I still remember the first two jazz CDs I bought, A Love Supreme by John Coltrane and Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. These two titles are often the first jazz albums that people buy. I was still a teenager in high school at the time, trying to blindly discover jazz music on my own and those were the two albums I picked from the Columbia House CD catalog!
That was over twenty years ago and as I began collecting records in college, I kept an eye out for jazz records to buy.
Fast forward to today and I’ve built a a nice stereo system in my house and enjoy buying jazz reissues whenever possible.
My favorite series of jazz reissues this past year has come from Blue Note’s Tone Poet Series. Below are a few reasons why I’ve enjoyed this series and keep buying new Tone Poet LPs as soon as they are announced.
Sound
A few years ago, when there was a resurgence in vinyl sales, some record labels started reissuing albums with unknown sources. Labels were taking CDs or other digital sources to use in vinyl production providing for a lackluster sound.
Knowing this always makes me hesitate when buying album reissues until I know the source of the master used in production.
After researching the team behind the Tone Poet series, I was confident Blue Note had hired the right people to knock this series out of the park.
First, Don Was, President at Blue Note, hired Joe Harley from an independent label, Music Matters. Harley had successfully ran a Blue Note reissue campaign via Music Matters and it impressed Was enough to offer Harley a job at Blue Note.
Harley’s nickname is actually “Tone Poet” which is how the series got its name.
Joe Harley then hired Kevin Gray of Cohearant Audio to master the Tone Poet series direct from the original analog tapes. This ensures customers they are going to get the best sound possible.
Kevin has a resume that’s too long to list here, but if you’re interested in the method they use to master, here is how they describe it on Cohearant Audio’s website: “Our philosophy is to provide the most transparent audio system possible. Any desired coloration, therefore, may be added by signal processing, not the system itself. In order to fulfill this goal, most of the analog electronics were built from scratch. Our system features custom transformerless, discrete, pure Class-A electronics from tape head to cutterhead. It was designed to retain all of the warmth, punch and detail recorded on your master. Our tape-to-disk mastering console is one of the most sophisticated in the world.”
Knowing the built from scratch technology mentioned above is used to master these recordings mean the Tone Poet series is offering a unique sound for consumers.
Lastly, Harley chose to reissue the albums all on 180 gram vinyl pressed at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI).
There will always be a debate on whether 180 gram vinyl “sounds better” or not, but I appreciate the heavier vinyl weight and investment by Blue Note for this series.
To me, the Tone Poet series sounds rich and warm. I can often hear how the performers are set up in Van Gelder’s studio just by listening to each instrument. The overall playback is very smooth and quiet.
One downside to buying first edition or early pressings of jazz records is they have often been played many times over and suffer from surface noise, pops and clicks.
The Tone Poet LPs I own play incredibly quiet and sound as if you are buying a sealed original copy from the 1960s.
Overall, I am impressed with the level of detail paid by Blue Note, Was, Harley and Gray to ensure they are offering the best reissues they can to customers today.
Price
Labels can get greedy with reissue campaigns and charge more than necessary to customers. Vinyl prices have soared over the past two years and I was worried the Tone Poet series would be expensive to buy.
Thankfully, most of the albums I have purchased have been in the $35 – $40 range. For someone that’s been buying records since college, that can still feel high but it’s right in line with today’s market for new releases from other labels.
I also like that Blue Note didn’t add a lot of unnecessary frills to the packaging in order to to try and fetch a higher price. I enjoy some forms of reprinted ephemera but often times labels just throw paper things (posters, booklets, brochures, etc) into album packages as what feels like a reason to charge more.
Blue Note invested their money in the beautiful tip on packaging instead and the price they are charging is fair.
Packaging
Blue Note describes the jacket packaging as “deluxe Stoughton Printing Old Style Gatefold Tip On Jackets”.
These jackets are thick and heavy, but open and close easily, without the worry of damaging the spine. They have a beautiful glossy finish with large photos of the players on the inside gatefold jackets. Some of these photos have never been seen before.
This sounds nerdy, but one thing I love about buying Impulse! LPs is that the spine always has the classic orange and black design. Impulse! records look great lined up together on your shelf.
Well, Blue Note has a similar approach with the Tone Poet series but its much more minimal, with large white spines and minimal black text. At first it seems a little bland but when you start seeing the albums lined up together on your shelf, they immediately draw your eye to them and you know they are Tone Poet releases.
Variety
Many times when a record label reissues product, they choose their best selling albums to release again.
Joe Harley took a different approach, “I chose albums that were personal favourites and also ones that I thought deserved a wider audience…Also, we wanted to open it up further and look at some titles from the modern Blue Note era and some that didn’t originally come out on Blue Note but which are now part of the label’s family.”
What I’ve enjoyed about the Tone Poet series is discovering classic jazz catalog releases that I’m not sure I would have stumbled on elsewhere.
Are Tone Poet Records Worth It?
I believe the Tone Poet reissue series is a great investment for record collectors who want to build a great sounding, but reasonably priced jazz section in their collection.
I look forward to future releases and hope Blue Note keeps the series going as long as possible.
Enjoy this video by Blue Note regarding the Tone Poet series…
Before you go…
Please sign up for mailing list below. You will receive a 15% off coupon for our Etsy Store where you can purchase shirts made for lovers of all things analog and gifts for the music lovers in your life.
Also, don’t forget to shop our Discogs Store to purchase used records, CDs and 45s!
