The Music Matters Blue Note Team
Pictured left to right: Ron Rambach, Joe Harley, Steve Hoffman, and Kevin Gray.
RON RAMBACH
Musician, music lover, audiophile…Ron Rambach has had a singular passion for music, and
Jazz in particular, all his life. His avid interest in the music led him to found “Music
Matters, Ltd.” in 1978, a jazz mail order company featuring rare and collectible jazz recordings.
For over 25 years, his work has involved the acquisition, appraisal, and offering of the finest
jazz recordings to some of the most prestigious collectors in the world, and he has furthered
their interests as a personal consultant. Ron has advised several large industry leaders such
Atlantic, Verve, and other independent labels. He also managed the largest jazz collection in
the US, with over 300,000 titles, where he honed his craft and was able to discover and listen
to rare, hard to find records that few ever encounter. This experience, combined with his avid
love for the music, are the heart and soul of what he now brings to his latest project.
For this endeavor, Ron has teamed up with Joe Harley of AudioQuest to realize his dream of reissuing some of
the finest LP recordings of the famous Blue Note label on vinyl. The project will focus on the
core of the Blue Note catalog, the "best of the best," with sound reproduction faithful to the
original master tapes. “Doing this right means keeping faith with the original masters and
musicians that made Blue Note the success story we all know," said Ron. “We’ll represent this
catalog as it was meant to be heard and seen. And we’ll produce a product that will truly
do justice to the label, and the musical heritage it represents.”
JOE HARLEY
In addition to his long standing position as VP at the high end cable company AudioQuest,
Joe is perhaps best known for his production work for various labels over the last 17 years,
including AudioQuest Music, Telarc, Enja, ECM and GrooveNote. To date he has produced over
100 well regarded blues and jazz titles including the Grammy nominated “Delta Crossroads”
by Robert Lockwood Jr. in 2002. He has worked with a who’s who of the best contemporary jazz
and blues musicians including Charles Lloyd, Bennie Wallace, John Abercrombie, Anthony Wilson,
Brad Mehldau, Grover Washington Jr., Diana Krall, Mike Stern, Ry Cooder, Hubert Sumlin,
Susan Tedeschi, Terry Evans and Mighty Sam McClain.
Harley also worked as Creative Director of the JVC XRCD program from 1997 through 2002.
“I’ve been in love with the vintage Blue Note titles for as long as I can remember.
To have the opportunity to present these great albums with the best possible sound along
with the superb photos of Francis Wolff is just thrilling to me.”
STEVE HOFFMAN
Steve Hoffman is an award-winning recording, mastering and restoration engineer who has
compiled, mastered and released over 1,000 record albums and compact discs to critical
acclaim, working on albums by such artists as: The Eagles, The Doors, Paul McCartney,
Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles,
Roy Orbison, Cream, The Cars, Blondie, Jim Croce, Linda Ronstadt, Jethro Tull, The Doobie
Brothers, Jackson Browne, Steve Miller Band, Elton John, Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, Al Green,
Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Pepper, Rod Stewart,
Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Wes Montgomery and many others.
“My goal, and it’s been the same goal that I’ve had since I listened to my grandmother’s
Zenith phonograph. I want that "breath of life." If it sounds like a fake approximation of
nothing that’s alive—that is not it for me. I want it to sound like they could be standing
in the same room where you are listening. Sometimes I succeed more than others, depending
on the quality of the original tape, but that’s what I want. I want it to sound "alive".”
“It's a great honor to be working on the Blue Note catalog. I feel that our contributions will
really make a difference and that these new 45 RPM releases will be the definitive versions
of this timeless music.”
KEVIN GRAY
At the age of eighteen, Kevin Gray was the youngest mastering engineer in the country
when he started cutting records at Artisan Sound Recorders in Hollywood in 1972. Over
the next five years, he cut hit after hit for artists such as America, Paul Anka, The
Beach Boys, Debbie Boone, Donald Byrd, Mac Davis, ELO, The Grateful Dead, Freddie Hubbard,
Billy Joel, L.T.D., Manassas, The Osmonds, Kenny Rankin, and Redbone.
In his thirty year career, Kevin has mastered music for every major label in every genre,
including pop, rock, jazz, classical, punk, heavy metal, new age, gothic, world ethnic,
disco, dance, soul, blues, and rap. He has to his credit more than a hundred top ten and
Grammy award winning records, and dozens of RIAA certified gold and platinum albums and
singles.
Kevin began working at AcousTech Mastering in 1997. He completely rebuilt and re-equipped
the mastering room in 2001 and continues to upgrade and improve the equipment constantly.
“The Blue Note catalog is some of the greatest Jazz recordings of all time, PERIOD.
To be able to remaster some of the very best Blue Note titles for 45 rpm vinyl is an honor
and a privilege, not to mention a hell of a lot of fun!”
MICHAEL CUSCUNA
Music has been the central focus of the life and career of noted record producer Michael
Cuscuna. He began his career in the late 60’s as an FM disc jockey and music journalist.
During that time he wrote for well known publications such as Down Beat, and Jazz and Pop.
His experiences and connections in the music business led him to seek opportunities as a
record producer. Along the way he has produced records for Atlantic, Motown, Capitol, Columbia,
Arista, and also supported several independent labels such as Freedom and Novus. This work
helped him achieve recognition as an outstanding record producer and culminated in Grammy
awards for “Best Historical Album Producer” in 1993 and 2002.
Michael has been prominent in the jazz reissue business as far back as 1975. He co-founded
Mosaic Records in 1983 with Charlie Lourie. With access to the prestigious Blue Note vault
as well as other noted jazz labels, Michael helped reinvigorate the music while setting new
standards for quality and presentation. He produced a program of stunning, limited-edition boxed
sets for Mosaic that were critically acclaimed by the mainstream press and revered by jazz fans
throughout the world. With a focus on discovering and producing previously unissued material,
Michael has supervised the reissue of over 100 albums. In addition to bringing back the legends
of jazz for a new generation of music listeners, Michael has also produced numerous records for
contemporary artists like Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Woody Shaw, Dexter Gordon, McCoy Tyner, and
Don Pullen.
PATRICK ROQUES
Patrick Roques has been art directing and designing record packaging for over 25 years. Moving from a fine arts background into graphic design in the late 1970's he began his professional career as an assistant designer for San Francisco notorious multi-medalists the Residents. After relocating to New York City in 1985 he began designing for Island Records. This move eventually led to his involvement with Blue Note Records and the design work of Reid Miles who's revolutionary album covers exemplify the perfect marriage of hip sophistication and extraordinary Jazz. At Blue Note he has been primarily involved with their reissue program working with Michael Cuscuna in restoring pervious cover art and recreating Reid Miles design aesthetic for unreleased recordings by Grant Green, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley and many others. He has art directed and designed numerous Blue Note box sets, including Dexter Gordon and Herbie Hancock. Over the years he has worked for a variety of major and independent labels.His Lp and CD covers have appeared in many design books and music magazines including Blue Note: The Album Cover Art published by Chronicle Books.