Listened to Passing Ships last night for the first time. It sounded great overall and no issues on Plantation Bag. However, on the title track, it seemed like there was some odd clipping, distortion on the hotter notes of the trumpet. It's probably not enough for me to return it and in fairness, my turntable could be a contributor as I'm firmly in the lower end with a Project Debut Carbon. Either way, it's a super interesting album and not one I would buy typically. Probably the beauty of the TP Series, introducing people to albums they might not otherwise have come across.
I think the only thing that would stop them at this point is UME if the series isn’t profitable enough. I’m definitely looking forward to Dance With Death and hoping that Point of Departure gets into at least the Classic series.
I've just received "One Flight Up" and am in complete agreement with previous posters: it's a great sounding record! Love the music too, both sides FWIW. I also recently got in "It's Time" by Jackie McLean. Love that one too. Jackie's tone can sometimes be a bit strident, but I dig it and it fits the music, to my ears anyway. Charles Tolliver on trumpet sounds great too, I wasn't familiar with him before hearing this one. The rhythm section could have been worse too - Herbie, Roy Haynes and Cecil McBee...
It's funny you mention Charles Tolliver. He was a player I knew of but certainly couldn't pick out in a blindfold test or anything. I was delighted to discover he was on McLean's It's Time Blue Note date, along with Roy Haynes and Cecil McBee, et al. Enthused by Tolliver's playing, I hit upon a goldmine of Strata-East dates at AcousticSounds. I went ahead and ordered a couple to get started, Cecil Payne's Zodiac and Charles Brackeen's Rhythm X. Tolliver founded the Strata-East label, where he features prominently on many dates. AcousticSounds currently has five Tolliver as-leader dates on their website. Charles Tolliver|Acoustic Sounds If you click through the Strata-East label you can see a full complement of 26 Strata-East offerings from Pure Pleasure Records. Every one of them looks interesting to me. I've had Cecil McBee's Mutima on my wishlist for some time, as it remains out of stock. The two live dates from Tolliver are not yet available. If I like the quality of the records I just ordered, I intend to follow up with Charles Tolliver's Live at Slugs Vols. 1 & 2. I've heard so much about Slugs in NYC and it seems like this arrangement might allow me to establish some kind of connection. Strata-East Records - Wikipedia While Strata-East put out 50 records (some not released near when they were recorded), it looks like the ticket to entry at the label was to be named either Charles or Cecil. Cecil is an unusual name in my book, and there are three artists named Cecil on the label. Cecil Payne, Cecil McBee, and one other pianist I came across (or maybe it was Cecil Bridgewater). Then you've got Charles Rouse, Charles Sullivan, Charles Tolliver, Charles Davis, Charles McPherson, Charles Fowlkes, and Charles Brackeen, perhaps among others.
Ha good catch, I also found it strange with those Cecil's, doesn't seem like a very common name but quite a few jazz musicians, these guys and Taylor as well of course.. Zodiac is a great album, and a bit of a spooky one, in addition to being in the Eric Dolphy series and having a song dedicated to the recently deceased Martin Luther King, it features both Wynton Kelly and Kenny Dorham who both died between the session and the release of the album. I've had my eye on that Pure Pleasure actually so it would be really nice to hear your thoughts if you have time
Not only that, but the studio, Town Sound Studio, established by Harlem attorney Gloria Toote, burned to the ground two years later. https://londonjazzcollector.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/town-sound.jpg The reviews of these Pure Pleasure Records Strata-East offerings from commentary on the London Jazz Collector site are not auspicious. I've got my order in so let's see what we get. This whole Strata-East cashe at AcousticSounds might not be the goldmine I had hoped it would be. Ha. I've had great results with Pure Pleasure Records, but none have been on the Strata-East label.
My copy of Bass On Top has a strange defect. It appears like there’s paper pressed into the lead-in groove. When the stylus goes over it, the noise it makes is pure hell. That copy is going back!
