The Jazz Beat

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Ken_McAlinden, Apr 27, 2015.

  1. dpb

    dpb Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I got the stormy blues one, same, French pressing, RL is credited inside but nothing in the dead wax
     
  2. James_S888

    James_S888 Forum Resident

    Yeah, I have a French press of Ben Webster / Coleman Hawkins, "Tenor Giants".
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    Deadwax is the usual printed French mastering information. All nicely printed in.

    More interesting though is the US press of Tenor Giants, which is all handwritten. but no RL. And interestingly, also no "Masterdisk".

    Presumably the French got a copy of the tape to do their own run.

    Unlike "Jazz at the Philharmonic, the historic recordings" for example
    [​IMG]

    With a very nice "MASTERDISK" printed into the deadwax.

    It's weird, some of them do, some don't.....
     
  3. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    I have a few of these. They're OK. Despite many (all?) being done by quality mastering engineers, sonically to me they're just decent, nothing too great. They lack warmth - kind of bloodless and flat, though certainly not offensive in any way.

    I'm speculating here, but I wonder if they used solid state mastering chains for these LPs, given the time period they came out, rather than all-tube vintage chains like the best remastering engineers tend to do nowadays in audiophile issues of jazz from this vintage? This is music that to me needs glowing glass to sing!

    Generally I find many CD reissues (early Verve/Polygrams often, mastered by Dennis Drake) typically best these LPs for sound, even though those aren't perfect either.

    All just my take, of course, YMMV.

    But that said, these LPs are unequivocally a good cheap way to explore some great music, they often pop up in good shape for very little in the used bins around Northern California (well in the few brick and mortar stores left!). And nowadays even some of the CDs, which used to plentiful, are getting scarce.

    The chronological ordering approach sounds like Michael Cuscuna's approach, that's how most Mosaic boxed sets are arranged, and some other reissue producers do the same.
     
  4. fingerpoppin

    fingerpoppin Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    Donald Byrd - Royal Flush
    From: Disc IV Session (E)
    The Complete Blue Note Donald Byrd/ Pepper Adams Studio Sessions

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    Last edited: Dec 27, 2017
  5. Crossfire#3

    Crossfire#3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Burlington Vermont
    The Definitive Vince Guaraldi.....2CD SET
     
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  6. Isamet

    Isamet Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    This album is what got me into Jazz this year!
     
  7. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    Great set, though to my ears the sound is only so-so; I have the XRCD of one of the albums in the set and Japanese Blue Note Works and a couple of later Japanese CD releases of the others, and the set sounded compressed in comparison.
     
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  8. btf1980

    btf1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Straight ahead stuff here.

    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
  9. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    [​IMG]
    Marta Sánchez Quintet, DANZA IMPOSIBLE (listening to the FLAC file download version from Bandcamp on my new [used] Bryston BDA-1/BDP-1 combo; this is also apparently available on a Fresh Sound New Talent CD). Picked this up today, Sánchez's latest, after hearing Kevin Whitehead's review on NPR and being pretty spellbound by the samples he played. This is instantly appealing stuff, modern and inventive but I think likely to be immediately accessible to all but the most close-eared listener. Not sure who Sánchez was most influenced by in her development, but I hear parallels in her compositions with Herbie Nichols and even Andrew Hill at times, though as a pianist, she's more linear and fundamentally lyrical than either of those giants, and quite under-stated.

    Sánchez has an excellent multi-cultural group of players with her, all now based in New York: Roman Filiu alto sax (Cuba), Jerome Sabbagh tenor sax (France), Rick Rosato bass (Canada), and Daniel Dor drums (Israel). They impress for how much they play as one, and support each other, without a hint of showiness or artifice. This moves the music forward immeasurably, keeping the focus on Sánchez's brilliant, slowly unfolding pieces, and the arrangements, with lots of close harmonies for the saxophonists - who tonally meet in the middle - at times sounding so so much alike, it's as if they're both playing the same hybrid horn, pitched somewhere between an alto and a tenor.

    The recording quality is quite good, intimate and vivid, though as with so many contemporary jazz recordings it sounds like a bit of compression has been added at the mastering stage, at least on some tracks - utterly unnecessary for music of this kind, if so.

