Blue Note 45rpm reissue

Dan_ed, these will all be issued in stereo (with a possible few exceptions with some of the earliest titles). From Joe Harley's comments on the Music Matters web site:

"The mono vs. stereo question confronts anyone dealing with reissues of Rudy Van Gelder’s Blue Note masters."

If the goal is getting to the essence of the music, we discovered that you cannot take a dogmatic view of this issue. Rudy Van Gelder first began recording Blue Note sessions in stereo in March of 1957. From then until an October 30, 1958 Art Blakey session, Rudy simultaneously ran both mono and stereo session tapes. After that session, Rudy abandoned the practice of running both mono and stereo session tapes and recorded strictly in stereo. The evidence is there for anyone to see who examines the original master tapes. When Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Ron Rambach and I began our first mastering session with our first six Blue Note masters we couldn’t help noticing the clearly marked (by Alfred Lion) notations indicating “monaural masters made 50/50 from stereo master” on the master tape boxes. Quite frankly, our expectation going into this project was that both mono and stereo masters existed and that the mono masters would probably be preferred. After all, in the LP collector market it is the mono Blue Notes that are most prized. Steve, Kevin, Ron and I put up the first tape (Horace Parlan’s great “Speakin’ My Piece” session) with an open mind. To our collective surprise, when listening to the master tape, the stereo was greatly preferred to the (summed) mono. There was no doubt that the stereo presentation much more clearly presented the quintet performing these six great tunes that July day in 1960 at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs studio. The stereo presentation revealed more air, more detail and more sheer life than the mono. The mono playback was a wonderful remembrance of the old LP we all knew and loved. The stereo playback from the original masters was eerie. It was like going back in time to that day in Rudy’s studio. Quite simply, the stereo masters revealed more of what it was like to be there that day."

Listening to tape after tape during that first two-day mastering session revealed the same thing. And every one of those master tape boxes had the same hand written notation “mono master made from 50/50 stereo.” For me, and for everyone involved, the great RVG mono/stereo controversy had been solved once and for all."

...As good as the mono originals are, after the October 30, 1958 session at Van Gelder Studios the mono masters were made by folding down the original stereo master. Once we heard the actual stereo masters, the decision was made: when a stereo Blue Note master exists, we will use that stereo master to cut our lacquers for this series."
http://www.musicmattersjazz.com/sound.html

Thanks Rushton,

I had read that but didn't really know what the mono distribution was within the series.

Anyone able to share comparatives of these Music Matters to Analogue Production in sound and pressing quality?

Hmmm..., The Analogue Production Blue Notes have not yet been released. But both the AP and the Music Matters Blue Notes are/will be mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray on the same equipment, and both are/will be pressed in the same pressing plant, RTI. They should be identical in their sonics, the difference will be in the packaging.

From what I hear comparing the Fantasy 45 series from Analogue Productions and the first of the two Blue Notes from Music Matters, I don't expect to hear any sonic differences between the Blue Notes from Analogue Productions and the Blue Notes from Music Matters.
.

Just got notification that my first two copies have been shipped. Can't wait to track the quality of these given that RTI is pressing them, or so I understand. Hopefully, the guys at Music Matters have a good process in place that may stand as a model for others wishing to do reissues.