Sony Jazz Connoisseur CD Series (2017)

Sony have just re-issued a great batch of Jazz CD titles this month.

Most albums were previously issued on either Columbia or RCA Victor.

I have just received delivery of a number of these fine discs.

Now playing the first one out of that selection.



Bob Brookmeyer And Friends (Columbia/Legacy)

with

Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Gary Burton & Elvin Jones

Recorded in NYC 1964



An album full of variety and top notch playing as you might expect from this remarkable line-up.

"Day Dream", one of the three 'bonus' tracks included, features Tony Bennett on vocal.

The CD mastering is by Mark Wilder and it all sounds as good as you could wish for.

*Some great prices on this series currently being offered by Amazon UK

 

Jazz connoisseur - Sony Legacy-I only see it on the amazon UK, not the USA

 

Disc 2...



Glad To Be Unhappy - Paul Desmond featuring Jim Hall (RCA Victor/Legacy)

Recorded 1963 & 1964



A beautiful album that includes 3 additional 'bonus' tracks from The Complete Recordings Of The Paul Desmond Quartet With Jim Hall (Mosaic MD4-120).

The CD is presented in great sound.

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

No mastering credits given on sleeve or booklet.

 

The link/list does not appear to be up to date.

I can't see any titles from this year/month's releases mentioned.

 

Jazz Connoisseur, Part 2 - Sony Legacy

They look interesting, I only have a few of these albums, and several artists that I am not familiar with..

 

Onto disc 3.

Thanks to other forum members who love their Jazz mentioning this ever now and again, coupled with the fact it is easy to get addicted to Duke's music was enough to intrigue me into checking this one out so I was delighted to see it turn up in this new re-issue series.

The Duke reworks some of his earlier classics (in his usual finer than fine style....)



The Popular Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra (RCA Victor/Legacy)

Recorded 1966



Includes 2 tracks from The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (box set).

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

No mastering credits given on sleeve or booklet.

 

You can't go wrong really with the majority of those titles.

I see a few listed there that originally turned up in the excellent Jazz on Disques Vogue 20CD Box set that was issued by Sony not so long ago now getting stand alone releases.

It's great to know they (Sony) are aware and servicing the active market that is forever searching out those wonderful and historic Jazz albums!

 

Disc 4

For the 4th album who better to hear than the Four Brothers!



The Four Brothers....Together Again! - The Four Brothers (RCA Victor/Vik/Legacy)
with
Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, & Herbie Steward (tenor sax), Serge Chaloff (baritone sax),
Elliot Lawrence (piano), Burgher Jones (bass) & Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded 1957



A real treat for lovers of those extra cool 50's swinging Jazz sessions!

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

No mastering credits given on sleeve or booklet.

 

Disc 5



Stan Getz - The Master ~ Stan Getz (Columbia/Legacy)

Recorded 1975



I almost overlooked this one! It is a surprisingly fine album and much more enjoyable than I expected it it to be. The very accomplished support band are excellent throughout.

Like all the other titles in this series all discs sound very good to me.

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

No mastering credits given on sleeve or booklet.

 

Disc 6



The Greatest Dizzy Gillespie - Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra (RCA Victor/Legacy)

This compilation features six different Dizzy Gillespie line-ups. The 12 tracks were recorded between 1946-1949.



Prior to getting this one I had no Dizzy Gillespie RCA recordings and had read the RCA titles were among his very best but unfortunately suffered from excessive noise reduction. Based on that information I thought this CD was a must to check out and am glad to report there are no sound reduction issues on this compilation.

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

No mastering credits given on sleeve or booklet.

 

Some interesting stuff, will keep this thread in mind when ordering from Amazon UK.

When I saw Andre Previn's 4 to Go! on the list, I was disappointed that it didn't also include The Light Fantastic as the Collectables two-fer CD did. But I just noticed on the back cover of my CD that Collectables omitted one track from 4 to Go! due to time constraints. The new Sony CD surely includes the whole record, and kills any chance for a two-fer.

Surprised to see Ellington's Far East Suite, as it seems to be readily available on CD (I have the Bluebird digipak edition). But it's a great album deserving of as many CD versions as it can get.

 

Some great titles. As for the Dizzy Gillespie disc, as I said in another thread I have the 1995 US RCA Gillespie 2CD set; great music, but unfortunately that set suffers from dreadful noise reduction. If Sony France, who issued this series, used the same mastering that new reissue could also be affected. As far as I can see none of the discs in this series say anything about a remastering and given the low prices of the reissues and the fact that remasterings of Sony reissues since the late 1990s or so are usually explicitly mentioned in the credits I don't think they were remastered.

