SH Spotlight 45 RPM mastering "Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section", one of THE greatest albums of all time.

I too have the Grundman version of Way Out West, and it is very nice indeed - a fine example of what CD can do when handled with loving attention

 

Steve Hoffman posted:

Listen to the "rhythm" channel only (should be the right channel); in other words, the channel without the saxophone in it. The music should be dry as a bone, no echo. AND there should be no echo bleed through from the saxophone channel when the sax is soloing.


I just got this on the Analogue Productions 45rpm by Kevin and Steve. What a treat!

I have not listened to a tremedous amount of jazz. This is a stereo LP, was it the norm at the time to cut it lead instrument one channel, rhythm section the other channel?

By mistake I left the setting at Mono from the previous LP the second time I put this on. Sounded great, but different, then I realized what I'd done, and this question of how they cut it occurred to me.

 

I am actually just discovering Art Pepper, and believe it or not have never heard this album before. I'll hear it the right way and get your version, Steve.

You are a lucky man indeed to be able to do what you love for your work.

Evan

 

Sonny Rollin's Way Out West definitely has that binaural sound and the liner notes on the MFSL aluminum issue mention that Ampex 350-2 recorder. That was MFSL's first ever CD in 1984.

 

Re: Is "Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section" one of THE greatest jazz albums of all time?

This sounds very wonderful. Is there no way to hear "your" version without buying the expensive 45 RPM edition?

 

Would this explain why A&M's tapes were so consistently bad? I own nearly a dozen, and they are washed-out, noisy beasts. Another engineer mentioned to me that it depended on what A&M would have sent to Ampex as a source to be duplicated, which makes sense. I have had A&M reels from a variety of sources, and in different conditions, even buying one or two that were still sealed. And yet I bought a couple of Verve reels that, while sounding good (a lot better than A&M's), still has all the hiss that comes with 7.5ips reels.

A Stan Kenton reel of "West Side Story" on Capitol, a Fantasy reel of Cal Tjader's "West Side Story", and...heh....the movie soundtrack of "West Side Story on Columbia all do sound quite good...the A&M's seem to be the runt of the litter IMHO.

 

Thanks for that last post, Steve. Very enlightening. Roy DuNann knew what he was doing and his work surpassed that of just about all of his peers. This seems evident despite the reissue version or stereophonics, at least to me. His recordings were a cut above.

 

Would this apply to Fantasy as well? I'm listening to Cal Tjader's Greatest Hits CD, from his early Fantasy era. The album "Mamblues" is from is presented in mono on CD, and yet the song is "stereo" or, rather, "binaural" as you mention here. Apparently Tjader's West Side Story may have been binaural also, as the song "Cool" on the same CD is binaural as well...no center information for either recording. Although I do hear reverb leaking from one channel to the other, as though they were trying to make the stereo impression fuller.

I have West Side Story on reel, but my deck isn't hooked up. It IS two-channel...whether or not it is binaural or true stereo I can't verify, but my bet is it's binaural like the version on Greatest Hits.

Edit: the "Ginza Samba" with Stan Getz is also binaural.

 

Here's a scan of side 2 of 4 from the 45 RPM....
A beauty if you ask me.

 

I don't own a turntable But Bernie Grundman and Doug Sax also remastered this session for Analogue Productions a few years back on
Gold Disc. Both versions Bernie's and Doug's versions of the remaster sound excellent.

If Steve was also mastering it to CD I would pick it up without another thought.

Steve did remaster Art Peppers Gettin' Together for DCC on a Gold disc and to my ears it is musically and sonically at the very very top of a very long list.

 

Just burned DCC Gettin Together for the Car, and have been enjoying it mucho Lately!

 

Meets is the only Audiophile Art Pepper I'm missing. Have both DCC's and the AP golds of "Smack Up" and " +Eleven". All are very tasty. "+ Eleven" sound fantastic too, as good as a DCC IMHO.
Just have to decide if I buy "Meets" in gold or hybrid SACD. (Don't have an SACD player....yet)

 

Steve,

I thought something was lacking.
For the record. Pardon the pun. Bernie and Doug's version of Meets the Rythym Section do not hold a candle to your mastering of Gettin' Together or Intensity. Maybe it's that SS console.

You are in another league. Please tell us that you are also doing a CD of Meets the Rythym Section!


All the best,

Gary

 

Gary,
You seem to like, understand, and appreciate a lot of fifties music. Wouldn't it be interesting to own a TT?

 

In my computer monitor I see a bit of yellow in the lettering. In reality it should be faint gold. Sort of like the Parlophone Black/Gold Please Please Me.

 

Hi Ben,

I would like nothing more than to have another turntable. During the
70's I owned a vintage Fisher tube amp with a vintage scott preamp and some really great KLH speakers. You know the whole shooting match.
My front end was the top of the line Thorens TT that was available during that time period.

I went away for a weekend with some friends and came back to find everyone of my beautiful lPs were destroyed by a 5 year old cousin who was visiting. He apparently thought they were neat frisbees and they were all shattered in pieces quite methodically. Almost 100 LPs total.

I have two youngsters of my own now and the memory of what happened way back still haunts me.

A turntable is definitely in my future but for now I'm playing it safe. I have a
really great CD player and only use back-up copies of my discs. The originals are safely locked away.

 

Hi Gary,

Sorry to hear about your LP disaster. I have a five year old and she's stayed away from the LPs so far (she's got a small CD player boom box of her own).

I always say "LPs are not for everyone". I understand lifestyle choices, circumstances and individual preferences can make LP playing more of a pain than it's worth.

 

Thanks Steve, I been waiting for the release of AP Meets the Rhythm Section for over a year. It was definately worth it. Philly Joe's Drum sound is awesome, very sharp. I was blown away to be able the hear the pads hitting the notes on AP's sax. I know that his sax was dried out and hadn't been played for a while. I've never heard this sound so distinctive in a recording. It really brings you into the Contemporary mailroom.

Any chance that you'll be doing this treatment on more Contemporary Recordings? I sure would love to hear Benny Carter's Jazz Giant in this format.

 

I suppose +11 will be in the next batch. You mentioned that "Monk's Music" was coming out, thats one of my favorites, love hearing the Hawk and Coltrane playing together. When will Chad announce the next batch?