John Scofield & Pat Metheny – I Can See Your House From Here (Tone Poet reissue)

This is one of my favorite albums from two of my favorite guitarists: John Scofield & Pat Metheny. I Can See Your House From Here is a worthy candidate for the Blue Note Tone Poet series. Per Blue Note:

“The Blue Note Tone Poet Series was born out of Blue Note President Don Was’ admiration for the exceptional audiophile Blue Note LP reissues presented by Music Matters. Was brought Joe Harley (from Music Matters), a.k.a. the “Tone Poet,” on board to curate and supervise a series of reissues from the Blue Note family of labels.”

First, this is an excellent performance by Scofield and Metheny. Second, each of the guitarists brought great compositions to the session. Third, the rhythm section of Steve Swallow (bass guitar) & Bill Stewart (drums) could not be more perfect. Finally, the sonics of the recording are audiophile reference quality. The original CD from 1994 sounded fantastic – this vinyl record sounds even better. In a recent post I said:

“…which sounds better vinyl or digital? I can give you a definitive answer: it depends on the specific recording. How an album was recorded, how it was mastered and how it was transferred to the final state (a vinyl record or a digital file) can make a vinyl record sound better than the digital file and vice versa.”

This Tone Poet release is a great example of the art of mastering to vinyl. In the hands of an expert artist, the vinyl medium can’t be beat. Unfortunately, it is rare that such care is taken. This version is perfection – all the care was taken, it sounds gorgeous. This will be my go-to vinyl reference recording. Ironically, this vinyl is sourced from digital (in this case, 88.2 kHz/24-bit) as this was originally a digital recording. But even with a digital source, a vinyl craftsman can work their magic. I look forward to listening to more of the Tone Poet catalog.

John Scofield is heard on the left channel and Pat Metheny on the right of this stereo recording. Despite two guitar wizards, this is not a cutting contest, but rather a freewheeling conversion between friends. I have a kind of synesthesia when it comes to music – I can taste certain sounds – this is one of those tasty albums.

It was recorded in one of the greatest Studios – The Power Station in NYC – a piece of art itself.

Although you won’t get the total feel of the audiophile LP, you can still hear the beauty of the performance and compositions on the stream: