Blue Note 45rpm reissue

Jloveys: Thanks for your opinion. I have the Mobley "Soul Station" on order and am interested in how it sounds as well as the quality of the vinyl.

For the most part, I am simply not up to paying the prices for Blue Note originals (especially on the titles that typically go for huge money) and taking a chance on whether the record has been abused or has groove damage. That being said, some of the New York, USA Blue Notes, or even Liberty Blue Notes I have, for that matter, sound very, very good providing they have not been ridden hard and put away wet.

I've also read very good things about the King Blue Notes and am toying with the idea of acquiring a few of them.

I'm very curious, and may post a question at the Steve Hoffman forums as to whether the new re-issues are analog all the way through or whether they are subject to the common quickie digital delay to save cutting heads right at the end, as this may explain the sound quality you are describing.

High quality originals, or even 2nd or 3rd issues are very often hard to beat.

Thanks for your input.

The Hoffman and Gray mastering process is all analog with no digital preview in the circuit.
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I do respect the mastering work of mr. Hoffman and Gray, but the recording engineer who initialy mastered the tapes is Rudy Van Gelder who had the advantage to be in direct contact with the musicians and the sound we hear on the original records or every reissue with RVG stamped in is the sound the artists wanted to have. Sould be interesting to ask living legends like Sonny Rollins or Lou Donaldson what they think about that.
Another problem with very quiet noise floor pressings is when there is a small click or pop you hear it like an explosion !
Of course the price of originals is ridiculously high, but 50 buck's ain't nothing, and limiting the copies like they do is producing a collectible , lots of sellers buy them to make profit on e-bay, like mosaic boxes, but the quality of the mosaic is far superior, because they are historicaly complementary of the original release, not just plain reissues.I am scared to see time passing , mastering engineers passing, the original musical message fainting, like most of actual blue note remixes.
Limiting the number of copies of a plain reissue is not deserving the music lover and audiophile, it is just making more money to those e-bay thiefs who are just robbing you, audiophiles. That is why I prefer to give my money to Blue Note who is maybe producing (very little) lesser quality reissues, but the profit goes to promote new artists . Music should reach everyone, not a limited quantity numbered of persons. This is democracy.

I must add that the whole thing about this hobby is EMOTION.
The way music makes you cry sometimes. Easier in a jazz club with live musicians than on your sofa. If the recording is too accurate and dry , all the emotional impact is vanishing. I think it depends a lot of the emotional mood of the engeneer at that time. Maybe Steve Hofman was in a bad mood on that record . I have a friend who has them all to now . I'll post my opinion .
It must be difficult to master without musician, just tapes. Virtual world.

Jloveys, the licensing with EMI, who now own the Blue Note catalog, determines the number of copies Music Matters and Analogue Productions are allowed to press. This is a very expensive undertaking, and from Joe Harley's comments posted on the Hoffman Music Forum it is quite apparent that EMI is monitoring the quantity pressed quite strictly. Could they have contracted to press a larger number? Possibly. But they are the ones who had to pay the entire press run licensing fee up front and find the capital to do that, not you nor I.

"Remember, we have our life savings in this venture. It's our asses on the line, no one else."
Joe Harley, post at Steve Hoffman Music Forums

As to the sonics of these 45 rpm stereo reissues, The folks behind this effort are quite clear on their objectives: they are trying to put onto vinyl the best sounding pressings of these master tapes possible, not trying to match what folks may be used to hearing on the originals, but to put out something as close as possible to what one hears when playing back the original master tape. They openly acknowledge that these will not sound like other pressings of these recordings that people may be used to hearing. Joe Harley notes in one of his posts:

"We definitely encourage that [a direct comparison between a mint original and these new re-issues] Audiolab. Between Ron and myself, we have mint copies of practically the entire Blue Note catalog. As you can imagine, one of the first things we did when the mastering process began was to make those comparisons."

I will tell you that these pressings sound different from the originals. I'll leave it for you to decide whether they are better or not."
Joe Harley, post at Steve Hoffman Music Forums