Blue Note's TONE POET series.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

My comment was in response to the post about recent Tone Poet reissues sticking to titles you hold in "high regard", which I took to mean "favorites". I have a lot of favorite Blue Note CDs, but even I would not consider the entire Blue Note catalog as a favorite.

I also have to say, that a lot of my favorite Blue Notes were released in the Music Matters Jazz 33 rpm series, which I'm glad I got.

[Eric]

12 hours ago, Joe Harley said:

What was stated: "I might believe that these are Joe's favorites but I'm sure this rule is forcing Joe to skip some records that he normally wouldn't." My not wanting to endlessly repeat the same great titles we did at MMJ over and over again has nothing to do with my choice of titles for the Tone Poet program. I love all of those titles we did at MMJ. And I love what we are doing now.  There are SO many great titles that have yet to be reissued. And remember, we draw from the whole family of Blue Note labels, including Pacific Jazz, UA, World Pacific, Transition, Capitol and many more. Can we please everyone, all the time? No. But this is the most successful vinyl reissue program in the history of the label. We appear to be pleasing quite a few.

Thanks for your vision Joe - the album selection has been fantastic.  I have loved all the LT/Rainbow titles, among others.  Now, every Big John Patton title please 😂

[dougcrates]

3 hours ago, Eric said:

Thanks for your vision Joe - the album selection has been fantastic.  I have loved all the LT/Rainbow titles, among others.  Now, every Big John Patton title please 😂

I agree with Eric's sentiments.  I have all the Tone Poet releases and hope the program continues well into the future .   I am curious about which Capitol titles might be in play??

[Pim]

16 hours ago, Joe Harley said:

What was stated: "I might believe that these are Joe's favorites but I'm sure this rule is forcing Joe to skip some records that he normally wouldn't." My not wanting to endlessly repeat the same great titles we did at MMJ over and over again has nothing to do with my choice of titles for the Tone Poet program. I love all of those titles we did at MMJ. And I love what we are doing now.  There are SO many great titles that have yet to be reissued. And remember, we draw from the whole family of Blue Note labels, including Pacific Jazz, UA, World Pacific, Transition, Capitol and many more. Can we please everyone, all the time? No. But this is the most successful vinyl reissue program in the history of the label. We appear to be pleasing quite a few.

I am really enjoying the reissue series and I like the diversity in the program which makes it much more exciting than the rather tame Verve Acoustic Sounds series. Also glad not everything is my taste as than it would become a very expensive habit collecting those TP’s. I do pity the fact that all the MMJ’s are skipped as those limited and extremely expensive releases aren’t quite really avaible to most people. 

[Brad]

Since we have Joe’s attention, how about a Three Sounds disc. It’s been years since BN reissued one. 

[danasgoodstuff]

I may have said this before, but since I already own perfectly good versions of most of BN's catalog, I haven't bought many Tone Poets and no Classics, but the 4 I got have all been very good - no pressing flaws and very good sound.  For the records, BM, Bring It Home to Me; HV, Steppin' Out; DP, The Phantom; and HM, Curtain Call.  There are 2 in the next batch I'm thinking of getting.  I would buy 3 Sounds I don't already have but I don't do upgrades generally.  Keep up the good work Joe.  And yes, I definitely noticed the wonky piano sound on the samples of Black Fire I heard online, not so much elsewhere.

[Pim]

I don't do vinyl upgrades as well except for the 75th anniversary series. Those really sound crappy sometimes. I don't need to buy Tina Brooks' True Blue nor Jackie McLean's Let Freedom Ring as I own perfect other versions of them. But I did sell my Hutcherson's Happenings and Joe Henderson's Mode For Joe to buy them in the new classic series.

[Joe Harley]

On 11/23/2023 at 10:45 AM, dougcrates said:

I agree with Eric's sentiments.  I have all the Tone Poet releases and hope the program continues well into the future .   I am curious about which Capitol titles might be in play??

You'll be seeing a few of those starting in 2025, already mastered. And thank you!

