8 products
Feelin The Spirit
Regular price $44.00 Save $-44.00Grant Green was Feelin' The Spirit on this deeply soulful 1962 date that found the great guitarist interpreting a set of spirituals with a state of the art modern jazz line-up featuring Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass, Billy Higgins on drums plus Garvin Masseaux on tambourine. This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.
Green Is Beautiful (Blue Note Classic Vnyl Series)
Regular price $32.00 Save $-32.00GREEN IS BEAUTIFUL (BLUE NOTE CLASSIC VNYL SERIES) 180gram Heavy Vinyl - Grant Green's musical style evolved to embrace jazz-funk as the decade turned to 1970. The guitarist's vibrant album Green Is Beautiful is a highlight of the era. With his distinctive tone, he shines on a set that includes covers of James Brown ("Ain't It Funky Now"), The Beatles ("A Day In The Life") and Burt Bacharach ("I'll Never Fall In Love Again"). Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optima.
I Want To Hold Your Hand (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)
Regular price $45.00 Save $-45.00The trio of guitarist Grant Green, organist Larry Young, and drummer Elvin Jones had a unique alchemy from the first time they got together on Green’s 1964 album Talkin’ About. A couple months later the trio reconvened as a quartet with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson to record Street of Dreams. For 1965’s I Want To Hold Your Hand they subtly changed their palette again by adding tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley into the mix. The result was another simmering set imbued with sophisticated soul. The quartet elevates a collection of well-known songs with their easy-going elegance from a surprisingly successful bossa reinvention of the title track by The Beatles to the bona fide bossa nova classic “Corcovado” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The set also includes unforgettable renditions of standards including Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low,” Victor Young’s “Stella By Starlight,” and Cole Porter’s “At Long Last Love.” I Want To Hold Your Hand capped off an extraordinarily prolific 5-year run for Green that saw him record more than 20 hard bop and soul jazz sessions for Blue Note. When the guitarist returned to the label in 1969 his style had evolved into the jazz-funk that would characterize his late career.
The Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley, a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.
Extreme attention to detail has been paid to getting these right in every conceivable way, from the jacket graphics and printing quality to superior LP mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray to superb 180g audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. Every aspect of these Tone Poet releases is done to the highest possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version. This is IT.
This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.
Musicians:
Grant Green, guitar
Larry Young, organ
Hank Mobley, tenor saxophone
Bobby Hutcherson, vibraphone
Elvin Jones, drums
Features:
• Blue Note Tone Poet Series
• Curated by Music Matters co-founder Joe Harley
• Audiophile-quality 180g vinyl LP
• All-analog mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray
• Manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated
• Deluxe gatefold jacket packaging
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Nigeria (180 Gram Vinyl)
Regular price $45.00 Save $-45.00Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Grant Green's Nigeria is an underrated gem in the guitarist's remarkable Blue Note catalog. Recorded in 1962, and released in 1980, the album features a top-shelf band with Sonny Clark on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and powerhouse Art Blakey on drums. The groove is deep right from the start, highlighting timeless renditions of the classic tracks.
The Latin Bit (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)
Regular price $40.00 Save $-40.00Grant Green had already recorded a prolific 10 sessions of classic hard bop and soul jazz for Blue Note over a 2-year span by the time he arrived at Van Gelder Studio in 1962 to record his album The Latin Bit. The concept of the album was a departure for Green with the guitarist exploring Latin and Brazilian influences with a band featuring Johnny Acea on piano, Wendell Marshall on bass, Willie Bobo on drums, Carlos "Patato" Valdes on conga, and Garvin Masseaux on chekere. As Nat Hentoff wrote in the album's liner notes: "It is because of Green's remarkably consistent ease in many varieties of material, that this album of jazz with a Latin tinge becomes so seamless a blending of Latin idioms and blues-laced, modern mainstream swinging." The highly enjoyable set includes joyful takes of "Mambo Inn" and "My Little Suede Shoes," as well as a lyrical and beguiling version of "Besame Mucho."
Blue Note Records' acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series continues in 2022. Launched in 2019 in honor of the label's 80th Anniversary, the Tone Poet series is produced by Joe Harley (from Music Matters) and features all-analog, 180g audiophile vinyl reissues that are mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio. Tone Poet vinyl is manufactured at RTI in Camarillo, CA, and packaged in deluxe Stoughton Printing "Old Style" gatefold Tip-On jackets. The titles were once again handpicked by Harley and cover the crème de la crème of the Blue Note catalog along with underrated classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note umbrella including Pacific Jazz and United Artists Records. Every aspect of these Blue Note/Tone Poet releases is done to the highest-possible standard. It means that you will never find a superior version.
"The LPs are mastered directly from the original analog master tapes by Kevin at his incredible facility called Cohearent Mastering. We go about it in the exact same way that we did for so many years for the Music Matters Blue Note reissues. We do not roll off the low end, boost the top or do any limiting of any kind. We allow the full glory of the original Blue Note masters to come though unimpeded! Short of having an actual time machine, this is as close as you can get to going back and being a fly on the wall for an original Blue Note recording session."
- Joe Harley
Musicians:
Grant Green, guitar
Johnny Acea, piano
Wendell Marshall, bass
Willie Bobo, drums
Potato Valdez, congas
Garvin Masseaux, chekere
Features:
• Blue Note Tone Poet Series
• Curated by Music Matters co-founder Joe Harley
• Audiophile-quality 180g vinyl LP
• All-analog mastering (direct from the master tapes) by Kevin Gray
• Manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated
• Deluxe gatefold jacket packaging