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Post by Admin on Jun 25, 2015 19:13:07 GMT
..."greatest Jazz Messengers line up ever, Dorham, Mobley, Silver, Watkins and Blakey".....
Yes I go with that: m.m.m.mocha Mobley, Silver's smiling piano, Dorham's athletic figures, Blakey's steam engine drive, Watkins workman-like walkin'. Its my favourite Messengers, though it's a close call.
I have a hankering for the early '60s Liason Francais, bienvenue Barney Willen, though it ties with Golson's Moanin' , dammit they are all fine. Mind you, the very earliest Clifford Brown/ Lou Donaldson 1954 vintage is no slouch.
The Blakey nest hatched a lot of fledgelings that went on to fundamentally enrich the genre, the debt is incalculable (unlike US govt. debt)
What's your favourite Blakey ensemble - and more importantly, why?
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Post by dottorjazz on Jun 25, 2015 19:49:22 GMT
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Post by gregorythefish on Jun 26, 2015 17:20:34 GMT
oh man, hhhnnnnggggggg i'm so jealous. i ALMOST got an NM original of vol. 3 that was signed by donaldson, but the guy decided to keep it at the last minute. i was trading with a friend for several of my duplicates of trane's impulses. he didn't like the record too much. so close.
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Post by Spencer on Jul 4, 2015 3:48:44 GMT
..."greatest Jazz Messengers line up ever, Dorham, Mobley, Silver, Watkins and Blakey"..... Yes I go with that: m.m.m.mocha Mobley, Silver's smiling piano, Dorham's athletic figures, Blakey's steam engine drive, Watkins workman-like walkin'. Its my favourite Messengers, though it's a close call. I have a hankering for the early '60s Liason Francais, bienvenue Barney Willen, though it ties with Golson's Moanin' , dammit they are all fine. Mind you, the very earliest Clifford Brown/ Lou Donaldson 1954 vintage is no slouch. The Blakey nest hatched a lot of fledgelings that went on to fundamentally enrich the genre, the debt is incalculable (unlike US govt. debt) What's your favourite Blakey ensemble - and more importantly, why? I can't say that I have a Jazz Messengers lineup I prefer more than the others. Overall there is something about The Jazz Messengers ensembles led by Blakey that's never sat right with me. Try as I may I've never been able to put my finger on it. Individually, the musicians are impeccable but as whole I sometimes feel that their playing do not mesh well as you would expect from a band. "Free For All" and "Like Someone In Love" are my two favorite Jazz Messengers records. In that sense I guess I can say I like those two lineups the best |
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Post by dottorjazz on Jul 5, 2015 20:01:43 GMT
oh man, hhhnnnnggggggg i'm so jealous. well well GTF, jealous? sure you'll like this one, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, Jimmy Merritt and Art Blakey.    |
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Post by gregorythefish on Jul 6, 2015 0:31:35 GMT
oh believe me, dott, some of you fellows that have been in the game for a long time leave me VERY jealous VERY often. but i can't be too green. all this great music having a loving home is a beautiful thing.
now... how to make it MY loving home... hmmm...
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Post by Spencer on Sept 10, 2015 18:24:18 GMT
Here, ye Here ye! The honorable Music Matters Blue Note 33rpm reissue series is back for the fall session with two worthy titles to the list: Larry Young Unity Jackie Mclean Right Now!  Sound is phenomenal as usual. And with the new boilers that RTI has added to their plant the records are phenomenal. I hate to say it but this 33 of Unity is more visceral than the 45rpm. ka Boom! |
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Post by Spencer on Sept 20, 2015 17:32:19 GMT
has anyone else heard anything?
I recently caught wind of an unverified rumor that Music Matters is halting operations with regards to their Blue Notes. The rumor has it the series are coming to a halt. There's been rumors of MM ending their runs before but this time the one telltale evidence that might lend credence to this rumor is that on Music Matters and Elusive Disc website some of the 33s have gone up on prices from $35 to $40. To me price hikes are always the best evidence that demand for audiophile LPs have exceeded the supply (Which is to say the supply is dwindled or non existent).
