A few weeks ago I joined a group of my fellow audiophiles on a roundtable discussion on Steve Westman’s Youtube channel, The Audiophiles. We were exploring the question – do audiophile reissues sound better than the original pressings?

During our discussion, I kept wondering why we were just talking about audiophile reissues and original pressings? There are so many wonderful vintage reissues out there that not only clobber their audiophile reissue counterparts, but very often the originals as well.

In one of the few opportunities I had to talk during Steve’s show and say something of substance, I mentioned the article(s) I wrote a while back about the Blue Note Tone Poet Series of jazz reissues. I said that, while I thought they were generally “good” and “well done,” I didn’t think any of them rose anywhere near the level of what I would consider a demo disc.

My comments during the show sparked quite a few comments in response, mostly defending the Tone Poets and extolling their virtues and their value. In fact, so many readers have challenged me on my earlier assessment of these records that I started to wonder if I’d actually got them wrong. I started to think, maybe they are better than I gave them credit for?

One of the comments I’ve gotten more than once is: “well of course you didn’t like them, you played the wrong ones!” To which I replied, “well, tell me which are the right ones?”

This actually led to some suggestions of Tone Poet titles that are considered by some to be standouts. And one of these supposed standouts, mentioned more than once in this context, is Dexter Gordon’s One Flight Up.

One reader went so far as to say this:

“I GUARANTEE that you are wrong about this. The tone poet of One flight up or Now he sings, now he sobs WILL SOUND BETTER then any copy of Cornbread.”

It was a lucky coincidence then that a friend, fellow audiophile and record collector, visiting from out of town, brought with him a copy of the Tone Poet of One Flight Up. We played the record briefly during his visit, but I wanted to spend some more time with it, so my friend generously offered to leave it with me.

Even though this gentleman’s comments above suggest a comparison between the TP of One Flight Up and Lee Morgan’s Cornbread (this title was the focus of my earlier Tone Poet article), I wanted to avoid another very pointed piece of criticism I’d gotten previously about comparing a copy of one title to that of another. So I immediately went on Discogs and bought a VAN GELDER mastered 70’s reissue of One Flight Up to compare to the TP.

It cost me $45 plus shipping, significantly less than half the price of the cheapest copy of the Tone Poet of this title currently available on Discogs. So much for this TP being good value. Many of them in fact have shot up in price in the marketplace to where a good vintage reissue is a more affordable option.

Yesterday I shot out the Tone Poet vs. the VAN GELDER mastered 70’s reissue and made some notes.

Tone Poet:

• Weighty and authoritative! Grabs your attention right out of the gate.
• The piano sounds a bit weak and the horns lack sweetness.
• Something about the bass drum is off. It sounds hollow.
• The saxophone sounds sounds small, distant and stuck in the speaker.

VAN GELDER reissue:

• Less weighty than the TP, but the snare sounds more correct and the drums have more pop.
• The drums sit deeper in the soundstage and have more energy to them.
• The horns have more studio space around them.
• The piano has more presence and tonal clarity.

Conclusions:

Overall, the Tone Poet is closed, distant and frankly boring to listen to. Where is the energy of the music? Where is the presence of these musicians? Where is the studio space?

The snare sounds muted. the piano weak, the horns, especially Gordon’s saxophone, resolves poorly and becomes increasingly tiresome to listen to. On my first listen I lasted about 3 minutes into side 1, mostly because I couldn’t stand the way the sax was sounding.

And believe me, I wanted it to sound good! I actually spent quite a bit of time adjusting the VTA / arm height to see if I could get it to sound right. But I couldn’t get it to resolve well enough to sound like I knew it could, like it did on the VAN GELDER.

Not only does the horn come to life on the VAN GELDER reissue, it is overall more cohesive and live sounding. The snare, a liability on the Tone Poet, is so much more present and alive here. It makes me want to keep listening!

The piano on this version swings, contributing something essential to the energy of this music. It’s a recording from over 60 years ago that still sounds fresh and exciting.

Nowhere on the Tone Poet, this or any of the other titles I’ve heard (I’m up to 6 now including Andrew Hill’s Passing Ships and Lee Morgan’s The Gigolo), do I hear the entirety of the studio space. It’s like it’s been sanitized from the recording. The vitality of the performance sounds washed away.

Why is this? I’ve no doubt some of you will “know” the answer. The tapes were too old. My stereo is not resolving enough. I’m just a hater and I don’t know what I’m talking about.

To be honest, I’d really like to put this whole Tone Poet business to rest. If you love them, more power to you. But you’ll never convince me they’re any more than decent. And I have no interest in spending my precious listening time playing decent records. I have too many fabulous records that are much more deserving of my attention.

So perhaps we can just agree to disagree and move on? Fingers crossed!

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