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Discussion: Herbie Hancock: Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage

Posts: 5

Post by undertone October 5, 2015 (1 of 5)
Full review of the Herbie Hancock 2-LP HFPA to come, later this month on the new site.

The Universal Music Group/Blue Note 75 team (Bernie Grundman, Alan Yoshida and Robert Vosgien) did a superb job remastering these sessions.

If anyone has reliable information that the label intends to continue issuing remastered 1950s and 1960s Blue Note Records titles on HFPA Blu-Ray, please post and indicate the source of the info. The UME website and facebook page for the HFPA series provide no useful information on this question.

Only three HFPAs have been released of 1950s and 1960s material:

http://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=10623

http://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=10541

http://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=10624

UME has remastered many other sessions, which so far have been released as LPs (I have heard several), and downloads (which I have not heard).

Post by Claude October 6, 2015 (2 of 5)
As these BD-As of some of Blue Note's most popular artists have come out, the release of Blue Note hi-rez downloads has suddenly stopped.

For two years there had been at least one album every week, but this flow has stopped this summer I think.

So it's difficult to say what the future brings.

While I welcome these BD-A release, I prefer to buy downloads, since I need to rip the BD in order to play the music in the highest resolution through my DAC.

It's also good that they included a 24/192 PCM track, unlike most Universal BD-As which were only 24/96 even where the recording or remastering resolution was higher.

Post by undertone October 6, 2015 (3 of 5)
Claude said:

As these BD-As of some of Blue Note's most popular artists have come out, the release of Blue Note hi-rez downloads has suddenly stopped.

So it's difficult to say what the future brings.

Some, but not all, of the titles in the UME/Blue Note 75 series and Audio Wave's XRCD Blue Note series are available as hi-res downloads but there seems to be no consistent plan to release across the various platforms.

My best guess is that future-proofing and expanding our jazz collections will require searching out the best remasters in several formats, or settling for a smaller selection in one format.

Post by undertone October 6, 2015 (4 of 5)
Claude,

Have you heard the 24/192 download of Eric Dolphy's "Out to Lunch"? A friend who collects Blue Note LPs, and whose opinion I respect, doesn't think the BN 75 LP is an accurate representation of the original recording.

I have heard that, although the BN 75 LPs were not especially well pressed, the underlying files are supposed to sound much better.

Mark

Post by undertone October 23, 2015 (5 of 5)
Full review now on the new site:

http://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=10623#reviews

UMe seems to have discontinued, or at least suspended, reissuing classic jazz recordings in this platform.

Addendum:
I can recommend this disc without reservations as to the quality of the underlying recordings and the 24/192 transfers; but the disc menu and the printed booklet omit timings of the individual tracks, and UMe didn't bother to commission a critical essay. Instead, they reprinted the fanciful original liner notes.

Closed