Best Sounding OJCs? (Original Jazz Classics) Fantasy/Prestige/Riverside/Contemporary

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Trevor_Bartram, Aug 24, 2007.

  1. Trevor_Bartram

    Trevor_Bartram Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Boylston, MA, USA
    Over the years I've bought most of the Contemporary OJC CDs, they generally have very good sound, thanks to the engineers DuNann and Holzer.
    I've recently bought OJCs recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, engineered by Jack Higgins however, I don't have a comprehensive list of jazz recordings at Reeves, can anyone help?
    Are there any other OJCs out there with excellent sound?
    Thanks, Trevor.
     
  2. bluesbro

    bluesbro Forum Hall of Shame

    Location:
    DC
    I think in general, OJCs are enjoyed by most people here. They havent been tweaked with the 'current' mastering methods, although it is reported that a few have NR applied to.
     
  3. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Can someone please find my list of the best sounding OJC's that I compiled for others here a while back?

    Thanks.
     
  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    My old DCC list of good SOUNDING Fantasy labels' jazz tapes (there are hundreds more of course):



    -----------------------------------------------
    8/12/04
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John Oteri
    Steve,

    Do you have a list of your favorite jazz albums from the Fantasy catalog? This includes Prestige, Riverside, Contemporary, etc. I have a tremendous chance to buy at under dist. cost whatever I want.

    Help
    !


    When I first started working on the 24 karat gold DCC series back in 1992 I had NO IDEA regarding 1950's jazz, DCC had struck a deal with the Fantasy labels to do a bunch of their jazz titles in gold. As you know, my "field" was jazz of the 1920's and 30's. I had to pick some titles for our Gold series. In the good old days I would have just gone to Tower Records on Sunset to hang out and learn about what was good and what was "out" in the world of jazz. Well, those daze are gone so out of desperation I called Ralph Kaffel, president of Fantasy and just plain out asked him: "What are YOUR favorites from your catalog?"

    He sent me a great list and from there my research branched out until I felt I had a handle on everything. Fantasy also sent me down 200 of their best selling OJC (Original Jazz Classics) LP's and CD's so I could hear the "sound" of some of these things. A tremendous help.

    Anyway, here are some of my favorites from all the Fantasy labels that have GREAT sound quality for the old DCC Gold CD series. PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME WONDERFUL OJC's DID NOT MAKE THIS LIST DO TO SOUND QUALITY ISSUES. This list is about good sound as it is about good music. Sorry, that's just the way I compiled it. There are many more, but I haven't the time right now:

    RIVERSIDE RECORDS (mainly engineered by Jack Higgins and Ray Fowler at Reeves Soundcraft Studio)
    -------
    BILL EVANS TRIO
    Everybody Digs Bill Evans
    Portrait In Jazz
    Live At The Village Vanguard (eng, Dave Jones)
    Waltz For Debby (eng, Dave Jones)
    Explorations (eng, Bill Stoddard, Bell Sound)
    Moon Beams
    Interplay (Nola Penthouse)
    How My Heart Sings
    Live At Shelly's Manne-Hole

    Cannonball Adderly Quintet In San Francisco (Overload distortion)
    Cannonball Adderly With Bill Evans/Know What I Mean (Bell Sound)

    Sonny Rollins/The Sound Of Sonny

    WES MONTGOMERY
    Movin' Along (Bill Putnam, United Studio)
    So Much Guitar
    Bags Meets Wes (with Milt Jackson) (Bell Sound)
    Full House (Wally Heider)
    Fusion (with Strings)
    Montgomery Bros./Groove Yard

    Chet Baker/Chet
    Chet Baker In New York

    Johnny Griffin/The Little Giant
    Johnny Griffin/The Kerry Dancers

    THELONIOUS MONK
    Brillant Corners
    Monk's Music FAR-MIKED STEREO VERSION (Ray Fowler, stereo eng.)
    Monk's Music MONO CLOSE MIKED VERSION (Jack Higgins, mono eng.)
    Mulligan Meets Monk
    Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane STEREO VERSION
    In Orbit WITH CLARK TERRY MONO ONLY

