I have an article in the Arts & Leisure section of this past Sunday’s New York Times about vinyl reissues of Blue Note jazz albums mastered at 45 rpm.
Yes, you read that right: an article about such audiophile labels as Music Matters Jazz, Analogue Productions, and Classic Records was featured in the paper of record, and quite prominently so: 1,500 words, spread out on two pages, with four photos, including one of a Blue Note 45 spinning on my own VPI Classic.
Is it a sign that the MSM are beginning to take all this seriously—or just an editor who agrees that a narrative piece about obsessives is always a diverting Sunday-morning read? Either way, I’m thankful to the section’s editors for taking it and giving it good play.
And now a bonus for you fellow obsessives: a list of those Blue Note 45s (at least of those I’ve heard) that I can recommend most heartily for both their music and their sound.
Among the Music Matters Jazz LPs (which offer the most lavish packages and the quietest pressings): Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch; Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’; Lee Morgan, Search for the New Land; Sonny Rollins, Vol. 1; and, coming next month (I’ve heard a test pressing), Andrew Hill, Point of Departure. I also wouldn’t pass up Clifford Brown, Memorial Album, which, though recorded in 1950 and ’53 (and not by the vaunted Rudy Van Gelder, though he remastered the sides for the late-‘50s LP), sounds amazing for its time, especially in the horns.
I haven’t heard many of Analogue Productions’ Blue Note 45 series, but Kenny Burrell, Midnight Blue is particularly tasty.
I don’t know if Classic’s Purity single-sided, 4-LP 45 rpm pressings are still available (Classic went out of business and was recently bought out by Analogue Productions), but if they are, rush to buy Cannonball Adderley, Somethin’ Else.
