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.

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley had already been building a formidable Blue Note catalog for more than a decade when he conceived of his unique album A Slice of the Top, which was recorded in 1966 but not first released until 1979 as part of the LT Series. Inspired by Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool, Mobley collaborated with Duke Pearson who arranged four Mobley originals and the pop standard "There's a Lull In My Life" for an octet that added Kiane Zawadi's euphonium and Howard Johnson's tuba to a group consisting of James Spaulding on alto saxophone and flute, Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. Behold Mobley's lyrical flights on standout tunes including "Hank's Other Bag," "A Touch of Blue," and "A Slice of the Top."