    Anyway this one comes highly recommended, I haven't been this smitten by a new jazz recording since cellist's Tomeka Reid's S/T debut a couple years back on Thirsty Ear. This would be a particularly great recording to check out for someone who loves mid-'60s Blue Note dates by artists like Hancock and Hutcherson and is looking for current material in that general lineage.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2017
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  10. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    I'm gonna have to now go back just a little on what I said earlier...I'm listening right now to the entry below in this series, and it sounds better than I remembered. It is still a bit "flatter" than I think music of this vintage should be, would prefer more midrange bloom, but certainly very listenable:
    [​IMG]
    Musically, this has always been one of my favorites of the era, a great all-star assembly, very relaxed yet profound blowing: Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson, Teddy Wilson, Freddie Green, Gene Ramey, and Jo Jones, can't beat that team. One of the finest of Lester's later recordings, he really nailed it during an unfortunately erratic period. The original Verve/Polygram CD remastered by Dennis Drake is nice sounding too, probably a slight edge over the LP in my book - looks like this:
    [​IMG]
     
  11. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    One more for the evening:
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    Carmen McRae, AT THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL (Toshiba Japan "Blue Note Works" series double CD resissue, TOCJ-5880-81). I have had the original 2 LP Blue Note release from 1977 for some time, but despite looking good visually, it is rice krispies time - snap, crackle, and pop. I guess a casualty of the post-oil embargo, cheap vinyl mix era, a truly crap pressing. Very disappointing.

    So I paid a premium for this CD issue, and I'm not a bit disappointed. Great sounding release overall. The original recording was done with the Wally Heider remote and is a good one. The CD issue may be lacking a bit of the midrange warmth of the LP, but more than makes up for it with the lack of surface noise, and has great dynamic range and detail and top end extension (without brightness), consistent with all of these early 1990s BN Works Toshiba Japan reissues, a quality series.

    Musically this is one of McRae's graetest achievements, riding a late career prime, holding the audience in the palm of her hand start to finish. It is simply mystifying to me that it was never reissued on CD in the U.S. What was BN thinking? Her working band of the time - pianist Marshall Otwell (who I got to see in a small hotel lounge a few years ago in Monterey, still swinging!), bassist Ed Bennett, and a very young Joey Baron on drums - were a well-oiled machine. They're joined on several tracks by trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie, who'd lost a few steps but fits the "add some variety and serve as a foil" role he's called to play just fine here. Lots of variety in the tune selections here too, with plenty of old standards, some bossa nova ("Dindi" and "No More Blues"), plus less commonly tackled stuff for a jazz artist of McRae's vintage - Leon Russell's "A Song For You," and "I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco," even "Only Women Bleed" (maybe the only misstep in my opinion, but then again I never could stand this song). The reading of "Old Folks" here is just about the best I've ever heard, spellbinding - by turns sly, affectionate, laugh out loud funny, and devastatingly sad, turning the mood on a dime literally from line to line and making it all flow organically. Great stuff.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2017
  12. Voltaire

    Voltaire Forum Resident

  13. Voltaire

    Voltaire Forum Resident

  14. jerrygene

    jerrygene Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    :wiggle: Mulligan Meets Monk. The CD is very nice ....
     
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  15. alankin1

    alankin1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Philly
    Eliane EliasFantasia (Blue Note Records / Somethin'else Records—Toshiba EMI)
    — Eliane Elias (piano, vocals), Eddie Gomez (bass) & Jack DeJohnette (drums) or Marc Johnson (bass) & Peter Erksine (drums) + Nana Vasconcelos (percussion, vocals) and Ivan Lins (vocals, 1 track)

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  16. Voltaire

    Voltaire Forum Resident

  17. Voltaire

    Voltaire Forum Resident

  18. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian

    Location:
    .
    Sorry to bump this old post but I am wondering how this 5 CD Japanese exclusive set sounds compared to the normal version we can get domestically?
     
  19. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    The image is gone :)
     
  20. caupina

    caupina Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santiago, Chile
    Is she the same Marta Sanchez of Ole Ole, an 80s Spanish pop group???? She could sing but above all she was very good looking ;).
     
  21. noname74

    noname74 Allegedly Canadian

    Location:
    .
    Thanks Hans... it's this one:

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    or the original version from 2011:

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  22. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    No - different person definitely (though I think quite attractive in her own way).
     
  23. Pants Party

    Pants Party MOSTLY PEACEFUL

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Miles Davis
    Get Up With It

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    This album is just bada55. Focusing on the cuts from '72 tonight. Red China Blues, Rated X, Billy Preston. Bad to the bone, someone get me the telephone
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2017
  24. Lonson

    Lonson I'm in the kitchen with the Tombstone Blues

    Not THAT different.
     
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  25. [​IMG]

    Stanley Clarke - Stanley Clarke (Epic/Legacy) CD
    with basic personnel
    Stanley Clarke (electric & acoustic bass, vocals), Jan Hammer (moog synthesizer, electric & acoustic piano, organ), Bill Connors (electric & acoustic guitar), Tony Williams (drums) + Brass & String Orchestration

    Recorded 1974 | CD Legacy edition mastered by Mark Wilder
     
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