OJC, TOCJ, K2, RVG ???

[LJazz]

Would someone be so kind as to give me a brief "reissues 101" primer, so I can make some sense of this alphabet soup. I know the RVGs are the Rudy Van Gelder reissues, but I don't really know how all of these things compare and/or whether there are duplicates among the various reissues, etc.

I've been listening and buying jazz for a while, but never really payed much attention to these things until I started frequenting the forum and saw all of the discussion. If there is an existing thread that I missed and that explains this, feel free to point me to it.

Thanks!

[Clunky]

K2= high mountain mastered by Japanese

[Claude]

- OJC = Original Jazz Classics, a reissue series started by Fantasy Records in the 1980's, from the vast catalogues of the Riverside, Prestige, Contemporary, Pablo, Milestone labels. Fantasy was recently taken over by Concord Records

- K2 = a remastering technology created by JVC, used on many japanese reissues as well as the K2 reissue series by Fantasy. The Fantasy K2 series has been discontinued and the CDs are going OOP.

- TOCJ (Toshiba Company Japan?) = a japanese Blue Note CD reissue series started in the early 90's, and now discontinued. The CDs had the original Blue Note album numbers, and no bonus tracks. Although the TOCJ accronym is also used on the later JRVG series (with different numbers), collectors use the term TOCJ to designate that early reissue series.

Edited July 7, 2006 by Claude

[Parkertown]

TOCJ = Toshiba Compact Jazz. There are TOCP's as well. = Toshiba Compact Pop

But here we use TOCJ to denote the "Blue Note Works" series that Claude refers to. This is only when discussing Blue Notes, and their affilitated labels (i.e. Pacific Jazz). The Japanese RVGs we refer to as JRVGs, even though their catalog numbers begin with TOCJ.

The K2 technology was also used on the domestic & Japanese XRCD series by JVC.

BTW, I liked Clunky's answer the best. LMAO...

---

LJazz: that means Laughing My Ass Off...heh...

[J.A.W.]

  Parkertown said:

TOCJ = Toshiba Compact Jazz. There are TOCP's as well. = Toshiba Compact Pop

According to Hiroshi Tanno:

TOCJ = Toshiba CD Jazz

TOCC = Toshiba CD Classical

TOCP = Toshiba CD Popular

[Parkertown]

Well, we're gettin' there!

[LJazz]

Thanks for the info. So ... is there any general consensus as to which reissues have better sound (I'm sure this is a dangerous question )

[jazzbo]

That's a personal thing. I like RVGs and JRVGs and K2s and others dislike the RVGs and JRVGs and like the (to me dull/smooth sounding) TOCJ remasterings. Best to try for yourself in your system and draws your own conclusioins.

[take5]

Depends on the album.

RVGs get bashed a lot, I think partly 'cause they sometimes deserve it, and partly 'cause they're so ubiquitous.

In some thread a while back, don't remember if it was this forum or another one, everyone was bashing on the RVGs. So then I said well what about this one? and they said oh yeah that one's good... what about this one? oh that one's good.. etc. So I just happened to pick all of the exceptions? Right...

A lot of these arguments tend to focus on what sounds "closer to the original source material." Well, sometimes the original source material sounds like crap. At the time, they didn't necessarily know they were recording a future masterpiece classic, it was just another record date, and they didn't necessarily treat the tapes preciously.

Some of the albums have a general consensus as to which versions are preferrable, and some result it discussions that look like there is no way the people talking about have been listening to the same thing.

[sal]

The K2's had the best sound, IMO. I'm sad to see them go.

[Claude]

The RVG sound is controversial but quite consistent. You like it or not, but you usually know what you get.

But the JRVG series some has some real stinkers, CDs that sound like AM radio, while other sound great. It's much more unreliable than the domestic RVG series.

[couw]

  Claude said:

The RVG sound is controversial but quite consistent. You like it or not, but you usually know what you get.

But the JRVG series some has some real stinkers, CDs that sound like AM radio, while other sound great. It's much more unreliable than the domestic RVG series.

same goes for the domestic series (RVGs): some real stinkers in the early batches.

same goes for the recent 24bit Japanese BN reissues (more TOCJs, this time TOCJ24s or whatever): some utter stinkers and some real good ones.

In the end, if you want consistently good sounding BNs, go for the TOCJ BNWorks series. They all sound the same. Some might sound better in another series, but at least all BNWorks CDs sound like the next one.

Edited July 7, 2006 by couw