The Horace Silver Quintet Further Explorations 180g LP

Stereophile: Performance 5/5 Stars / Sonics 4.5/5 Stars

Further Explorations documents hard-bop pioneer Horace Silver's quintet: Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan, Teddy Kotick and Louis Hayes. The 1958 session is particularly inspired, with Silver penning all but one of the compositions. "The Outlaw", one of his most lively creations, has brilliant solos from Silver, Jordan and Farmer. Ballad "Moon Rays" gives the band plenty of room to stretch out.

Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series: "Tone Poet" Joe Harley - co-founder and co-producer of the acclaimed Music Matters audiophile vinyl series - is the producer of this new series of all-analog, mastered-from-the-original-master-tape 180g audiophile vinyl reissues in deluxe gatefold packaging. Mastering was done by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) and vinyl was manufactured at Record Technology Incorporated (RTI). The titles were handpicked by Harley and cover lesser-known Blue Note classics, modern era standouts, and albums from other labels under the Blue Note catalog.

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 gm 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.

The so-called Tone Poet (Joe Harley) is confident that his audiophile reissues will allow 21st-century listeners to hear what the musicians heard as the master tape was played back on the studio monitors in Rudy Van Gelder's studio 50 or 60 years ago. He believes that, in terms of quality, Blue Note albums have never sounded or looked better. "Every aspect of these Blue Note releases is done to the highest possible standard," he says. "It means that you will never find a superior version."

The players are in as fine a form as I've ever heard them, and the session is the only one by this quintet to feature [Clifford] Jordan on tenor, replacing Hank Mobley. Jordan adds intensity to the mix, evoking Mobley's thick tone but also Dexter Gordon's fluency and Sonny Rollins's improvisational zest. His solo on 'The Outlaw' is a head-spinner. This is another 'Tone Poet' reissue of a Blue Note classic, and, while the sound falls a little short of the best in this series (the band doesn't quite pop from the speakers in 3D), it still sounds damn good in the usual ways: dynamic, tonally true, and sizzling.