    Harold Land/West Coast Blues (eng, Wally Heider)

    MONGO SANTAMARIA-Watermelon Man

    VARIOUS ARTISTS-New Blue Horns

    CHARLIE BYRD/Guitar Artistry Of Charlie Byrd (All Souls' Church remote)



    PRESTIGE (all engineered by Rudy Van Gelder)
    ------------------
    MILES DAVIS
    The Musings Of Miles
    New Miles Davis QUintet
    Miles Davis And Milt Jackson/Quintet/Sextet
    Cookin'
    Workin'
    Relaxin'
    Steamin'

    Sonny Rollins +4
    Sonny Rollins/Tenor Madness
    Sonny Rollins/Saxophone Colossus

    Modern Jazz Quartet/Concorde
    MODERN JAZZ QUARTET~Django

    JOHN COLTRANE
    Tad Dameron with John Coltrane/Mating Call
    Tenor Conclave
    Coltrane
    Traneing In
    Soultrane
    Cattin' (with Paul Quinichette)
    Lush Life
    Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane

    Gene Ammons/Blue Gene STEREO

    Kenny Dorham/Quiet Kenny STEREO

    STAX
    ------------------
    Albert King/Live Wire Blues Power
    Shaft

    FANTASY
    ------------
    VINCE GUARALDI
    Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus (engineered by Hank McGill, KQED)
    In Person
    The Latin Side Of Vince Guaraldi (Coast Recording)
    Live At El Matador (with Bola Sete)
    A Boy Named Charlie Brown
    A Charlie Brown Christmas

    CONTEMPORARY RECORDS (all engineered by Howard Holtzer or Roy DuNann)
    -------------------
    HAMPTON HAWES
    All Night Session, vol1
    All Night Session, vol2-vol3
    The Trio/Volume 1 (John Palladino, eng.)
    For Real! (With Harold Land & Scott LaFaro)

    SHELLY MANNE
    ----------------
    More Swingin' Sounds (FIRST STEREO JAZZ RECORDING)
    Jazz Impressions Of MY FAIR LADY
    At The Blackhawk, vol 1-5
    Sounds Unheard Of!
    Jazz Impressions of BELLS ARE RINGING
    Jazz Impressions of WEST SIDE STORY

    Curtis Counce Group/Landslide
    Curtis Counce Group/You Get More Bounce With Curtis Counce
    Curtis Counce Group/Carl's Blues

    Benny Carter/Jazz Giant
    Benny Carter/Swingin' The 20's

    Sonny Rollins/Way Out West
    Sonny Rollins/The Contemporary Leaders

    Barney Kessel/Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By
    Barney Kessel/Shelly Manne/Ray Brown/The Poll Winners
    Barney Kessell with Art Pepper-Some Like It Hot

    ART PEPPER
    Meets The Rhythm Section
    Plus Eleven
    Gettin' Together
    Smack Up
    Intensity
    The Way It Was
    Art Pepper And Wayne Marsh/JVC Japan only

    Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars/Music For Lighthouse Keeping

    Teddy Edwards Quartet/Teddy's Ready

    Bob Cooper/Coop

    Ben Webster/At The Renaissance

    HELEN HUMES-Songs I Love To Sing

    Ornette Coleman/Something Else!
     
    SOONERFAN, waaguirr and Jack_Straw like this.
  5. acjetnut

    acjetnut Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Is it safe to assume that these recordings made their way pleasantly onto CD and LP?
     
  6. rhkwon

    rhkwon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    Thank you for this thread!!! No more guessing!
     
  7. hipster006

    hipster006 Forum Resident

    Location:
    pottsville,PA,USA
    is there a difference on the ojc lps from the cds mentioned here? the lps all seem to be stereo(as i'm guessing the cds are).
     
