Cohearent Audio, and the vinyl is being manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI) - and that's about as good as it gets (next to Music Matter's SRX vinyl, that is). The series' titles were hand-picked by Harley and the list features some lesser-known Blue Note classics, modern-era standouts and other albums appearing on other labels under the Blue Note umbrella. And this is good news because, compared to the Music Matters reissues, the Tone Poets are significantly cheaper - around $40 apiece, as opposed to about $150 (or more) for the Music Matters pressings. I'm not saying the Music Matters aren't worth it, but unless you happen to have not won the lottery recently, the Tone Poets are an amazing value and a great way to build up a real, audiophile quality jazz record library.

I have several of the Tone Poets in my collection (almost 50 of them) and they all sound stunning. They far surpass the 75th Anniversary Blue Note reissues, which were widely regarded by audiophiles as being substandard, in almost every way, an opinion I agree with since I owned a few of them and can report that the vinyl they are pressed on is unacceptably noisy (at least that's the case with mine). And Blue Note - Don Was, in particular - acknowledges this.

But these Tone Poets are exceptional. I'd even go so far as to say they are as good as the Music Matters pressings, or at least good enough that you might not be able to tell the difference in a blind listening test.

There will assuredly be several more Tone Poets in the future, and I'll buy a lot of them. The first one I ever bought was Lou Donaldson's Mr. Shing-A-Ling. It was playing while my daughter and I were browsing the racks at Sonic Boom, in Toronto, in long ago pre-pandemic times. The record opens with an interpretation of Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe, which was playing when we entered the store.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN ESSAY written by Joe Harley that appears on the Blue Note website … I’ve been obsessed with jazz and sound for as long as I can remember. One of the first jazz records I owned was Sonny Clark’s classic Cool Struttin’ on Blue Note. I used to move the little speakers on my portable record player so that I could hear more of what Paul Chambers was playing! Blue Note quickly became the jazz label that I was most fascinated with.

Ron Rambach and I were more than excited when we began the Music Matters series of Blue Note LP reissues in 2007. We both have HUGE respect for the label, and it was like being given the keys to the dead sea scrolls of jazz!

Ron and I wanted to present the most elegant available editions of the Blue Note titles that we licensed. We wanted these to be definitive in every way, from the mastering to the pressings, packaging, and authenticity of the artwork, including the actual labels.

The work of mastering engineer Kevin Gray had continually impressed me over the years. His system was exceptionally clean and honest and I knew from experience that Kevin’s audio chain would tell us the truth about what was on those Blue Note masters. I will never forget the first time we heard a real Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note master tape on Kevin’s system. Let me tell you, those master tapes sound big, dynamic and real, as if the players are right in front of you! Ron and I were shocked at how great the master tapes sounded compared to the countless original pressing LP’s we had heard over the years, mostly from our own complete collections.

Our sonic goal became clear. We started on a quest to capture the sound of those master tapes on vinyl and to allow listeners to know what it would sound like to actually be in Rudy’s living room in Hackensack or later in Rudy’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. To this day, many say that the Music Matters Blue Note reissues are the finest way to experience what the music sounded like the day it was recorded.

A few years ago I began to hear that Don Was, President of Blue Note Records, was a huge fan of our reissue series. Not only that, but Don was starting to publicly say in interviews that we at Music Matters had “cracked the Blue Note code.” While working with Charles Lloyd on his most recent album for Blue Note Vanished Gardens, Don pulled me aside. He asked about every aspect of production, from the mastering, to the plating, pressing and jackets. He literally said, “however you do it for Music Matters, that’s how we want to do it here. And I want you to help us achieve that.” How could I say no?

And so that’s what we have here with the Tone Poet Series. (Tone Poet is a nickname that Charles Lloyd gave me many years ago.) The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come through unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session.

Moving on to LP pressing quality, after having many years of experience working with plating and pressing facilities throughout the world, Ron and I chose Record Technology, Inc. in Camarillo, CA for the Music Matters’ Blue Note series. Are they the cheapest? No …. far from it! But Don was unequivocal ….. “however you guys do this, that is what we’re going to do for the Tone Poet series!” Again, how could I say no?

When it comes to Blue Note LP packaging, extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket cover graphics to the printing quality. Every aspect of these Blue Note releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.

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IN HONOUR OF BLUE NOTE RECORDS' 80th Anniversary, the legendary Jazz label recently launched the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series, which is eerily reminiscent of the work Music Matters Jazz was doing. And that's not a coincidence. Blue Note President, Don Was, brought in the original “Tone Poet” - Joe Harley, who co-founded and co-produced Music Matters audiophile vinyl series - to produce this new series of Blue Note all-analogue remasters. By using the original analogue master tapes, pressing the records on 180g audiophile-grade vinyl and slipping them into absolutely gorgeous deluxe sleeves, Was has outdone himself.

