CTI Japan 2013 "Supreme Collection" Series (Direct from Masters- No EQ Added)

I love the sound of the Fuse One debut.

 

I bought all 80 (4o from each series) from CDJapan. Reasonable price and careful packaging. If I remember right, it was essentially $400 for each set (roughly $10 per title), give or take the cost of shipping.

 

Are there any that you'd say are a dramatic improvement over the US issued CDs? (either the originals from the mid-Eighties or subsequent remasters)

 

Another batch of 40 CDs is coming in December, including some of my wish-list titles:
CTI 50th Anniversary Special Collection - complete list at CDJapan

 

Prepare another $400 for the next set

 

One day they'll do the K & JJ albums (Kai Winding & JJ Johnson) and my dreams will have come true.

 

Thanks for the heads up..I suspect I will end up with all of them sooner or later to go with the other two sets .

 

Wow, great news. I like this series.

There are some nice titles in this third series. Will have to pick some of these up for sure.

I found the Johnny Hammond "Wild Horses Rock Steady" album on vinyl recently (not in the best shape), and it is a great record. Really happy to see that it will be part of the new set, and I can highly recommend this album.

 

Great artist, what can I say! I have 4 of his CTI/Kudu albums, and the 5th (The Prophet) was never released on CD AFAIK.

 

Great record. IIRW, it was reissued as part of the 40th CTI anniversary series as well.

 

I like it, but I'm going for Higher Ground (1973) as his best one. Probably my second favourite CTI/Kudu release after Idris Muhammad's Power Of Soul.

 

Just checked the list, with my fingers crossed...and yes!!! I've been trying to find those Hank Crawfords for years!

 

This latest batch includes the CD debut of two George Benson titles: Pacific Fire (outtakes from the Good King Bad sessions that are as good as the album proper), and Space, a live album.

I'm a Benson completist (but only from 1963-1979), so I'm stoked for these, especially Pacific Fire.

 

Thanks for the link! Good to know I should start saving now for December release.

Always have to do two separate orders for all 40, as 30 items per-order is the limit @ CDJapan.

Regardless of which versions of each individual CTI/kUDU album sound the best (I still prefer the brightness of the some of the 90s Epic / Legacy reissues, but those are what I 'grew up' with), at least having all 80 (soon to be 120) of these in my digital library makes for commonality when it comes to tonality and balance, which is generally very similar to the original LPs in my experience. If I make a playlist of one track from all 80 CDs, I won't have to ride the volume or EQ.

I have a lot of CTI on vinyl, but with these releases and a good DAC, my default will be to go digital w/these JP releases.

 

So you're giving up all the tasty bonus tracks on Epic/Legacy CDs.

 

I still keep a few duals in my library (notably "Sunflower" and "Stone Flower"). Sans the alt. take of 'Brazil' off "Stone Flower", I've never been so taken w/any of the alt. takes I've heard on the other reissues to be compelled to include dueling versions of the same albums.

That said, if anyone wants to volley a list of must-have bonus tracks/alt. takes from the various CTI reissues over the past decade, I'm all eyes (and eventually ears). I have most of the 90s reissues, and all of the Masterworks Jazz releases.

 

Finally there's an add for the new series.

 

Just received shipment of all 40 discs from the 3rd series. I noticed unwrapping them that they aren't Blu-spec like the prior two series. I don't really care about Blu-spec - especially since I'll just rip all of these and only occasionally play them physically - but it's kind of weird that this series doesn't match the others?

Here's to (a lot) more Rhodes piano in my listening over the next couple of weeks...

 

All 40 in one shot? You're my new hero. At least until the next hero.

 

Yes interesting change. . . what I've heard of this batch sounds very good though.

 

Technically all 40 in two shots; CD Japan (wisely?) limits orders to 30 units. So I split into 2x 20. Got a pretty good deal on semi-expedited shipping via DHL (I don't care about timeframe, but shipment tracking is nice when ordering overseas), so best to just get 'em all instead of piecemeal.

Of course is they were more than 1K yen each, unlike most of the other items I'd like to buy via CD Japan, I would definitely not be able to otherwise afford such a large order.

 

Big fan of Grover Washington (kudu period only!) here.
Can someone point me out the best sounding versions of his CDs from that time ?
Thanks

 

Though I'm not a fan per se and haven't heard these releases since the LP days, I would wager that the best sound would be those released in the CTI Supreme series or any in this latest 50th anniversary batch as these cds sound phenomenal and are the best digital versions of the titles I've heard whenever I can compare.

 

I was reading the thread backwards and saw several references to Idris - Power of soul. The name was familiar but had never listened to any of his albums.

Finally after 20 days of forum a great finding! Loving the album.

Funny that I was asking info from Grover Washington and he plays on this one.

Lonson, thanks for your answer. I have to look harder. Only able to find "Mr Magic" for the moment.

 

Washington also penned 'Loran's Dance' on "Power of Soul", which is an all-time favorite CTI/kUDU track of mine. I have listened to that track on repeat for hours at times. Everyone's playing on it is spot-on, notably Bob James.

Similar to Seawind and Bob James, Grover Washington Jr.'s kUDU recordings aren't owned like the rest of the CTI/kUDU/Salvation recordings by Sony (USA) or King (JP); they are or were owned by Motown, and now Universal, I think?

So, none of the Grover Washington, Jr. albums on kUDU are a part of any of the King JP reissue series.

If memory serves, the Verve reissues from the 2000s sound fine. Mastered by Kevin Reeves.