Bebop & Nothingness: MUSIC MATTERS

The Music Matters 45rpm Blue Note 2-lp issues are justly famous for the quality of the pressings and their superb production values - gatefold sleeves containing session photographs by Francis Wolff.
Despite the high prices the records sell well, and I was disappointed when the series came to an end before they got round to Sheila Jordan's Portrait of Sheila.

At the start of 2014 Music Matters announced a single lp 33rpm series- still expensive but not so much!- and Jazz House Records of course subscribed immediately. The first two titles arrived with some copies having small splits at the top edge- whether this was an production problem or bad treatment by HMRC I'm not sure. They certainly sat around (or were thrown around) for two weeks in the Customs warehouse while they decided how much to charge me for the privilege of collecting the boxes from Parcelforce.

Then...nothing. When I enquired why more issues had not arrived MM told me that they had been reminded by Universal (who now own Blue Note & have their own vinyl series to celebrate the label's 75th anniversary) that their agreement forbade them supplying distributors outside the USA. So globalisation is not yet complete it seems. Happily a few months later MM told me that the problem seemed to have been resolved and they could now supply JHR. Occasionally we get good news. And no more cover splits.

And so it remains; I have the repressed 2014 titles and the first six of the twenty titles they plan to issue this year. The April titles will be on their way soon. Customer reaction has been uniformly good, with some subscribing through Jazz House Records to the whole series. MM hasn't announced Portrait of Sheila yet, but I'm still hoping. There's a good pressing from Heavenly Sweetness to keep me going.

This little puff piece cum rant has been prompted by the arrival of the 2014 represses and by the news that Music Matters have received an award from Audio Beat- see
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/ces2015/ces2015_awards.htm
You need to scroll down past the unaffordable equipment!

My friend Glenn Armstrong would not forgive me if I didn't also point out his award is noted just below the MM one. Coup Perdu lps (and cds) are available from JHR of course.

You can see the available Music Matters 33rpm and 45rpm albums here:
http://www.jazzhouserecords.co.uk/musicmatters/musicmatters.html

To finish, here's a few things that have come to my attention recently:
Clifford Allen's interview with ESP's founder Bernard Stollman :

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/bernard-stollman-the-esp-disk-story-by-clifford-allen.php