Blue Note

January 23 2019

In honor of Blue Note Records’ 80th Anniversary, the legendary Jazz label is launching the Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. Blue Note President Don Was brought in “Tone Poet” Joe Harley—co-founder and co-producer of the acclaimed Music Matters audiophile vinyl series—to produce this new series of all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g audiophile vinyl reissues in deluxe gatefold packaging. Mastering is by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) and vinyl is being manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI).

The titles were handpicked by Harley and cover lesser-known Blue Note classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note catalog. The first two albums in the series—Wayne Shorter Etcetera and Chick Corea Now He Sings, Now He Sobs—will be released on February 8, with Sam Rivers Contours to follow on March 15. All four titles are available for pre-order now. See below for a full list of 2019 releases for the Tone Poet Series.

Read Harley’s essay Blue Note, Tone Poetry and Audiophilia about his history with Blue Note, Music Matters, and his “quest to capture the sound of those master tapes on vinyl and to allow listeners to know what it would sound like to actually be in Rudy [Van Gelder]’s living room in Hackensack or later in Rudy’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.”

Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series:

February 8

• Wayne Shorter – Etcetera (Blue Note, 1965)
• Chick Corea – Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (Solid State, 1968)

March 15

• Sam Rivers – Contours (Blue Note, 1965)

April 26

• Gil Evans – New Bottle Old Wine (World Pacific, 1958)
• Joe Henderson – The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1985)
• Cassandra Wilson – Glamoured (Blue Note, 2003)

May 31

• Lou Donaldson – Mr. Shing-A-Ling (Blue Note, 1967)
• Lee Morgan – Cornbread (Blue Note, 1965)

June 28

• Baby Face Willette – Face To Face (Blue Note, 1961)
• Dexter Gordon – Clubhouse (Blue Note, 1965)

July 26

• Kenny Burrell – Introducing Kenny Burrell (Blue Note, 1956)
• Andrew Hill – Black Fire (Blue Note, 1963)

September 6

• Donald Byrd – Chant (Blue Note, 1961)
• Stanley Turrentine – Hustlin’ (Blue Note, 1964)

October 25

• Grant Green – Born to Be Blue (Blue Note, 1962)
• Tina Brooks – Minor Move (Blue Note, 1958)

November 15

• Hank Mobley – Poppin’ (Blue Note, 1957)
• Stanley Turrentine – Comin’ Your Way (Blue Note, 1961)