Blue Note 45rpm reissue

Jloveys, I certainly did not intend to offer any criticism of you commenting on what is important to you for enjoying the music. That is truly fair game and good to share, and I've enjoyed the portions of your comments that focus on that. If I came across otherwise, I apologize.
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I, for one, don't think Jloveys had any agenda with respect to his original posting and appreciated his comparison with original or close to original pressings of the same performance. I felt he was evenhanded in his criticism and detailed what he heard without being nasty. There are lots of raves about the new BN reissues but almost all of them do not compare the reissues to originals.

Obviously, this is a subjective hobby and one person's better may be another person's worse. I'll be purchasing selective titles from both the MM and the AP reissues (unless I run into quality control issues) as I think, in the worst case scenario, they'll represent good value relative to originals costing $200-$500.

One must also bear in mind that recording quality was not absolutely consistent even with the Blue Note label; it depended on how things were set up that day at each individual recording session. So it is likely that, regardless of the quality of these performances, there will be qualitative differences in recording quality (regardless of what a fabulous job Mr. Hoffman and Gray do) with the master tapes.

MM and AP are to be commended for taking on the project and making this music available at semi-reasonable prices even if some people feel the originals sound better. I don't have a problem with that.

Jloveys, let me be clear. The third paragraph of your second post was not really necessary and sounded, to me, quite rant-ish. I hope these guys do make some money so maybe they and others will not be dissuaded from offering other series in the future. After all, even Van Gelder was hoping to make some money off of folks buying his recordings. Sorry if I mis-interpreted your meaning.

I do appreciate your comments on the comparisons to the originals. This series may not be true to the original releases. But if we can believe what Harley says, they may be more truer to the masters. I haven't checked out the dates but it may be possible to track the learning process that Rudy went through to get the end result he was looking for. Anyway, I think the music is very enjoyable. For someone such as myself who does not consider jazz their first choice but still wants to own the recordings, I still think this is a good, hassle free way to own some classic music.

Myself, I have been burned by many jazz reissues. Many are loaded with pressing flaws. I haven't tried the BN reissues you mention but I admit to being shell shocked at the prospect.

JLoveys, where can I get King reissues for less than $50? If you think the Hoffman issues are bright, you should try the Classics or EMI reissues (digital). I find it suprising that one would conclude the originals are warmer. Frankly, I rarely have heard a Hoffman release that sounded brighter than an original. Nevertheless, your comments are duly noted and respected. I'm no expert and my experience is limited in comparison to many.

I will say this. On the Hoffman Fantasy 45s, I found a few that were clearly not $40 better than their OJC counterparts. OJCS (George Horn mastered) always are brighter and thinner sounding. However, they are always a great listen. The difference appears to be that for Blue Note, there really is no OJC counterpart. Closest thing I guess would be the UA/Liberty Blue Notes with "van gelder" in the deadwax but even these go for $20 or more these days.

Finally, I find it surprising that a mono fold down from stereo tapes could sound better than the an issue/reissue from the original stereo tapes. Any explanation here? Maybe it's a matter of taste. I have always preferred stereo blue notes (not rechanneled stereo). It seems there was enough bleed in done by RVG to create a nice soundstage.

Thanks.

I'm sure Jloveys can defend himself, but, with respect to the King re-issues, they're commonly available on E-Bay between $25 and $50 or so-there's a bucket full of them on Buy it Now between $35 and $50 including a Mobley "Soul Station" at $38. Although I don't own any (I've got a couple of Toshiba Blue Notes but the Kings are reportedly better), I think they'd probably be a pretty good bet and less of a crapshoot than buying an actual original with respect to condition.

That being said, I have the Music Matters Mobley on order with a dealer I trade with because I've got a bag of credit there. If it sounds good and doesn't have quality control issues, I'll spring for others. I'd agree with you Plinko that some of the older OJC's sound fabulous. I've got a pre 80's analog NM OJC of Gene Ammon's Blue Gene which sounds incredibly good. On the other hand I have an '87 OJC of Boss Tenor which I can tell is digitally remastered. It actually sounds pretty good, but I've compared it to an early Prestige analog re-issue of the same record which I bought on E-bay and the earlier Prestige definitely sounded better in a way that Jloveys described almost to a T in his original post here with respect to the Blue Notes.

Unfortunately, the earlier version is beat up to the point that I can't stomach listening to it, so for now it is the digital OJC that get's played. If I had an older analog OJC or earlier analog re-issue in near mint or mint condition though they would be the ones getting played and that Boss Tenor somehow gets played less because I know that.