Limited small batch one-step releases. The FOMO will probably make me spend way too much on this and they know it. I'm curious what genres this series will cover, but I hope they do right by the Contemporary and Riverside catalogs. A premium price limited one-step sort of deal probably isn't going to be a dig through the vaults so much as a cash-in on the marquee stuff... Miles, Trane, Monk, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, Bill Evans. They’ll certainly have my money...but I’d love to see some love for Bobby Timmons or Shelly Manne or Phineas Newborn. Aside from jazz... Otis Redding? Zombies? I assume they wouldn't cannibalize their current Creedence half speed releases. But could be wrong. Speculation is fun.
The story goes MOFI was set to release “Waltz For Debbie” as a one step Ultra right after SATVV but the tapes were shot and they had to go with “Portrait in Jazz”.
Ap did it in 2010 and reused the plates for their 2017 45 box. Something catastrophic must've happened for the tapes to be unusable.
I wonder if Friday Music will get in the game too. Could you imagine what they would charge? $200 for record mastered by Joe Reagoso.
' Yeah, but only Friday Music is willing to reissue "groundbreaking" albums that "define" an artist and are "filled with hits," like Ringo's Rotogravure.
Call me curious. Interested to see the titles, price point, mastering and pressing details...you know like everything that might help one decide if they’re interested in these.
Is Craft headquartered in Memphis? My guess would either be Sterling or Take Out Vinyl for mastering. If we're lucky RTI, but possibly MRP.
Lot of great Stax, Prestige, Riverside, etc. albums that Craft can reissue on One-Step to get excited about. Sooooo many great jazz albums on Prestige and Riverside, can't wait to see what they announce!
Yes, and they use MRP a lot, but for some things (The Chet Bakers and some Jazz Dispensary stuff) they use RTI and QRP. I have no doubt they'll use one of those 2 for the One-Step stuff. They actually have several great Kevin Gray pressed at RTI releases.
A handful of recent VMP Classics releases are from Craft, mastered AAA by Ryan K Smith, and pressed at QRP (The Hawk Flies High, Sonny Rollins Freedom Suite, McCoy Tyner’s Sahara). They also did two exclusive John Lee Hooker AAA releases, mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI. Tip-on jackets all around. Half of the VMP Anthology “Story of Stax Records” set was also from Craft, all analog, RKS, RTI. So the quality of this series should be in that general orbit, if it’s a real premium affair.
Looks like this is being officially announced tomorrow - with LUSH LIFE being the first title: John Coltrane - Lush Life (Small Batch) Bernie Grundman RTI Neotech VR90o vinyl (ie. I think the same as Mofi SuperVinyl AKA Music Matters SRX) INTRODUCING CRAFT RECORDINGS’ “SMALL BATCH” SERIES: CURATED, HISTORIC, LIMITED-EDITION AUDIOPHILE VINYL REISSUES ALL-ANALOG MASTERING AND UNIQUE ONE-STEP LACQUER PROCESSES OFFER THE HIGHEST QUALITY LISTENING EXPERIENCE JOHN COLTRANE’S LUSH LIFE TO LAUNCH COLLECTION, AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW, EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH CRAFTRECORDINGS.COM Los Angeles, CA (January 12, 2021)—Craft Recordings is thrilled to announce our Small Batch series—a carefully curated audiophile collection that is devoted to creating the highest quality vinyl reissues of legendary recordings from our vast catalog. Each album selected for the series will undergo all-analog mastering, and then be pressed on 180-gram vinyl in a one-step lacquer process—as opposed to the standard three-step process—allowing for the highest level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics while reducing the amount of surface noise on the record. The limited nature of these pressings guarantees that each record is a true representation of the original lacquer and is as close as the listener can get to the original recording. Each Small Batch pressing, available exclusively on craftrecordings.com, will be individually numbered and housed in a foil-stamped, linen-wrapped slipcase featuring an acrylic inset of the original artwork. The vinyl disc—extractable through a unique frictionless ribbon pull tab—will be housed in a reproduction of the original album jacket, complete with tip-on jacket, and protected by an archival-quality, anti-static, non-scratching inner sleeve. New liner notes from some of music’s best educators, historians, and journalists will accompany each title. Launching the Small Batch series will be John Coltrane’s iconic 1961 album, Lush Life—celebrating its 60th anniversary this year—available on February 19, 2021 and limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. For this reissue, the original analog tapes—recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s Hackensack, NJ studios—were sent to mastering engineer Bernie Grundman, who utilized a custom tube pre-amp and analog mixing console with discreet electronics—both made in-house—as well as a Scully solid-state lathe with custom electronics. “When it comes to jazz, all you want to do is present the music in a good way. No gimmicks. No extra compression. Just the pure instruments,” explains Grundman. “We’re taking these old tapes and playing them off of equipment that’s similar to what they were recorded on. We want to preserve the sound as much as we can. My goal is to do all of this by hand as it’s playing. It takes a lot of preparation. It takes choreographing.” In the end, Grundman says, “It’s all about trying to optimize the experience for the listener.” Grundman’s lacquers were then sent to Record Technology Incorporated (RTI) for plating using the plant’s one-step process, as described above, where the lacquers are used to create a “convert” that becomes the record stamper. Utilizing Neotech’s VR900 compound, Lush Life was then pressed on to 180-gram vinyl.
Yes they did a mono press at 33 in 2014 but they are expensive and OOP now. Cheapest from what I can see is $129. The 45 was from 2003 and goes for $115+.
1,000 copies should sell out pretty fast. It says worldwide, so maybe these will be available on the international store and not US only.
Concord head office is in Beverly Hills, but they have a lot of offices around the world, including Nashville. Pretty sure from a quick google search that Craft is also in L.A.
Agreed, should be sold out super quick, unless price is insane. But im guess $99.99 since its a single lp
I don't have a copy of Lush Life. Depending on the price I'd be interested but it seems like it'll be $125. Are they just announcing these one at a time? I'd be more interested in a HQ Prestige series. At 1000 copies this will be gone instantly.
