Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissues. Joe Harley co-founder of the acclaimed Music Matters Jazz audiophile vinyl label is the producer of this new series, handpicked titles mastered from the original master tapes on 180g Vinyl in deluxe covers. Mastering is done by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and vinyl is pressed at Record Technology Incorporated, RTI in the USA.

• 2LP Complete Masters Edition
• Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series
• All Analog Mastering
• Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Cut From Original Analog Master Tapes
• Reissue supervised by Joe Harley (Music Matters)
• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl Pressed at RTI USA
• Deluxe Gatefold Cover + Booklet

The Blue Note Tone Poet 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 (from Music Matters), 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 180-gram audiophile LP pressings by Record Technology Inc. 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. This is it!

"Per Don Was's direction, everything about this reissue series closely mirrors the Music Matters releases that so impressed Was..." - Michael Fremer, Analogplanet

John Coltrane's groundbreaking Blue Train will be released in two special editions on September 16 as part of Blue Note's acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series.

Blue Train: The Complete Masters will include a second disc featuring seven alternate and incomplete takes, none of which have been released previously on vinyl, and four of which have never been released before on any format.

"Few studio experiences I've had can compare with the thrill of listening to the original master tapes-mono, stereo and alternate takes-of Blue Train," says Harley. "I consider these two new versions the definitive editions of this masterpiece performance by John Coltrane."

Blue Train came at a pivotal moment in Coltrane's career. Earlier in 1957, the saxophonist had hit bottom when his heroin addiction caused him to be fired from the Miles Davis Quintet. But after kicking his habit, Coltrane returned with a fervor inspired by an extended summer residency with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot Café.

By the end of the year, Coltrane had been rehired by Davis and had produced his first masterwork, an album that even he was deeply proud of. As Kahn recounts in his essay: "Blue Train was a recording that Coltrane, ever self-critical and modest, held in high regard. In 1960, while on tour with Miles Davis for the last time, a Swedish deejay asked Coltrane what he favored from his catalog and he immediately responded: ‘Oh, I like Blue Train myself. It's a good band on there, you know. It was a good recording.'"

On September 15, 1957, John Coltrane went into Rudy Van Gelder's living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey and recorded his first great masterpiece: Blue Train. It would be the legendary saxophonist's sole album as a leader for Blue Note, a locomotive 5-track album fueled by the bluesy title track that featured a dynamic 6-piece band with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

To mark the 65th anniversary of the album's recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions as part of Blue Note's acclaimed Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series: a single LP mono pressing of the original album and a 2LP stereo pressing of Blue Train: The Complete Masters which includes a second disc of alternate and incomplete takes, four of which have never been released before, and none of which have been available previously on vinyl. The 2LP-set comes with a bound booklet featuring session photos by Francis Wolff and an essay by Coltrane expert Ashley Kahn. Both Tone Poet Vinyl Editions were produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in deluxe gatefold tip-on jackets.

"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:

John Coltrane, tenor saxophone
Lee Morgan, trumpet
Curtis Fuller, trombone
Kenny Drew, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
"Philly" Joe Jones, drums

Track Listing:

1. Blue Train
2. Moment's Notice
3. Locomotion
4. I'm Old Fashioned
5. Lazy Bird

Bonus tracks:

Blue Train - False Start
Blue Train - Alternate Take 7
Moment's Notice - Alternate Take 4
Lazy Bird - Alternate Take 1
Blue Train - Alternate Take 8
Moment's Notice - Alternate Take 5A (incomplete)
Lazy Bird - Alternate Take 2

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