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.

• Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series
• All Analog Mastering
• Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Mastered From Original Analog Master Tapes
• Reissue supervised by Joe Harley (Music Matters)
• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl Pressed at RTI USA
• Deluxe Cover

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

Drawn from two sessions recorded in December 1969 and December 1970, and not first released until 1995, Kofi found Donald Byrd in the early stages of his transformation from top-notch hard bop trumpeter to fusion pioneer. Byrd had already begun to move away from a pure hard bop sound with his album Fancy Free in the Spring of 1969, and the two Kofi sessions straddled the recording of his adventurous fusion album Electric Byrd. The first Kofi session subtly explored a new realm of sounds on Byrd’s originals “Kofi” and “Fufu” with producer Duke Pearson’s electric piano shimmering underneath textured arrangements featuring Lew Tabackin on flute and tenor saxophone, Frank Foster on tenor saxophone, William Campbell on trombone, Ron Carter on acoustic bass, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, and Airto Moreira on drums. The following 1970 session produced two more vibey Byrd originals—“Perpetual Love” and “Elmina”—adding Wally Richardson on guitar and Mickey Roker on drums with Moreira playing percussion along with Dom Um Romão.

This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.

Musicians:

Donald Byrd - trumpet
William Campbell - trombone
Lew Tabackin - flute, tenor sax
Frank Foster - tenor sax
Wally Richardson - guitar
Duke Pearson - electric piano
Ron Carter - bass
Bob Cranshaw - electric bass
Mickey Roker - drums
Airto - drums, percussion
Dom Um Romao - percussion

Track Listing:

A1: Kofi
A2: Fufu

B1: Perpetual Love
B2: Elmina

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