Third Man Records and Blue Note Records Team Up For 313 Series Partnership

Detroit native, Blue Note President Don Was picks five Detroit-themed Blue Notes

Blue Note and Jack White's Third Man Records have partnered on a series of Detroit-themed releases from the Blue Note catalog chosen by Detroit native Don Was. In a highly unusual move for the label, the original master tapes were supplied to Third Man for cutting at Third Man where the records are also being pressed.

Thad Jones Detroit-New York Junction and Donald Byrd Electric Byrd will be available on July 21, followed by Elvin Jones Genesis and Kenny Cox and The Contemporary Jazz Quintet Multidirection on September 22. Finally, Grant Green Live At Club Mozambique will be released on November 3. Pre-orders are available now for all five titles.

“There’s no better way for us to celebrate the abundance of Detroit talent on the Blue Note roster than this 313 collaboration with our hometown brothers and sisters at Third Man Records,” says Blue Note Records President Don Was. “Spin your turntables, close your eyes, and listen as the sweet analog sounds of Detroit Jazz roll thru your mind like the cool, clear waters of the River Rouge.”

Detroit-New York Junction Electric Byrd Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet Genesis Grant Green Live At Club Mozambique

Comments

2023-06-28 03:51:08 AM

Come on wrote:

I assume the unclear statements everywhere mean, that these are digital transfers from analog tapes, correct?

Damn, again a well-intentioned effort in vain then.
2023-06-28 04:05:31 AM

It’s a trap wrote:

yeah I’m kinda with you here, it’s nebulous at best. Somewhere between the remastering process and hitting the Neumann cutter, I dunno, stuff can happen….
2023-06-28 06:29:58 AM

Rob Wynn wrote:

I understand we've all been burned by vague language like 'sourced' and the language in the press release could be clearer but I felt the language at the 40-45 second mark in the video above was pretty clear without using the word 'direct'... "All-analog remastering process...". Still better to be safe than sorry. A quick trip to Blue Note's FB page made it easy to confirm with their June 27th 4:20pm EDT post: "The Third Man-Blue Note 313 Series presents AAA 180g vinyl reissues ..." Let's hope TMR's pressing plant provides an excellent follow through.
- 2023-06-28 06:36:34 AM
  
  Rob Wynn wrote:
  
  I used 'language' three times in one sentence. A clear sign that at 2:35am it is time for me to go to bed.
- 2023-06-28 09:14:56 AM
  
  Come on wrote:
  
  That would be excellent ! But the original master tapes shipped to Third man in Great Britain? Do we believe that? I thought it’s impossible Blue Note does it.
  - 2023-06-28 11:16:34 AM
    
    Come on wrote:
    
    But it’s written there, so let’s believe it. Would be interesting to read more about the background of this special exception.
  - 2023-06-28 11:30:29 AM
    
    Eric Taylor wrote:
    
    Shipped to Third Man in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is where Third Man is headquartered and operates their mastering facility and pressing plant, and the entire point of why Blue Note and Third Man are partnering on the concept / project.
    - 2023-06-28 12:58:59 PM
      
      Come on wrote:
      
      Sorry, my fault, I misgoogled.
      - 2023-06-28 05:17:27 PM
        
        Eric Taylor wrote:
        
        Not at all. I didn’t intend to be so blunt about it, just meant to clarify. There’s still a fair amount of detail to be curious about here. Third Man’s pressings for the Verve by Request series has received a fair amount of criticism for one. For everything from paper inner sleeves, poorly reproduced album art and LP jacket construction, to the pressings themselves.
        
        While I know better than to level the blame and fault of many or most of these issues directly at TM (Verve made many of these decisions), I have not been overly impressed with the pressing quality of any LP I’ve purchased manufactured in their plant, which leaves me feeling slightly less excited about this new series than I’d like to be. A bummer, as I’ve been really looking foward to several of these albums being remastered and/or repressed. We’ll see how it goes!
        
        2023-06-28 10:19:24 PM
        
        Silk Dome Mid wrote:
        
        I've had the same experience with their pressings. Hope they've improved, but I'll hold off on buying any of these until I see reviews.
        
        2023-07-02 11:58:03 PM
        
        Malachi Lui wrote:
        
        third man has both manual presses and fully automatic pheenix alphas. all the black vinyl and some of the simpler color variants (yes, including color combos) are pressed on the fully automatic ones, but the wackier color mixtures are done on the manual presses. i think the ones on the manual presses generally sound better, unless it's a noisy formulation (which some vinyl colors and mixtures are).
        
        2023-06-28 10:41:00 PM
        
        Come on wrote:
        
        I ordered them all now after listening to a preview of each on Apple Music and hope for the best. My third man pressed Ahmad Jamal Awakening was ok.
        
        2023-06-29 10:14:50 PM
        
        Adam Rowan wrote:
        
        I thought the Ahmad Jamal Awakening reissue was borderline unlistenable, compressed, no dynamics or depth . Sent it back and I understand I wasn’t the only one . Shane as such a great title merited abut more care…
        
        2023-06-30 08:45:54 PM
        
        Come on wrote:
        
        I meant the pressing done by Third man pressing which was ok…the remaster was done somewhere else. Although it’s the best of the 3 reissues of this album I have, it’s not good compared to the original. Wouldn’t call it unlistenable, but nowhere near the good reissues were used to otherwise.
    - 2023-07-02 11:59:21 PM
      
      Malachi Lui wrote:
      
      third man is headquartered in nashville, with the pressing plant and mastering facility at their second store in detroit. their third store is in london (of course, it's the smallest one - i've been to all three).
2023-07-01 06:50:39 PM

MrRom92 wrote:

Interesting project. A little vague on the mastering, we’ve been burned too many times by companies that like to imply direct from tape/all analog mastering when that isn’t the case.

Unfortunately even if it IS the case, there’s nothing to indicate that the TMR mastering room is anywhere on the same level as some of the big ones we’re already familiar with. Not all stereo systems are equal. Same is true for mastering chain - just a stereo in reverse, at the end of the day.

Would have been better to see these cut by Bernie or Kevin and let TMR handle the plating/pressing for this project.
- 2023-07-03 12:01:12 AM
  
  Malachi Lui wrote:
  
  bernie and kevin have better mastering chains, yes, but third man can do a good job with a good source. i've seen their mastering room, and yes, they can cut from tape with no digital delay line. some third man cuts don't sound very good and i've said that, others sound fine.