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Blue Note Jazz Recordings

Category: Music

Check out the RVG Collector Series from Blue Note. The RVG stands for the legendary recording engineer from Blue Note whos name is Rudy Van Gelder.

I have just picked up Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell. Just a fabulous remaster of a great classic. The RVG Collection from Blue Note is worthy of every Jazz Library out there.

What RVG has been able to do with these old tapes and put them to 24 bit CDs is remarkable. There are now several offerings under the RVG logo and if the rest are anything like Midnight Blue, they must be special indeed. I know I will be looking for additional RVG titles for my Jazz Library.

Heres the link to Blue Note.

http://www.bluenote.com/

When it comes to jazz, it just doesn't get much better than Blue Note.
ferrari
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
Thanks for the Borders lead.
mimberman
299 posts
 
I started buying the RVGs when they came out and found that Tower Records frequently holds jazz sales that reduce the RVGs even further...plus I think they do free shipping on their website. I agree with foster about XRCD for almost every type of music, but the RVGs do give those who aren't vinyl hounds (which sadly I am) access to some nice things.
biomimetic
252 posts
 
I agree the new cd's are a little - I don't know that I would say lean, but dry or something... However when they went from mono to stereo many of the early stereo pressings and mixes were not superior to the mono's, and people said the same thing. Maybe the mono's gave them some bloat in actuality, although I know for a fact that RVG denies this. Maybe the original master tapes just were a little more dry than some of the better vinyl pressings. Vinyl will have it's way with us all...
dave54321
1 posts
 
I always go for the audiophile option (XRCD, DCC, Analogue Productions, etc) over the RVG issue wherever possible. As has been said earlier, there is just no comparison between an XRCD Blue Note (usually mastered by Alan Yoshida) or a DCC remaster (Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray), and an RVG. The RVGs are usually dynamically compressed to sound quite loud and lacking "punch" or depth, and are also unnaturally bright. However, on the plus side they are very cheap compared to audiophile issues, and are very nicely packaged with original album notes, so this makes them very accessible and popular with those who are less discerning about the actual sound.
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