  8. scotto

    scotto Senior Member

    Hope this doesn't stray too far from the topic, but how different are all those Fantasy/Prestige/Milestone and Contemporary OJC LPs from the regular LPs which were in circulation for years before the OJC series was released?
    I'm thinking specifically of the Harold Land Grooveyard LP which was released on OJC as Harold in the Land of Jazz (original title I believe) or Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section.
    What are the mastering differences between the regular catalog LPs and the OJC LPs?
     
  9. triple

    triple Senior Member

    Location:
    Zagreb, Croatia
    Only Hackensack recordings from Van Gelder are included. Interesting.

    Got to get Blue Gene by Gene Ammons - somehow it has slipped my attention so far. :)

    Goran
     
  10. Brubeck Ala Mode is an unbelieveable slab of stereo vinyl on OJC.
     
    mrdon likes this.
  11. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    I saw the Japenese import (JVC K2) of Benny Carter - Swingin' The 20's a couple months ago and took a chance on it.

    What a GREAT album - I love it when that happens :)

    I should add that my interest in Benny Carter is all thanks to Steve because he was mastering Jazz Giant when I was last at AcousTech - still can't get over how good those masters sounded!

    :candy:
     
  12. Fortune

    Fortune Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I'll second that Mal. I still can't believe hearing the gold version of this CD and A/Bing it to the master. WOW! It was like a layer of echo was washed off!
     
  13. kudesai

    kudesai New Member

    Location:
    usa
    Any votes for Bluesy Burrell? I love the sound of this one.
     
  14. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Well, yeah. That's what ya pay your fifty bucks for! :)
     
  15. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Nothing from the NEW JAZZ label made it to the list.
     
  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Yes. Look again. A few NEW JAZZ and JAZZLAND:


    KENNY BURRELL & JOHN COLTRANE (NEW JAZZ label)

    KENNY DORHAM-Quiet Kenny (NEW JAZZ label)

    HAROLD LAND with Wes Montgomery-West Coast Blues (JAZZLAND label)


    Remember, my list was of TOP SELLERS THAT HAD GOOD ENOUGH SOUND FOR A $29.00 DCC Gold CD.

    There are hundreds more, some with wonderful sound, some with OK sound that are lesser selling but still important titles from OJC.
     
  17. kt66brooklyn

    kt66brooklyn Senior Member

    Location:
    brooklyn, ny
    This list can also be synced up with the 100 Analog Productions 45's. There are a number of titles that do not overlap with the DCC list, but they still sound great. I'll add one of the 45rpm titles I pushed for: Wynton Kelly, Kelly Blue
     
  18. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Steve,
    Sorry for this off topic but I would like to know if Dave Jones is the same Dave jones who recorded for Connoisseur Recordings in 60s.

    Thanks.
     
  19. misterbozz

    misterbozz Senior Member

    Location:
    Nerima-ku, Tokyo
    Does anyone know a good supplier for these discs in Europe these days?
    Having trouble locating some of the more obscure titles and importing them from the US in any kind of number is expensive with import tax etc..
     
  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    No idea. I do not think so.
     
  21. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Hi misterbozz,

    Look for German XYZ-Bernard Mikulski versions of the OJC titles made in Germany under license. They are superb pressings on nice thick vinyl and shouldn't cost much. Their CD issues are clones of the US OJC series. The Audiophile Productions and DCC titles are import only for you.
     
  22. misterbozz

    misterbozz Senior Member

    Location:
    Nerima-ku, Tokyo
    Thanks Kent, I actually found one of those Bernhard Mikulski CD's of Monk's Music - mono mix recently. Overall they do seem to be getting scarce 'new' now. I guess this will eventually happen in the US too.
     
  23. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Thanks Steve, you doubt it, don't you?
     
  24. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Hi misterbozz,

    In the UK, Ace Records was the Fantasy distributor. You may well find the Ace Records clones of the Fantasy OJC line even easier. Those discs should be easier to locate copies of.
     
  25. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    In the U.K. many of those awful-sounding German 20-bit remastered OJCs in digipacks from (former) licensee ZYX were distributed, that's why I stopped buying OJCs there.
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine