Brad

80 is not so old these days. RIP.

It was a bit of a struggle but finished it. Due to the way he put it together, it’s uneven. I can’t say I loved it but glad I read it.

I see he goes back to the 1700s. Impressive. Dying at work is not the way to go, in my opinion, as my father died of a heart attack at work. Moreover, has anyone ever died wishing that they coukd have worked more?

Here is an interview by Scotty, a member at Hoffman, who I believe is in the record industry, with Joe Harley of the TP Program. ***** Scotty: Could you explain the process that you go through from choosing a particular tape, to the mastering and cutting of a record and then onto the test pressing for you guys to approve? JH: Once a title list is approved, I get with Jack Arenas, who is in charge of the Capitol vault. I send him my list and he begins the process of sourcing all the masters. I get confirmation of masters from Jack and then, as each title comes up for mastering I direct Jack to send the master to Kevin Gray in advance of mastering. In instances where both mono and stereo masters exist, I direct Jack to send both, so we can evaluate. Once Kevin and I have had our mastering session, the mastered lacquers are then sent overnight to RTI for am delivery. That same night I let RTI know of the incoming lacquers and I request that they be processed immediately upon receipt. Once RTI is able to do the test pressings, those tests are sent to me, Cem and several other people at BN. We all listen to the tests and once approved (or rejected) I let RTI know the results. Scotty: At what point does the type of jacket, photos if available or the Thomas Conrad essay come into play? JH: I begin gathering materials for the jackets as soon as the mastering is done. This includes photos (assuming they are available) for BN sessions. In the case of BN albums that were not originally released, I look through the photos and select the cover shot. Then I get with the graphic firm (Meat and Potatoes, Inc) that handles (superbly) jacket layout and give them direction. In the case of non-BN releases from Pacific Jazz etc, the coordination with Meat & Potatoes still happens and then I get with Tom Conrad about the additional liner notes. 2. Scotty: How do you guys decide what will be a Tone Poet or one of the deeper BNC titles? JH: It’s pretty simple really…I listen every night to records I dig out from my collection, which is enormous. I make lists…..I’ve been making lists for many years with notes and messages to myself about various albums. (“Do this!!!”) When I’m putting together potential lists for a year’s program of Tone Poet releases, I’m basically just making a program of albums I love from the whole BN family of labels. As everyone knows, this music covers an incredibly wide stylistic range. Everything from swing to bebop, post bop, soul jazz and avant. I love it all! When I do the monthly pairings I try to mix it up a bit and put something more straight ahead with something a bit more out. Once I have a year’s worth of paired titles together I send it over to Don for his blessing. So far (knock on wood) he always says something along the lines of “love it…inspired” or something similar. Cem Kurosman who runs the Classic Series, is a good friend and a total music head….we trade texts nearly every night about music and what we’re listening to. When I’m planning Tone Poet programs years in advance and I’ll sometimes ask if he has plans for a particular title, so we don't collide. He always says, if you want something, take it! He’s been focusing a lot on titles that Ron Rambach and I put out at Music Matters, which is great since I’m not into just repeating what I’ve already worked on. Cem is the real deal….I wish I could talk him into doing interviews! 3. Scotty: Many of us look forward to more from Solid State and Pacific Jazz. And how about Transition, can we expect anything there and how deep you plan to go outside of the standard BN releases? JH: You will absolutely see more from all of those labels, including Transition. Scotty: Thoughts on pre RVG recordings… JH: I love so many of those sessions, but, for the most part you’re dealing in the pre-tape era. That can present some real challenges, although thankfully, RVG did a lot of transfers from the metal parts to tape later on so we do have those sources. 4. Scotty: What is your view of the current state of the industry regarding all of the jazz records that almost seem like they are falling out of the sky right now? JH: It’s a beautiful thing! Scotty: Do you guys take that into account when deciding on how many copies of a particular record you press at first? JH: No. Scotty: Unfortunately many of us can’t afford to get every record we want, thus it appears folks are getting a bit more selective these days before they make a purchase. Does that make you think a bit harder on what you release and what you might be a bit hesitant on at first? JH: Not really. If you let anything but passion for the music dictate your choices for programs like these you risk diluting the purpose and vision for the whole program. Scotty: But maybe the attraction of the deep down the rabbit hole of jazz records that could be coming our way can get fans more and more interested to all of the undiscovered gems waiting to be heard… JH: I think that’s true. There’s a tendency I think for folks to think that this is all catering to older jazz vinyl fans. I think you'd be surprised to learn the real demographics….there are FAR more young people getting into this music we love on vinyl than you might expect. 