The Blue Note Lounge

I have long suspected that the success of the Music Matters Blue Note series without Steve Hoffman is like a festering sore on Hoffman. A year ago or so I was barred from the site for taking MM's side on a contentious issue. 

It amuses me this morning to report that a dear friend of mine, Don Mason, whom I've shared numerous listening sessions with, has just been banned this morning from the Hoffman forums. Don was banned cuz he described Gene Harris' piano on Blue Hour as sounding "peach plum perfect" or is it "plum peach perfect". His other sin was that he dared to point out to another member that Point of Departure, Matador, Speak No Evil, Workout, The Golden 8, Hub-Tones, Right Now, Us Three, and Unity are all first rate Blue Note titles.

On the other hand I warned Don that he would run into problems on Hoffman if he praised the work Kevin Gray and Ron Rambach are doing on these reissues too much on that site. I dare say my friend Don has learned a valuable lesson about Hoffman. Can't help but laugh at his predicament.

I had warned him that the environment on Hoffman's site has so much in common with Orwell's 1984 and Animal House.

In lieu of this development,

I once again salute LJC for being a devotee of free speech. For having the confidence to all expression of ideas on his forum, even the ideas that challenge his own, without resorting to censorship.

"Do you remember Longfellow's Children's Hour? Well, this is the Blue Hour and it is not for children"---Ira Gitler from the Blue Hour liner notes

“If you’ve got it, flaunt it” is always been the American way. It’s a mentality the rest of the world might frown upon but Americans will never stop flaunting our wealth; our military, and certainly our pop culture. Yes, there is a lot of resentment out there against America for this very reason; truth be told life is too short for most Americans to give a damn about how the world feels about us, and truth be told Americans will keep “flossing” so long as we got “it”.


“It” is the mojo that propels the great tradition of American flaunting. Music Matters and Blue Note Records with the help of mastering engineer Kevin Gray have got “it” in spades and they are not afraid to flaunt. The recent reissue of Blue Hour BN 4057 by Music Matters is a case in point. It would seem that Ron Rambach and Kevin Gray have fully embraced the “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” mentality. Indeed why not flaunt it if you’ve got some of the best analog master tapes in the world at your disposal?


This “flaunting” approach is in direct opposition to the Steve Hoffman “breath of life” approach that dominated some of Music Matters early 45rpm BN reissues. An approach that led to a rolled off sound and sort to attain an exaggerated moist warm sound in the early 45rpms by rolling off the top end and bloating the bottom end. It is a sound that became known in some myopic circles as the “audiophile sound”. I for one never cared for it and I’m not alone in this regard.


Fast forward to the present; Music Matters sans Hoffman, and the records are now cut in 33rpm format, sound is bolder, raw and raunchier. The dynamics are in your face. Put it bluntly, these 33rpm records from Music Matters are a delight to anyone who listens to music and a torture to anyone who’ve trained their hearing all these years to believe that the “breath of Hoffman” is how records are meant to sound. No longer are RVG’s wondrous master tapes subdued by EQ.


Back to Blue Hour; it is one of those odd recordings in the BN catalog that does not share the typical genealogy of most albums from that era. BN 4057 has a lot in common with some of the classic movies of Hollywood golden age. Like those movies it is mostly the vision of a producer. This was Alfred Lion putting a record together the way David O. Selznick would have put a movie production together. Like those golden age movies BN 4057 is more the vision of the producer than that of the artists involved, but because producers are usually not seen as creators it is harder to ascribe credit to one person.


For some Blue Hour is a 3 Sounds album. For others it is a Stanley Turrentine record, but the truth lies somewhere between these two points of view. That truth is Alfred Lion put together this one time collaboration between Stanley Turrentine (who was mostly known for his association with Horace Parlan Trio) and the most commercially successful Blue Note trio, The 3 Sounds. The cover of the record is a dead give away of the album’s unusual genealogy. Unlike most Blue Note albums that usually placed the band leader’s name above the supporting cast, the cover of Blue Hour reflects the equal billing given to Turrentine and the 3 Sounds. The names are written on the same line mid-jacket, “Stanley Turrentine With The 3 Sounds”. The “with” in the billing signifying that this is a joint effort and not a band led by any one man. Lion saw the potential in pairing Turrentine’s soulful tenor with the pop oriented sensibilities of The 3 Sounds and his instincts paid off magnificently. Ira Gitler puts it more eloquently in his liner notes for the album, “The wedding of Turrentine The Three Sounds is the work of an astute matchmaker”.


Musically Blue Hour is kin to Ike Quebec’s Blue and Sentimental BN 4098. Both records are comprised entirely of Blues Ballads. Pedigree-wise Blue Hour is a more sultry and sexier affair. As Gene Harris’ piano fades into focus like a moon light over a warm summer evening my mind conjures up a film noir femme fatale in form-fitting evening dress strolling into a picturesque night club, red lipstick and stiletto, all eyes on her. Yes, this is late hour music to sway to, music to cuddle with as you inhale cigarette smoke in bed after a love making session.


To this listener, The 3 Sounds never sounded better than they do on this record. Stanley Turrentine is soulful as ever. RVG lavishes equal attention on all the instruments involved. It’s as if he’s honoring the idea that this is a group album this way. The remastering job by Gray and Rambach has me throwing around audiophile phrases such as “attack and decay” unabashedly. But it is the transparent sound that wafts through my speakers as I listen to this album that floors me. This is how analog recordings should sound, in your face, around you and overloading your senses. In all an A+ job by Gray and Rambach; a mastering team at the top of their game.
With all this talk about “flaunting” it is easy to assume that is all there is to Americans; far from it, we are one of the sexiest country in the world. Blue Hour is ample proof of our sexiness…oh! Dear me, I feel like I’m flaunting agai
n. Best to stop now.

all i have to say on your post, rich, is HERE HERE!

This is the first chance I've had to peek in over here in a while...

Alun, when I say "free speech" I mean just what you describe "it's just plain old-fashioned, grown-up, civilised behaviour...", well put.

On Blue Hour and The Scene Changes, I have a feeling if you hear the MM33 pressings your appreciation for both records is likely to go up.

On Hoffman: I don't habor any ill will toward the man and neither does my friend. But I'm not likely to avoid bringing his name up if it is pertinent to a particular topic of interest to me.  For good or worse he is a part of the Music Matters Blue Note lore. I find it perturbing when people make a federal case out of any criticism leveled at him. You are quite right, the MM Blue Note reissues are better without Hoffman, they are better cause all the mastering duties are now handled by Kevin Grey and Ron Rambach two individuals who do not think they are smarter than RVG, two people who appreciate what's on those master tapes. The proof of all this is in the pudding. If my saying this is annoyance to anyone...well, there's nothing I can do to help it.

For what it's worth, I have Music Matters 45 RPM copies of The Opener and Candy, both mastered by Hoffman apparently, and I think both sound great...to each his/her own.