Crescent/John Coltrane Quartet
Brand/Label/Format: ORG/Original Recordings Group/Impulse 180g 45rpm LP (2LP)
Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the Original Analog Master Tapes
Produced by: Bob Thiele
Engineered and mixed by: Rudy Van Gelder
This 1964 recording has been reissued by ORG as a limited edition double 45rpm set. It features one of jazz’s classic quartets, consisting of John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison. They performed live in a small club in some of Coltrane’s more lyrical numbers on this LP.
The music and the sound is just about as good as it gets. I loved every number, and could not believe how alive this recording sounded. The surfaces of the LP were flat and quiet. What more can you ask for with such great music, great sound, and a great pressing. Very Highly Recommended!
The Magnificent Thad Jones
Brand/Label/Format: Blue Note 180g 45rpm LP (2LP) Music Matters Ltd.
Remastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman from the Original Rudy Van Gelder Blue Note Master Tapes
Musicians: Thad Jones, trumpet
Billy Mitchell, tenor sax. Barry Harris, piano
Percy Heath, bass, Max Roach, drums
Selections:
1. April In Paris
2. Billie-Doo
3. If I Love Again
4. If Someone Had Told Me
5. Thedia
Trumpeter Thad Jones had been a big part of the Count Basie Orchestra. By 1956 he is trying to make his own way in the Count Basie Orchestra. This brings us to this incredible mono Blue Note recording.
This is one of the best mono recordings I have heard. It will give you a chance to hear how good and pure mono recordings can sound. If you don’t think mono recordings have spatiality, just play this recording on a good system with a true mono cartridge. Very Highly Recommended!
Mythologies/Patricia Barber
Cole Porter Mix/Patricia Barber
If you like Patricia Barber than you will like these two limited edition LPs from Mobile Fidelity. If you only like her early recordings, then I would stick with the Cole Porter Mix. Even the Cole Porter tribute is still done with her distinctive style. Personally, I really like them both and find them both musically very interesting and enjoyable.
The sound of these two recordings is also exceptional, but the pressings are not. The amount of noise you hear from the services between songs is just too much from any LPs, much less those from Mobile Fidelity. These noisy pressings keep the sound from sounding quite as alive and dynamic as the very best LPs do, but they still sound very good.
All of this leads me back to what I said to start with, “if you like Patricia Barber you will like these two.”
Night Train/The Oscar Peterson Trio
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Musicians:
Oscar Peterson, piano
Ray Brown, bass
Ed Thigpen, drums
Selections:
1. Night Train
2. C Jam Blues
3. Georgia On My Mind
4. Bags’ Groove
5. Moten Swing
6. Easy Does It 7. Honey Dripper
8. Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
9. I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good
10. Band Call
11. Hymn To Freedom
What can I say about this music, it’s simply as good as a jazz trio gets. So, I’m going to spend my time talking about the sound and comparing the three pressings I have of this LP. I have the original, the Speakers Corner reissue, and now this one.
The problem is that none of the three LPs sounds as good as the music. They all lack the kind of dynamics/micro-dynamics that recorded music needs to sound alive. The original comes closest, but my copy is a little noisy and worn. This ORG 45 is very good and dead quiet. The Speakers Corner edition is also good, but not as quiet and not quite as alive sounding. So, the one I will pull out and play will be the ORG 45, but if I had a near-mint original I would choose it.
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