On 11/23/2023 at 10:46 AM, Pim said:

I am really enjoying the reissue series and I like the diversity in the program which makes it much more exciting than the rather tame Verve Acoustic Sounds series. Also glad not everything is my taste as than it would become a very expensive habit collecting those TP’s. I do pity the fact that all the MMJ’s are skipped as those limited and extremely expensive releases aren’t quite really avaible to most people. 

Many of the titles we put out at MMJ are showing up in the Blue Note Classic Series at very affordable prices.

On 11/23/2023 at 12:53 PM, Brad said:

Since we have Joe’s attention, how about a Three Sounds disc. It’s been years since BN reissued one. 

You'll be seeing some of those in the Blue Note Classic Series Brad.

[danasgoodstuff]

Happy to hear we'll be getting some 3 Sounds Tone Poets.  I enjoy the early work very much and wouldn't mind a further expansion of Live at the Lighthouse if the tapes still exist.

[Brad]

Joe, that is awesome news. Thanks very much. I look forward to that, as well as hearing what others who have not been exposed to them think. 

[Pim]

8 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Happy to hear we'll be getting some 3 Sounds Tone Poets.  I enjoy the early work very much and wouldn't mind a further expansion of Live at the Lighthouse if the tapes still exist.

I think Joe mentioned they will not be Tone Poet but Classic Vinyl Series.

[danasgoodstuff]

15 hours ago, Pim said:

I think Joe mentioned they will not be Tone Poet but Classic Vinyl Series.

You're right, make that I'm happy to get some 3 Sounds reissues in either series.

[Face of the Bass]

I like the Tone Poet series. The quality is very good and I just pick out the albums I really love as it's nice to have them in vinyl with the larger cover art. 

Blue Notes does seem though to be in a bit of a logical conundrum. The Tone Poet series tends to focus more on more obscure releases, the kinds of titles that used to come out in the Connoisseur Series on CD. Meanwhile, they also have the Classic Vinyl series, which is good but doesn't have as much artwork. So they are doing nicer releases for the obscure stuff, and more ordinary releases for the most popular items in the BN catalog. Kind of seems backwards from what you might want. 

[Eric]

2 hours ago, Face of the Bass said:

I like the Tone Poet series. The quality is very good and I just pick out the albums I really love as it's nice to have them in vinyl with the larger cover art. 

Blue Notes does seem though to be in a bit of a logical conundrum. The Tone Poet series tends to focus more on more obscure releases, the kinds of titles that used to come out in the Connoisseur Series on CD. Meanwhile, they also have the Classic Vinyl series, which is good but doesn't have as much artwork. So they are doing nicer releases for the obscure stuff, and more ordinary releases for the most popular items in the BN catalog. Kind of seems backwards from what you might want. 

I rather prefer it this way.  I don't need yet another super-duper version of Moanin' or The Sidewinder.  But Katanga (Curtis Amy) or Dance With Death (Andrew Hill), bring it on.  They are doing a number of the Japan-first, Rainbow-later titles with cool artwork. 

[Face of the Bass]

On 2/28/2024 at 10:17 PM, Eric said:

I rather prefer it this way.  I don't need yet another super-duper version of Moanin' or The Sidewinder.  But Katanga (Curtis Amy) or Dance With Death (Andrew Hill), bring it on.  They are doing a number of the Japan-first, Rainbow-later titles with cool artwork. 

That's a good point, but if you want a new vinyl copy of the more common titles, what super-duper versions are in print right now? I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like to see them do the Tone Poet treatment for their whole catalogue from the 1950s and 1960s. 

[Brad]

The issue I have is that if I have the cd of a Tone Poet or a Classic, I don’t want to duplicate what I have but will make exceptions. 

[JSngry]

Tone Poet 78s!!! 

[Eric]

6 hours ago, Face of the Bass said:

That's a good point, but if you want a new vinyl copy of the more common titles, what super-duper versions are in print right now? I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like to see them do the Tone Poet treatment for their whole catalogue from the 1950s and 1960s. 

Most of the popular titles are in print in the Classic series which runs concurrently with the Tone Poet series.  So best of both worlds, I think.