5. Scotty: Thought we could change it up a bit here. Regarding your experience as a producer for AudioQuest Records by Larry Willis, Mokave, and Benny Wallace to name a few, do you have any fond memories there? JH: Oh my gosh…..so many! That Larry Willis album with Gary Bartz and Cecil McBee was done very old school with just a few mics. It was all done in a living room in a house out in MD. The great tenor sax master Bennie Wallace and I first started working together when I asked him to play on a Mighty Sam McLain album I was producing. That led to a number of fine albums for AudioQuest Music, GrooveNote and Enja. Those albums featured sidemen like Tommy Flanagan, Eddie Gomez and Kenny Barron. Go down that Bennie Wallace rabbit hole…you won't be sorry! Mokave….that was a group featuring pianist Larry Karush, bassist Glenn Moore and percussionist Glen Velez. Those records are incredible and the sonics will blow your mind. We did some great non-jazz albums as well, including several with Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner and singer Terry Evans. Those albums are epic. 6. Scotty: Apart from your love of the music, what technically makes working with RVG/Lion master tapes so interesting? JH: Depending on the era, and whether the session was at Hackensack or Englewood Cliffs, different issues can come up. Mostly this has to do with the fact that these are live to two track, meaning the mixing takes place on the fly, as the music is being played. If someone gets too close to a mic and “surprises” Rudy, you can get momentary overload, as Rudy quickly brings the level of that instrument down. Also, the headroom of the tape formulations they used at that time was far lower than what is commonly used now, meaning your margin of error between overload and hiss was much smaller. Kevin and I are always in awe of what Rudy managed to get, considering what he had to work with. Scotty: What is good, tricky, or surprising? JH: I’m forever surprised at how great those masters sound! When we put up a master tape of an album I’ve heard 100s of times over the years, there is always a eureka moment of how much more information is actually on the tape. 7. Scotty: Out of all of the MMJ and Tone Poet records released so far, could you share some of your favorites and why you feel that way about them? JH: I don't know how to answer this….I chose all of those titles because I love them. It's like asking a parent “who is your favorite child”? I love them all, including the 60+ titles that have already been mastered and not yet released. 8. Scotty: Lets talk some Charles Lloyd...How did the two of you meet and obvious an amazing friendship was built? JH: Charles and I met when we were both studying meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Switzerland back in the 70s. Scotty: What is it about his music and personality that attracted you to him? JH: Charles’ sound and tone is instantly identifiable. And it's a reflection of the man of course. Charles is a deeply spiritual person and a remarkable soul. He’s funny too! I first heard him in the late 60s when I, like so many others at the time, heard his magnificent Forest Flower album. I was hooked. Scotty: How in the heck does he keep doing what he does at such an amazing level of greatness? JH: Scotty that is a GREAT question! I don't have an answer but the fact that Charles at 85, continues to play at such a stratospheric level is a wonderful mystery for us to ponder. Scotty: Could we possibly get another record from him for the series? JH: Yes indeed…..we spent a week in the studio in Santa Barbara this past March with Charles and a band including Jason Moran on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass and Brian Blade on drums. Look for the results early next year on BN. Don and everyone at BN who have heard the results are, as Charles would say, extaterated! 9. Scotty: Wanted to ask you about lost or damaged tapes. We know Oleo, Sweet Honey Bee, and The Jody Grind are unfortunately not going to happen. But can you share any others that you might have wanted to use and found out you could not for one reason or the other? Many have wished for “Let Freedom Ring”, myself included. Any reason it was not chosen for the MMJ series? Hope it had nothing to do with the shape of the tapes. JH: Let Freedom Ring? No reason we didn't get to it at MMJ other than we just ran out of time. Stand by…. 10. Scotty: Kevin really seems to be on his game more than ever right now. The S/Q of these records are so consistently great, what the heck is going on here? JH: Kevin has his whole rig at a point where it is simply the best vinyl mastering chain I’ve ever heard. I can go to him with a session and know exactly what we’re going to get. His monitor system and mine at home are different….but tonally they are SO much alike! I come out of those sessions confident in what we got. Scotty: For a lack of better description, some say they sound like he is cutting hot at times, which we know he is not. Can you explain a bit what he is doing during the mastering process that gives some that impression? JH: I think you’re referring to average level? With LPs we try to maximise signal to noise level while never resorting to compression. Scotty: And do you ever stand back at times and go holy sh$$! (for a lack of better words) at what he brings to the table, or is it just business as usual…haha! JH: It’s never “biz as usual” and it's frequently “holy ****!”. Scotty: When you have had to master with a digital process, like the State of The Tenor records, what steps might be added differently to get the sound you achieve that make these sound so good… JH: Kevin has one of the greatest digital converters ever made, the Pacific Microsonics Model Two, which is a huge advantage when working with digital sources. And of course, his mastering chain is beyond supreme in my experience. 