Also, in its 9 years of operations I've never known Music Matters to alter pricing on their LPs but as of now on MM's own website all 33rpm LPs are up from $35 to $40. Now all this might mean cost of production is up with the recent installation of brand new boilers at RTI and brand new printing presses at Stoughton but it seems to me if that were the case why would the price hikes now coincide with the rumor of MM nearing the end of its run?
Needless to say if the rumors are true it has been a wonderful ride with Rombach, Harley & Gray. Without the series I would still be a CD guy. I'm sure I'm not the only guy who will be missing receiving 2 LPs a month in the mail. The series is without equal to me in the annals of record reissues, simply a heaven sent to anyone who loves Blue Note records.
I can only pray that this rumor is just that, a rumor and nothing more to it. On the other hand to be forewarned is to forearmed. So the saying goes.
Would anyone care to share some info on this?
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Post by alunsevern on Oct 12, 2015 8:41:19 GMT
Spencer, I think the rumour is true. My supplier (an official UK stockist/distributor) stated: "I've had confirmation of the rumour that's been circulating for while- there will be no Music Matters Blue Note issues after the December issues."
There is no further information explaining this decision on Music Matters' website.
SLIGHTLY LATER -- a bit more information. My source says that MM gave no reason for the decision. The company has apparently experienced above average returns due to faulty pressings and split jackets but by and large it seems these problems have been overcome. A more likely cause is that BN's current owners Universal have either terminated a contract/license or have increased licensing fees. It is suggested, for example, that Scorpio's license has been terminated and that the French reissuer Heavenly Sweetness has also abandoned BN reissues at the moment because Universal's royalty fee had increased to 50%.
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Post by Spencer on Oct 13, 2015 15:45:58 GMT
Spencer, I think the rumour is true. My supplier (an official UK stockist/distributor) stated: "I've had confirmation of the rumour that's been circulating for while- there will be no Music Matters Blue Note issues after the December issues." There is no further information explaining this decision on Music Matters' website. SLIGHTLY LATER -- a bit more information. My source says that MM gave no reason for the decision. The company has apparently experienced above average returns due to faulty pressings and split jackets but by and large it seems these problems have been overcome. A more likely cause is that BN's current owners Universal have either terminated a contract/license or have increased licensing fees. It is suggested, for example, that Scorpio's license has been terminated and that the French reissuer Heavenly Sweetness has also abandoned BN reissues at the moment because Universal's royalty fee had increased to 50%. Alun, I fear we’re hearing different rumors here. The information I got in no way indicates that MM has quality control issues, and my experience as a subscriber has been consistently top quality. I must say you yourself have in the past pointed out how you appreciate these MM reissues. The rumors about pressing issues were started over at Hoffman’s watering hole by his army of sycophants. How do I know? Cause my friend Don Mason was expelled from the Hoffman forums not too long ago for trying to get to the bottom of it. What Don found out was there were anywhere from 1 to 4 individuals over at Hoffman who kept insisting that their copies of Maiden Voyage had problems. Meanwhile almost none of these guys seemed interested in contacting MM or their dealers about getting replacements. They just wanted to keep saying I have a bad copy of Maiden Voyage over and over on Hoffman like a broken record (all Pun intended). To me and Don, and several of the Hoffman forum members that seemed odd and suspicious. One of the characters by his own admission got 3 or 4 replacement copies of Maiden Voyage and still wasn’t satisfied, which says more about him or her than it does about the records. “Faulty Pressings” is not a phrase one associates with MM. For the last nine years MM has been the reference standard by which all other reissue labels have been judged by; their presence in the market place has forced AP, Mofi, ORG, Impex, et. al to raise the quality of their reissues. HERE IS SOMETHING AUDIOPHILES TEND TO FORGET ABOUT MUSIC MATTERS. THE ARE THE ONLY LABEL THAT YOU CAN POINT TO WITH CERTAINTY AND SAY THEY ARE USING ANALOG TAPES. EVEN IF YOU CAN’T SEE IT YOU CAN HEAR IT IN THE WAY THE RECORDS SOUND. TO DO THAT THEY HAVE TO PUT A $1 MILLION INSURANCE ON EACH OF THESE TAPES IN ORDER TO TAKE THEM OUT THE VAULT. TO ME THAT IS COMMITMENT TO QUALITY! About Heavenly Sweetness, I commend them for being upfront about the digital