[mjazzg]

Anyone interested in the Ornette box, Honest Jons have their last copy listed at 50%, £120

https://honestjons.com/shop/artist/Ornette_Coleman/release/Round_Trip_Ornette_Coleman_on_Blue_Note

[Eric]

On 11/17/2023 at 5:08 PM, danasgoodstuff said:

I like Kofi at least as much as the stuff from that time that was issued initially, Kofi didn't come out til long after.

This coming out on October 4th.  Available for pre-order on the Blue Note site, although not sure why you would.  I also enjoy this one very much.  They have changed their cover photo ever so much, between a shot of Byrd playing versus looking out.  I prefer this one.  This will be one of my few Tone Poet buys this year.

https://store.bluenote.com/collections/tone-poet-series/products/donald-byrd-kofi-lp-tone-poet-vinyl-series

Edited August 10 by Eric

[David Ayers]

So I’m about to take the leap back into BN vinyl, both Tone Poet and Classic. The Classics I have seen in store are of European origin. Haven’t checked any Tone Poets yet. Are the BNs I find in the UK, or order directly from the BN website, always going to be Europe-made? Are there any quality differences re. pressings, jackets, or anything else? What’s the best approach for me to source these?

[sidewinder]

1 hour ago, David Ayers said:

So I’m about to take the leap back into BN vinyl, both Tone Poet and Classic. The Classics I have seen in store are of European origin. Haven’t checked any Tone Poets yet. Are the BNs I find in the UK, or order directly from the BN website, always going to be Europe-made? Are there any quality differences re. pressings, jackets, or anything else? What’s the best approach for me to source these?

I have a few of the Classics and all seem to be made in Europe - I think they are pressed by Optimal in Germany. They sound fine albeit the sleeves are a bit skimpy.

The Tone Poets IMO are better all round and more expensive - pressed by RTI in the US (as with the Music Matters series from some years back) and with tip-on sleeves and original photography from the Wolff photo archive (ex-Mosaic). I find this series to be generally outstanding and up to Music Matters standards. Note that titles previously put out on Music Matters have been issued as Classics and not Tone Poets.

Honest Jon's and Juno have good selections of both series by mail order. The Blue Note UK store did have a recent 20% off sale but unfortunately it ended last night. Both if these are good series - the Tone Poets being top notch. Some of the older titles previously sold out have been given re-presses so worth keeping an eye open for these.

Edited August 29 by sidewinder

[David Ayers]

48 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

I have a few of the Classics and all seem to be made in Europe - I think they are pressed by Optimal in Germany. They sound fine albeit the sleeves are a bit skimpy.

The Tone Poets IMO are better all round and more expensive - pressed by RTI in the US (as with the Music Matters series from some years back) and with tip-on sleeves and original photography from the Wolff photo archive (ex-Mosaic). I find this series to be generally outstanding and up to Music Matters standards. Note that titles previously put out on Music Matters have been issued as Classics and not Tone Poets.

Honest Jon's and Juno have good selections of both series by mail order. The Blue Note UK store did have a recent 20% off sale but unfortunately it ended last night. Both if these are good series - the Tone Poets being top notch. Some of the older titles previously sold out have been given re-presses so worth keeping an eye open for these.

Thanks for the detailed answer. Very much appreciated!

[sidewinder]

No problem. From my experience you can't really go wrong with the Tone Poets. Two very recent issues which I've been particularly impressed with are Bobby Hutcherson's 'Medina' and Wayne Shorter's 'Odyssey of Iska'. The latter also has an insert with new sleeve notes.

Real attention to detail - the (again recent) Donald Byrd/Doug Watkins Transition titles also have facsimile Transition booklets. I just wish that this series had been around in the 1980s when the best we were offered was the Pathe Marconi reissues.

One thing to mention is that the pressing quality of the Tone Poets by RTI in the US tends to be superior. Their quality control of late has been very good as well. Both series are in 180g pressings. They are cut by Kevin Gray so do differ sonically from original Van Gelders but I haven't found that to be a serious negative.

Edited August 29 by sidewinder

[mjazzg]

But those Pathés were water in a desert back then, to me at least 

Another fan of Tone Poets here.