11. Scotty: When represses are done, is the amount pressed based on how well a particular record sold at first, and does current demand help play a role in that as well? JH: No, the amounts sold are pretty consistent, aside from Blue Train where many more were pressed to accommodate demand. Scotty: Is it possible at some time that certain titles will not see a repress? JH: I doubt it. 12. Scotty: I realize we are going to get defective records here an there. Regarding some of the issues with non-fill which seems to occur mostly with the BNC titles (all though I have been pretty fortunate myself) and just pressing issues in general, with the new plants opening and such are there any new Q/C standards being implemented to help minimize any issues that you are aware of? JH: Understand that test pressings are almost always perfect. Each of us receive two copies so that if there is a tic or pop one hears at exactly the same place on two copies, you know you need to clean the stamper or go back to the mother. Aside from that, most pressing issues come up in the midst of production, especially when it comes to issues like non-fill. Non-fill results when the molten vinyl puck does not flow completely during the press. The EU plants all use Toolex-Alpha machines or variations thereof. These do not operate under the same intense pressure that the older (and slower cycle) SMT presses have. However, they are more efficient and are quite capable of producing great pressings. Scotty: I will say that RTI does it best… JH: RTI uses SMT presses and they have many decades of experience using them. 13. Scotty: So many like the detail and overall presentation of the jackets. The awesome looking gatefolds with photos or the standard jacket with the Thomas Conrad essay which is a really nice touch. Do you guys ever go this needs to be a Tone Poet because of that or does it strictly come down to a matter of preference from your end? JH: No, the music comes first in deciding what to release. 14. Scotty: Is the reissue industry trying to use the master tapes where available and would assume that pretty much relies on the shape and who does the mastering. JH: I can only speak to what we are doing but we are very fortunate to have all of the analog masters available. I make it a point to make little 40 second videos at every session showing the master, the reels spinning on the Studer and the cutterhead cutting. You can see those on my Instagram (@jazzsaraswati) or my FaceBook. Scotty: It seems more and more with newly recorded music, all of the mastering is done at once, and if there is a vinyl version the already digitally mastered tape is sent for the engineer to just do the cutting process. JH: For newly recorded music that would mostly be a mastered file that would be sent for lacquer cutting, not a tape. For anything in the Tone Poet program that is more newly recorded I insist on never working with anything that has already been mastered. Same goes for the Classic Series. I have also been surprised at how often we find out that analog masters of BN titles that were released in the CD era, exist. You’ve seen some of that already with titles like ScoLoHoFo and a couple of others and you’ll see more of this in the future. Scotty: Does this seem the way of the land currently or…Not everyone has the studio setup like Kevin that’s for sure! 15. Scotty: Outside of jazz what types of music do you listen to the most? JH: I love classical music….Bach is frequently on in the mornings. But I listen to all kinds of music. Dylan is one of my long time favorites…..love his new album Rough and Rowdy Ways. A few days ago I was blown away by Blake Mills new LP “Jelly Road”. Scotty: And could you share a handful of your all time favorites including at least one rock record please…Also how about a couple of your favorite IPA’s as well? JH: I’m a sucker for the brews that Russian River offers….Blind Pig, Pliny. Scotty: And BTW, what was the most recent jazz concert you attended? JH: That would be the Kenny Barron Trio performance at SOKA University. Just superb! (And I had the great honor of being presented with the Jazz Monsters Hall of Fame award at that concert.) 16. Scotty: There are so many great bonus/outtakes from some of the recording sessions, could there ever be a plan, not from your series but maybe some type of special release highlighting some of the better ones, or are those just going to stay available on CDs and streaming? JH: You never know….could be a possibility. 17. Scotty: Are you starting to see younger people getting interested in how to master and maybe considering that line of work for a possible career? Are there enough opportunities for some to maybe consider it… JH: There are always new people getting involved thankfully. It’s never a static art. And if you’re really good at it, people will eventually become aware and you’ll stay busy. 18. Scotty: Overall, how happy were you with the sales of “Round Trip” and is there any chance we might see another boxset released at some time from the series? JH: Round Trip did exceptionally well. You’ll likely see some future box sets down the line. Scotty: I realize when you do those it can alter the schedule a bit, so I’m sure that comes into the thought process big time. JH: It can, due to pressing capacity, but that won't preclude occasional box sets in the future. 19. Scotty: It seems these days the sales of those $100 to $150 priced UHQR’s and One Steps are slowing down some. Do you attribute that to the higher quality we are getting from records priced for no more than $40 at least here in the US and is all of the choices playing into that as well? JH: I really have no visibility on sales figures for UHQR and One Step albums. Scotty: And regarding what some have to pay in Europe as an example because of taxes and shipping, any insight that anything could be put in place in the future to help with what folks pay for certain records over there? JH: We have no control over what retailers charge either in the US or the rest of the world. 20. Scotty: To kind of wrap things up, would you be able to share how far out you are with the mastering and choices from the series at this time? JH: As I mentioned above, we’re running about 2 ½ years ahead at this point, which works out to about 60 titles out front. JH: Finally, I'd like to wish everyone over at SHF well and give my deepest thanks for their continued interest in what we are doing at Blue Note. I think folks will be very pleased with what we have in store for you over the coming years.