sourcing, a trait rarely seen among reissue labels. More than likely Heavenly Sweetness was put out of the BN reissue business by Sony’s decision to launch their own digitally sourced pressings of BN titles under the supervision of Alan Yoshida. I remember reading and watching an interview Michael Fremer conducted with BN’s current President, Don Was, in which, Mr. Was specifically stated that the goal of Sony launching a BN reissue on LP was to reach entry level audience for vinyl. Mr. Was also stated that BN/Universal viewed MM as an up market product that eventually someday the entry level buyers will graduate to. Scorpio went belly up cause they made crap. That is one of the few examples of when record buyers closed their wallets off to an insidious reissue label and forced them out of the market place. I remember seeing retailers dumping Scorpio reissues not too long ago for as low as $7 or $8. In my lapse of judgement I bought a few and almost immediately turned around and sold them off to my record dealer. I don’t know for certain if MM is closing shop. For now I and others are merely speculating and drawing unsubstantiated conclusions on the matter and to some extent it can be fun speculating, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, I hope that rumors of an MM shutdown have been greatly exaggerated. |
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Post by alunsevern on Oct 13, 2015 18:23:16 GMT
Hi Spencer, I'm not sure we can talk of a MM "shut down", exactly. What my friend/record dealer said is that MM had informed him "in a brief note": "At this current time we have no plans to release any future Blue Note titles for 2016." As regards the quality control problems... You're probably right. I've just reread what my dealer said to me and he says there were "rumours" of increased returns... Certainly, of the ten or so MM33s I have bought, I have only had to exchange one -- and that was the most recent purchase, McLean's RIGHT NOW, which was warped -- not appallingly so, but more warped than an LP costing GBP32.00 should be!  Every other title I have bought -- and I'm not a subscriber or regular purchaser, just a very picky occasional buyer of titles that I know and love -- has been perfect. |
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Post by Spencer on Oct 13, 2015 21:36:16 GMT
Hi Spencer, I'm not sure we can talk of a MM "shut down", exactly. What my friend/record dealer said is that MM had informed him "in a brief note": "At this current time we have no plans to release any future Blue Note titles for 2016." As regards the quality control problems... You're probably right. I've just reread what my dealer said to me and he says there were "rumours" of increased returns... Certainly, of the ten or so MM33s I have bought, I have only had to exchange one -- and that was the most recent purchase, McLean's RIGHT NOW, which was warped -- not appallingly so, but more warped than an LP costing GBP32.00 should be! Every other title I have bought -- and I'm not a subscriber or regular purchaser, just a very picky occasional buyer of titles that I know and love -- has been perfect. Agreed, Alun. What are your thoughts on Right Now? |
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Post by alunsevern on Oct 14, 2015 8:21:44 GMT
I'm still getting familiar with it, Spencer. Until recently -- and to my shame -- I had never heard it before. POOR ERIC alone is worth the price of admission. It's one of the most beautiful but restrained solos I have heard McLean take.
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Post by Spencer on Oct 14, 2015 14:34:16 GMT
I'm still getting familiar with it, Spencer. Until recently -- and to my shame -- I had never heard it before. POOR ERIC alone is worth the price of admission. It's one of the most beautiful but restrained solos I have heard McLean take. Me too. I've seen photos of the record cover before but never actually heard it b4. I don't know why I didn't get the hint from Reid Miles' cover work but I was taken back by the urgency of the record left ward veer. I was expecting a straight Hard Bop affair but it seems that would not be the case. Hey, speaking of rumors something is going on with MM for sure. I learned yesterday that they are now offering free shipping within the continental United States. |
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Post by alunsevern on Oct 14, 2015 18:07:30 GMT
As you know, I'm no great fan of hard bop and all my favourite BN records are the least hard bop ones. That's why i like RIGHT NOW so much. McLean is branching out -- effortlessly, genuinely, pushing the boundaries...but free of the mannerisms of freedom he sometimes used at earlier times when he was finding the straitjacket of hard bop too confining...
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Every other title I have bought -- and I'm not a subscriber or regular purchaser, just a very picky occasional buyer of titles that I know and love -- has been perfect.