Regular Blue Note reissues quality?

They are issued by Scorpio, you can tell because most do not have bar codes. They are quite variable, with many sounding terrible. There is speculation that they are from digital media, but there is no hard evidence, other than the sound. After trying a few, I gave up. They are not on the same planet as the MM releases, for sound or cost.

I agree with Viridian.

If you must buy Blue Note reissues, and cannot justify Music Matters, see if you can find your favorite artist on Mosaic box set. They work out to about $15.00 a disc if that particular reissue is not in too high a demand.

Mosaic box sets vary in price but not too much in quality. I like all of my Mosaics, have about 20 box sets I guess. That being said, they are about 60% the quality of the Music Matters Jazz reissues but probably twice as good as the Scorpio's.

even though i love good vinyl reissues, the blue note stuff sounds uniformly excellent on CD(way better than the scorpio pressings). the japanese mini lp cd's rival the music matters lp's for sure.

I'd have to respectfully disagree with Jaybo on the CDs. Some of the newer ones - issued in the past four years are pretty good, but the older ones going back into the 90s are very hit and miss. Some sound awful.

There are other BN vinyl reissues that sound very good. Check with someplace like Acoustic Sounds. They have a lot of the $50 ones, but they have many in the $20 - 30 range too.

Im pretty happy with Coltrane Blue Train...this was extremely well recorded to begin with...so kinda hard to screw this one up...and for $10 bucks a no brainer...

An update on this one. I have a DMM copy of Blue Trane from sometime in the 80s. Its a pretty good pressing. However, just for the heck of it I ordered the new 45rpm reissue of B-Trane - just to try one. Holy Cow! Does this thing sound good. Especially since, unlike most stereo BNs, the instruments are not overly baffled. Its a very naturally spacious recording by RVG standards. Yes, its a pain to flip the record after every track, but if you love this record you'll want to have this pressing. Event he dreaded RVG piano sounds unusually good. Its amazing how good it really is.

I agree Grimace. When the Music Matters and Acoustic Sounds Blue Note reissues are gone and everyone figures out what they missed, the price will skyrocket.

I ordered every title from both companies, absolutely amazing stuff.

I'd agree with the advice to skip the Scorpios; I have a couple and they never get played-think in my next culling they'll get traded to the dealer who will sell them to some unsuspecting soul.

The best value BN re-issues, in my experience and without a doubt, are used Liberty or solid blue label Blue Note re-issues from the 70's. The Liberty's are generally a bit pricier-the solid blue labels can very often be found cheap on E-Bay or perhaps at record dealers with a decent jazz inventory. Liberty's in good condition are going to perhaps run $20-$25; solid blue labels can very often be found for $10-$15 if you're patient and they are outstanding value.

The Japanese King Blue Note re-issues from the 70's and 80's are, generally speaking, truly outstanding as well and can occasionally be picked up for $25-$30 if you're patient. IMO, based on a couple of the Music Matters that I have, the Kings while perhaps not quite as good are almost there and the MM series is very expensive in Canada. If I could grab a mint King for $25-$30 I'd do it in a flash.

I guess the other thing you have to weigh with the Music Matters issues, is if you like that particular record enough to spend the $$$ on it. There were only three in the first batch I was willing to drop the dough on. Blue Trane? Definately!!! Sould Samba? eh.... I don't know...

the cd's i'm refering to are the japanese re-issues. i agree, the first generation us discs are poor.