This is Volume 2, volume 1 being The Definitive Fats Waller, Volume One: His Rhythm, His Piano. Volume 2 is Fats playing solo, whether singing and/or playing piano. Both are excellent.

IG has quite a few good jazz contributors. One of the best is jazzandcoffee.

I purchased the UHQR for KOB. It sounded very good but was it that much better than the MoFi I had and later sold. No, I can’t say it was. On the other hand, the Craft Records Small Batch of Eastern Sounds is amazing and was worth it to me.

Acoustic Sounds is releasing A Love Supreme on 45 RPM on UHQR. See https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/175752 A little pricey at 150 and hard to figure as it’s also been released by AS on their Acoustic Sounds series for 39.

I received tracking info.

The Orioles have also expressed interest. Another factor is JV’s 2025 option. Mets don’t want to pick that up or if they do, they’re going to want significant prospects.

I live about an hour away although I haven’t been there in a few months. Their LP selection is decent but not mind blowing. I don’t believe they grade their records (but I could be wrong). They have all kind of records and the prices are generally market. Their cd selection is not great. They do have plenty of Mosaics. This being the tourist season, parking on the streets, unless you park far away, isn’t going to be easy. However, even it’s slightly far away, it’s a nice walk on the Princeton streets. There is public parking near the Princeton library but it’s going to be crowded. There are plenty of places to eat, particularly on Witherspoon Street. On Nassau Street, between Witherspoon and S Tulane, there is a great bookstore (Labyrinth Books), if you’re so inclined. Even if you don’t find anything, making a trip to Princeton is worth it. Very walkable and a nice little city.

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know about the ebook but even if I had I wouldn’t have purchased it in that form.

I decided to purchase it, despite initial reservations, and while the music is good and a worthwhile purchase, the sound is so so but not surprising and enjoyed reading Rich Alderson’s notes. Elvin, Coltrane and Dolphy sound good enough but I couldn’t hear the piano and bass. Perhaps if I use headphones I will be able to hear them.

Could be in that both have intros by Chick Corea. However, this one is shorter than Reflectory; maybe the author omitted something in this new one. Different titles too.

There is a book about Pepper Adams coming out in September. Ethan Iverson in his Substack page, Transitional Technology, has an excerpt. https://open.substack.com/pub/iverson/p/tt-288-pepper-adams-by-gary-carner?r=b9oem&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post He also has a link to a website about Pepper Adams that looks fantastic. http://www.pepperadams.com

That is a good ‘un.

I have a bunch of extra booklets from Mosaic sales.

The above reminded me of Organissimo’s A Soulful Tribute to the Fab Four. Excellent, excellent album.

Leon Spencer is terrific but that is my least favorite Groove Holmes; it’s ruined by electric bass and electric piano. I would go with After Hours or most any other recording of his.

That would mean taking on a lot of debt. The likelihood of financial success is not high. Sapporo is already entertaining offers for sale of the assets so the employees are going to need come up with financing relatively quickly.

The Criterion Channel is showing at no cost Jon Else’s 1981 documentary, The Day After Trinity, about Oppenheimer. Highly recommended. You can also find it on YouTube.