 

Nice second batch! If I didn't have the two Vogue box sets I would order some of these, but I have almost all of these in earlier cd editions. Don't have the Previn. . .may consider that one.

This is a nice series by Sony. With these and the new Jazz in Paris releases this is a rare good month for jazz reissues!

The Gillespie seems the odd one out as it does not seem to have been reissued in the form of this LP on cd before in Europe or the US outside of a possible Italian cd included in a periodical. As Jackie P notes that there are no noise reduction artifacts to be heard perhaps it is a new transfer or a transfer from an earlier period unused. . . ?

 

This series was released by Sony France, so maybe they did indeed use a different transfer/mastering from the one used for the 1995 US Gillespie 2CD-set. However, I still think they used older masterings, given the low price of the discs. New masterings would have driven up the production cost.

 

I didn't know this record existed until I found an LP one day. It's a nice one, although in reading Burton's autobiography, it apparently wasn't much fun to make (seems that anything involving Stan Getz was trouble).

 

Perhaps they went even further back and used transfers from the Jazz Tribune series . . . . I trust Jackie P's statement that noise reduction artifacts aren't audible to mean different transfers.

 

Disc 7



The 3 Herds - Woody Herman & His Orchestra (Columbia/Legacy)

Sessions recorded 1945, 1946, 1947 & 1954



Apparently some of Woody Herman's most notable music was recorded for Columbia, and up until this CD was re-issued no music from that period has been readily available on the CD format for years (at least not via Columbia).

The 12 tracks on this CD were all originally released as Columbia singles and I love the sound of these various Jazz cats 'wailing'. It's all very impressive music that was, with the exception of the last 4 tracks, recorded in the 1940's.

Some of the notable people involved in these sessions include Stan Getz, Bill Harris, Kai Winding, Shorty Rogers, Neal Hefti, Pete Condoli, Zoot Sims & Serge Chaloff.

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

No mastering credits given on sleeve or booklet.

 

As far as I can remember those French Jazz Tribune releases sounded pretty good. The noise reduction artefacts on the 1995 US Gillespie 2CD-set are the reason I never listen to that set.

 

I guess this is why I've been seeing the 2005 versions in the used bins lately.

 

Disc 8



Swingin' With Bud - The Bud Powell Trio (RCA Victor/Legacy)

Recorded 1957



This album is just as enjoyable as - Strictly Powell - the other Bud title that was issued in this series last year.

This CD is the first one without a (mini) booklet, but what inner sleeve notes there are confirm the usual info...

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

 

I wonder what quantities of these were made? Pretty brave of a major label to be reissuing Jazz albums these days.

 

Number 9, number 9!



Our Man In Jazz - Sony Rollins (RCA/Legacy)

Recorded 1962 / 3 bonus tracks recorded 1963



These recordings are the most 'out there/experimental' music that I have heard so far in this latest batch of re-issues in this series.

The first 3 tracks were recorded live at the Village Gate NYC 1962 and feature Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Don Cherry (cornet), Bob Cranshaw (bass) & Billy Higgins (drums).

There is no booklet but the original George Avakian LP sleeve notes are reprinted in full as is the following technical information -

Digitally remastered from original master tapes in 24-bit by Jean-Pierre Chalbos.

Re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten.

*The last three tracks are studio recordings and feature the same players except Henry Grimes replaces Bob Cranshaw on bass.

These 3 tracks were originally released on the RCA various artists compilation LP 3 For Jazz

 

So this Rollins reissue was remastered; interesting. Not one of my favourite Rollins albums, though, to my ears Don Cherry was a mismatch here.

 

The last CD I picked up from the recent 2017 batch was an album I initially had no interest in, but much to my surprise, it is a thoroughly enjoyable album and one that will appeal to lovers of the Big Band sound.

Apart from the original album there is also a good helping of alternate takes.



Birdland Dream Band - Maynard Ferguson (RCA Victor/Legacy|Vik)

Recorded 1956



Jazz Connoisseur CD re-issue produced and prepared for release by Daniel Baumgarten

Mastered by Michael O. Drexler

8 page booklet includes the original 1957 LP liner notes.

 

No love for Keith's Expectations? Alas, alas.