Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of John Coltrane Available Now
An album like this is all about its Tubey Magical stereoscopic presentation.
If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good 1961 All Tube Analog sound can be — thanks to legendary engineers Phil Iehle and Tom Dowd — an outstanding pressing of this album is just what the doctor ordered.
What to listen for you ask?
A solid, full-bodied, clear and powerful piano. As we focused in on the sound of the instrument, we couldn’t help but notice what a brilliant player McCoy Tyner is.
This may be John Coltrane’s album, but Tyner’s contribution is critically important to the success of My Favorite Things.
(We rarely care much for Tyner as a leader, which is why you see so few of his albums on the site. Most of his Milestone recordings are terrible, so caveat emptor on those especially.)
Lately we have been writing quite a bit about how pianos are good for testing your system, room, tweaks, electricity and all the rest, not to mention turntable setup and adjustment.
- We like our pianos to sound natural (however one chooses to define the term).
- We like them to be solidly weighted.
- We like them to be free of smear, a quality that is rarely mentioned in the audiophile record reviews we read.
- Some of the other records we’ve discovered with top jazz piano sound can be found here
The engineering duties were handled by Tom Dowd (whose work you surely know well) and Phil Iehle, who happens to be the man who recorded some of Coltrane’s most iconic albums for Atlantic: Giant Steps (1960) and Coltrane Jazz (also in 1961).
Further Reading
- Is it a good idea to judge records by their label?
- Building a store of knowledge, one record at a time
- Hot Stamper pressings of core jazz collection records available now
