A Highly Subjective List The Blue Note chief Mr.

Was, 61, acknowledged that creating a truly definitive list of the labels key recordings would be essentially impossible. In an interview this month, the veteran musician and producer talked about the process of choosing the jewels of the Blue Note catalog and the technical challenges the project presented. Here are excerpts from that conversation, edited and condensed. Q. What makes these records essential to a jazz record collector? A. (Laughs). Yeah, theres a lot of hubris in a statement like that. The selection process was highly subjective, and having a couple of different interests within the Universal Group, you get a good cross-section. Its a combination, I suppose, of some of the best-selling records from our catalog as well as some personal favorites and quite often they overlapped. And also, this is a conscious effort to represent the post-1984 output. I ran the list by a number of people, I made an initial list, and then we made revisions. Everyone agreed on the first 50, no one would say that doesnt belong in there. And then the back half becomes highly subjective. I think you can say its one essential list, and everyone will come up with their own. Q. How did your relationship with this body of music begin? Do you remember the first Blue Note recording you ever heard? A. I absolutely remember, like I would remember getting struck by lightning. I was 14 or something like that, driving around with my mom, running errands in Detroit, and she pulled up in front of the library and left me with the keys to the car, to play with the radio. I was just fiddling with the dial, and found Joe Hendersons Mode for Joe, which I think had just come out. I came in on the sax solo, and it was like what the hell is this? It was riveting, and it spoke to me. Q. In the online notes for this project, you talk about running dozens of sonic experiments to determine the best sound for these releases. Can you address that? A. Until the 70s there are no multitracks, so you cant go back and remix this stuff, which I think is good, because otherwise everyone would be editorializing all over the place. And you couldnt just release the master tapes and have that be an accurate version of what the record was about.

But that opened up a can of worms. Because if the unmastered tapes are not the definitive version, then what is? What are you aiming for? What is the standard? Well, its the original intention of the artist, when everyone approved it and said this can come out. You gauge it by assuming that everyone has approved the first vinyl. So what we did was line up all of the CDs that we can find, different incarnations of them, and the original vinyl, and we listen to the original vinyl to see if anything has ever come close to the original feel. Thats really what its about not so much frequencies as feel, though theres an integral relationship between the two. We went through and did blindfold tests on everything. Nothing is labeled, and we go through, and pick the one that comes closest to feeling like the original. A lot of it is abstract, and it took a lot of trial and error to actually land on a formula that works. But I think that we have an m.o. now that is pretty much in place and is not so hit and miss any more. Q. Is there a conscious effort with this list to direct more attention to underappreciated musicians and instruments? A. Yes. Like I said, everyone is going to come up with their own list. Theres no definitive list, and theres no right or wrong. But I thought it was important to show the breadth of the catalog. We didnt just want to do the obvious records. But you have to do the obvious records too. Q. Certain artists have to be on this list because they are so important in jazz history, like Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, and others because they are so closely associated with the label and recorded so often for it, like Horace Silver. How did you decide which of their recordings to include and which to leave out? A. Some of it was personal. I did the exact same thing you would do, except I just happen to be the president of the company at the moment. I devoted a weekend to it, probably the most amount of fun Ive had working at Blue Note, and Ive had a lot of fun. I had Michael Cuscunas book, I had a list from the catalog department of the best-selling albums, and then I had my record collection. It was just a fanboy thing. It was a blast, but there is no great design there. Q. So does that mean youre open to suggestions? Theres obviously never going to be unanimity on a list like this, and arguing over the choices is half the fun of it. A.

Im definitely going to pay attention to what comes out of your thing, what your readers are going to be doing. Id love to respond. If you come up with a consensus on something we missed, well put it in there. Maybe well make November 2015 for five that didnt make it. November 2015 is going to reflect the results you get on this thing, and you can tell your readers that. We just decided. Thats how subjective this is. (Laughs)