The mastering is being looked after by Kevin Gray, of Cohearent Audio, and the vinyl is being manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI) - and that's about as good as it gets (next to Music Matter's SRX vinyl, that is). The series' titles were hand-picked by Harley and the list features some lesser-known Blue Note classics, modern-era standouts and other albums appearing on other labels under the Blue Note umbrella. And this is good news because, compared to the Music Matters reissues, the Tone Poets are significantly cheaper - around $40 apiece, as opposed to about $150 (or more) for the Music Matters pressings. I'm not saying the Music Matters aren't worth it, but unless you happen to have not won the lottery recently, the Tone Poets are an amazing value and a great way to build up a real, audiophile quality jazz record library.

I have several of the Tone Poets in my collection (almost 50 of them) and they all sound stunning. They far surpass the 75th Anniversary Blue Note reissues, which were widely regarded by audiophiles as being substandard, in almost every way, an opinion I agree with since I owned a few of them and can report that the vinyl they are pressed on is unacceptably noisy (at least that's the case with mine). And Blue Note - Don Was, in particular - acknowledges this.

But these Tone Poets are exceptional. I'd even go so far as to say they are as good as the Music Matters pressings, or at least good enough that you might not be able to tell the difference in a blind listening test.

There will assuredly be several more Tone Poets in the future, and I'll buy a lot of them. The first one I ever bought was Lou Donaldson's Mr. Shing-A-Ling. It was playing while my daughter and I were browsing the racks at Sonic Boom, in Toronto, in long ago pre-pandemic times. The record opens with an interpretation of Bobbie Gentry's Ode To Billie Joe, which was playing when we entered the store.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN ESSAY written by Joe Harley that appears on the Blue Note website … I’ve been obsessed with jazz and sound for as long as I can remember. One of the first jazz records I owned was Sonny Clark’s classic Cool Struttin’ on Blue Note. I used to move the little speakers on my portable record player so that I could hear more of what Paul Chambers was playing! Blue Note quickly became the jazz label that I was most fascinated with.

Ron Rambach and I were more than excited when we began the Music Matters series of Blue Note LP reissues in 2007. We both have HUGE respect for the label, and it was like being given the keys to the dead sea scrolls of jazz!

Ron and I wanted to present the most elegant available editions of the Blue Note titles that we licensed. We wanted these to be definitive in every way, from the mastering to the pressings, packaging, and authenticity of the artwork, including the actual labels.

The work of mastering engineer Kevin Gray had continually impressed me over the years. His system was exceptionally clean and honest and I knew from experience that Kevin’s audio chain would tell us the truth about what was on those Blue Note masters. I will never forget the first time we heard a real Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note master tape on Kevin’s system. Let me tell you, those master tapes sound big, dynamic and real, as if the players are right in front of you! Ron and I were shocked at how great the master tapes sounded compared to the countless original pressing LP’s we had heard over the years, mostly from our own complete collections.

Our sonic goal became clear. We started on a quest to capture the sound of those master tapes on vinyl and to allow listeners to know what it would sound like to actually be in Rudy’s living room in Hackensack or later in Rudy’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. To this day, many say that the Music Matters Blue Note reissues are the finest way to experience what the music sounded like the day it was recorded.

A few years ago I began to hear that Don Was, President of Blue Note Records, was a huge fan of our reissue series. Not only that, but Don was starting to publicly say in interviews that we at Music Matters had “cracked the Blue Note code.” While working with Charles Lloyd on his most recent album for Blue Note Vanished Gardens, Don pulled me aside. He asked about every aspect of production, from the mastering, to the plating, pressing and jackets. He literally said, “however you do it for Music Matters, that’s how we want to do it here. And I want you to help us achieve that.” How could I say no?

And so that’s what we have here with the Tone Poet Series. (Tone Poet is a nickname that Charles Lloyd gave me many years ago.) The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come through unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session.

Moving on to LP pressing quality, after having many years of experience working with plating and pressing facilities throughout the world, Ron and I chose Record Technology, Inc. in Camarillo, CA for the Music Matters’ Blue Note series. Are they the cheapest? No …. far from it! But Don was unequivocal ….. “however you guys do this, that is what we’re going to do for the Tone Poet series!” Again, how could I say no?

When it comes to Blue Note LP packaging, extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket cover graphics to the printing quality. Every aspect of these Blue Note releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.