The forum's own Bill Hart featured an interesting interview with Wendell Harrison on The Vinyl Press site, Harrison says Pure Pleasure didn't use the master tapes for their Tribe reissues: A MESSAGE FROM THE TRIBE- WENDELL HARRISON - The Vinyl Press
Oh, didn't know about the fire, damn. Yeah I read some mixed things about those Pure Pleasure Strata East reissues, it appears at least some (probably all?) were certainly not from tape as per @Dubmart 's link above, but they have also gotten some very good reviews on here, and the SQ may vary from title to title. That's why I asked for your opinion above, I think sometimes people can get a bit hung up on sources these days, which is valid and an interesting discussion, but for me I generally just want to know about whether it sounds good I've also had very consistent experiences with PP so far, but I think even if the SQ is average on these ones they will still be good for the price, especially given the lack of alternative versions.
I think you've hit the nail on the head some PPs may not pass the audiophile test, but none of the ones I've heard could be called bad and it's not like the stores are full of mint, affordable originals, or any originals over here, though I'm old enough to remember when some of those labels were totally out of fashion and some titles would sit unsold in the racks for months at what now seem to be ridiculously low prices.
Random question: Does anybody know what the "P" in "KPG" stands for? I sincerely hope it's "Percival".
Your recorder is being overloaded as well (or somewhere earlier in the chain). It looks like a mastering that has the peaks shaved off.
Just to show there is no clipping on the vinyl.... Here is the waveform of Plantation Bag, made with my TASCAM recorder. Peaks intact It's clear the vinyl is "hotter" than many other albums, and overloading some recorders at least. Best to get a recorder than can adjust the recording level in the analog domain. Many can't do it. Anyway, it may overload some recorders, but it doesn't mean it's overloading your system
Just to show, no clipping vs clipping. Both are the TP Vinyl. I think you can see the difference? It's the recorder, not the vinyl. This has no bearing on whether this is some distortion on the vinyl, but wanted to get clearer on the topic of "clipping". The album may be hot, but it's very dynamic and nothing to suggest that the mastering was "clipped".
Been listening back and forth. The youtube version and the other streaming versions (I dont have a cd of this album) I have listened to are much different than the Tone Poet. Not sure exactly what the reasons are but I am assuming the eq is much different. I really had to listen to the flurried notes on the tenor sax on the Tone Poet but I understand what you are hearing now. The distortion is there though not crazy distorted to my ears. You being a sax player though would most likely be more attuned to the issue. I wonder if the distortion is simply being more controlled by eq on the youtube video. It does sound more muffled, not as open or natural. Had a discussion with a forum member whom I consider very objectively precise when it comes to these things. No doubt in his mind that its distorted. And really clipping (if it is clipping) does distort, so I think the term distort is just fine here. A little baffled that I am not bothered with it as much. Usually am.
You may be right here. I originally had some issues on Plantation Bag but after turning down the gain on my Schitt Mani the issue was resolved.
One flight up. wow what an incredible album and sounding record.. I have heard drums sound the dynamic and life like for a very long time , it is defiantly one of the best sounding tone poets its that good, that drum sound wow..
Thanks, I currently have nothing of Strata East. The two Tolliver/Slugs titles and Zodaic look very interesting indeed. I intend to get those when they're released.
I heard the distortion at three points on Side One when it arrived last week. However, thanks to an expert who could finally visit me yesterday, my Linn Klyde was dismounted and my forlorn AT33Sa finally remounted, correctly installed and aligned. Listening just now, I could only hear one very brief instance of distortion.
I really didn't want to go over this again. I can also lower the gain to a point where the waveform looks like that. Point is, out of the dozens of jazz records I recorded, audiophile or not, the settings I use never came close to produce such a waveform as on my Plantation Bag needledrop. My phono preamp is set at 40db gain, the best for my cart. Later today I'll try 30db, the lowest setting and will see how it helps.
My recording stays well below 0db even though I was in a hurry and being sloppy, all I can say is that my original DSD recording isn't clipped, nor should the downsampled PCM one I uploaded be, isn't the loudest passage around the 5.46 mark rather than the part people are complaining about, like dastinger I've had enough of this, the record sounds fantastic, there is no mastering/pressing error just a hot recording and an interesting sax player, I avoid the threads about TP issues, not sure why I allowed myself to be dragged into this one.
It's a mistake we can all make. All I was trying to say was that what people were talking about seemed unlikely to be a pressing issue... Even being positive is a risky proposition