Good news - ERIC DOLPHY "Out To Lunch" lives! 45 RPM Music Matters upcoming release!

Fellow forum friends,

Today marked one of the most exciting mastering sessions we’ve had yet during the (now year long) Music Matters Blue Note reissue project.

As you know this past summer we were very disappointed to find that the cutting master to Eric Dolphy’s superb masterpiece “Out To Lunch” was damaged in spots and marked as “DNU”.......meaning Do Not Use. To say that we were heartbroken would be an understatement since this iconic session has been heralded since it first appeared in 1964 as one the finest, if not THE most fully realized early avant-garde jazz sessions of all time. Call it “new thing”, call it “avant-garde”....call it whatever you want, Out To Lunch lives large in recorded jazz history.

Several months ago when I happened to mention to Blue Note maven Michael Cuscuna our disappointment about the unusable tape, he said “tell you what.....I’ll request every known version of that session from the vault, including the “DNU” cutting master. Let’s get them all up there and you put this up again and see what the problem is. Sometimes the tapes are mismarked, or tape library engineers over-reacted to something, you never know. We’ll all find out something.”

Several weeks ago Steve wrote here about two crates of Blue Note tapes arriving at AcousTech for Music Matters. One entire CRATE consisted of every tape of “Out To Lunch” in the EMI library. As we dug through it I began to get excited......SO many tapes, and all of the same session. And there was our old friend the “DNU” tape taunting us again. There was the severe looking note on the box about the damage to the tape, the drop outs and the distortion.

Then Steve said, "Joe, this "do not use" tape is marked DOLBY A! It's just a worn out dupe. I am sure we can do better than that...Wait a minute boys, I think we have something.”

Steve found an old pristine tape marked R.V.G. that had never been checked out of the tape library. (All tapes come with a log so you can see who used it, when, and for what purpose.) Steve said this is something we should very definitely check out immediately.

We put this tape up (exact moment captured in photo below) and Kevin hit the play button. Track one “Hat and Beard” took off and Ron and I sat there with our mouths hanging open. Steve turned around and said “Wow gentlemen....what have we here?”. Kevin said “that’s some of the best sound I’ve ever heard on a Rudy tape!”. I was truly stunned. I know this record like the back of my hand. Like Ron, I have the pristine LP and I have the first very excellent Japanese King version. But I have NEVER heard this music sound come vibrantly alive as it was on this playback.

This tape sounds amazingly transparent and effervescent.

We were all on a sonic and Dolphy-ized high as the sides progressed. Steve and Kevin can comment if they wish, I don't want to speak for them, but I think that this was an exciting day at AcousTech!

You can hear Rudy trying to anticipate everyone’s next move on this challenging and beautiful music. Remember, he was recording and mixing this music live, direct to two track. He had to mix this on the fly. At times, he gets surprised when Bobby Hutcherson slams his mallet on the vibes or Tony Williams pops a bomb on his bass drum. Those who know the this record know all of these spots well. In their own way these add to the excitement of the session.

By the time we finished cutting side 4, we decided to press our luck and walk the lacquers immediately across the alley to Dorin, RTI’s ace plating man. He said, “you guys have great timing. I just finished with another set of lacquers. Sure, give me these and I’ll do them right now.” We all looked at each other and thought that Eric Dolphy himself must have been watching over this one. One of RTI’s great benefits is the ability to plate the lacquers quickly (which is why the mastering studio is there in the first place), but this was ridiculous. Our “Out To Lunch” lacquers were going to get plated less than 10 minutes after the cutting finished. Wow!

I assure you all...we’ll do our best to get “Out to Lunch” pushed up in the release schedule so that you can see what all the fuss is about early next year.

This was a holiday surprise of the highest order for Ron and myself today. We can't wait to share it with you all!

Cheers!

Photos (by Jason Keene):

Getting ready to master OUT TO LUNCH. The lacquer being cut. Dorin holding the fresh disk. Silver sputtering side two, only 10 minutes after cutting!

http://www.musicmattersjazz.com/

Joe and Ron

 

Awesome avant news! Thanks Joe and Michael Cuscuna for digging. I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

Nice story, Joe.

Also i'd like to say thanks to you and the rest of the crew for the great records, fantastic service (especially the neat way you ship these to me in Canada ) and the amazing quality of your product.

Long may your lum reek.

 

Hey how come everybody looks sooooooooo laid back in the pictures?


I thought Levis stopped selling those washed out jeans years ago????

 

Awesome! That album really excites my ears so to speak. So glad there's a great source! Thanks & congrats, Steve, Kevin, Michael and everyone at Music Matters.

 

Farking-A, I love this stuff!!

 

My goodness... great news! This is one of the biggies. This series almost felt incomplete without it. Awesome news guys... awesome.

"We all looked at each other and thought that Eric Dolphy himself must have been watching over this one. "

Noooo stuff.. goodness.

 

Thks for the story & the pics. Great news.

 

What is so great about this forum is the ability to have almost a running commentary on the process of putting out 'our' Music Matters releases and the various background stories that accompany them. This definitely adds to the special experience. If you look at the assembled posts regarding these releases you'll have a wonderful document accompanying the series. Maybe we should have a subforum on them so we can get all this together in one place....

 

Any chance this would be on cd or sacd?

 

Wonderful! This is the one I wanted most.

 

Wow, great news!!!
Now please do some more "avant" titles ala Andrew Hill and Bobby Hutcherson, with 110+ Blue note titles getting the Hoffman/Gray 45 rpm treatment there should be room for at least a few of these titles.

-Bill

 

while i have to admit i'm not really in the market for any of these 45 rpm things, i always find these "finding the right tapes" stories fascinating and i'm always thankful that there are people out there who care to bother.

while out to lunch is probably the most famous blue note "avant" (or "semi-avant")session, there are other post hard-bop blue note artists that are also deserving of this level of care- andrew hill, don cherry, sam rivers, bobby hutcherson....

 

OMG, thanks to all involved.

 

I wonder if Blue Note will do ANOTHER CD now that this tape has been found.

 

This is awesome. To be honest I haven't bought any of the LPs in this series yet, but I am pretty darn excited about this one...WOW!! Can't wait to hear it.

 

Same here!
Man, what a great Christmas present!
I am so excited about this one--thanks so much you guys.

 

What a way to end the year!

 

Hello!

Bring it on! I can't wait to hear it!!! Peace. Robert

 

Yep, I am one of those people. I've been deeply fascinated by "Out to Lunch" since I first heard it in 1987. I've got the Blue Note reissue LP and both CDs, but I've never felt it's been given the loving care it deserves.

It's a recording and performance I use to voice and test my system. Its sense of space, drama, and flat out fun is unmatched. It is startling, fresh, and timeless.

I cannot wait to hear Hutcherson's vibraphone "plonks" and Williams's kick-drum "thumps" and Dolphy's "squeeks" and Davis's amazing bass timbres in 45 RPM. Man oh man I'm excited about this one.

 

Great news! Thanks Joe and team for the extra effort.

 

Let me just say:

 

Oh my gosh! I sought out a King after learning of the terrible news this last summer, but now we will have this great record on the 45 after all! Fantastic news Joe! And great pics as well.

 

A King or an original pressing were on my Christmas list this year after getting the bad news. Now I hope my wife wasn't able to track them down. Or, if she was, I hope she doesn't feel like the 45 trumps her present.