Hot Stamper Pressings of 30th St. Recordings Available Now
Years ago I wrote about how important the Legrand Jazz album was in my growth as a critical listener.
It’s yet another example of an album that helped make me a better audiophile by showing me the error of my tweaking and tuning ways.
Now there is a new pressing of it. Well, new to us anyway. (We readily admit to being behind the times and make no apologies for it. With records like these, we often find ourselves wondering why we bother.)
Two new pressings in fact. One on a single disc at 33 RPM as of 2017, and one mastered at 45 RPM on 2 LPs as of 2019, still in print and available for $59.99.
Production details can be found at the end of this review, along with some favorable comments, some from none other than Steve Hoffman himself.
But first let’s hear from the personification of the well-meaning audiophile reviewer, Michael Fremer. He gives the Impex pressings an 11 for sound. He writes (emphasis added):
This IMPEX reissue is sourced from an “analog mix-down transfer of the original 1958 work tape by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios” and cut by Chris Bellman and Bob Donnelly at Bernie Grundman Mastering on Grundman’s all-tube mastering system. I have a clean, original 6-Eye pressing that this superbly pressed reissue betters in every way. This will make both your stereo and your heart sing. Some of the greatest jazz musicians of that or any era wailing and clearly having a Legrand time. Limited to 3000 copies. Don’t miss it!
Who are you going to believe, the Self-Appointed Vinyl Experts of the World or some guy like me who thinks he knows a thing or two about the sound of records, especially, as in this case, a record I have been playing since 1990 or thereabouts.
(Back in those early days I also had the standard CD, which is excellent and highly recommended. Since I couldn’t clean or play my original vinyl pressing at a very high level, my guess would be that the CD had the better sound at the time.)
Our notes (for those who have trouble reading our scratch)
So bright and thin and dry.
Crazy bad!
Unnatural, ugly.
Worst reissue ever?
Void of tubes and body.
So far off the mark.
Awful.
A second opinion
Robert Brook reviewed this pressing a while back. He does his best to remain positive when choosing the words that he thinks will help the reader bette understand the experience of playing the Impex release of Legrand Jazz that we had loaned him. In the end he goes with the spoken word over the written one.
Legrand Jazz (featuring Miles Davis) – the 2019 IMPEX Double 45 rpm
I think it’s safe to say Robert has learned a great deal regarding the state of modern remastering. Impex’s recent release may have shown him just how low it can go.
And this is a man who’s played records from The Electric Recording Company!
When you play those, it’s hard to imagine worse sound, but one doesn’t need to imagine it, one only needs to be one of the 3000 unlucky souls who took Michael Fremer’s and Steve Hoffman’s advice and actually paid good money for this Impex pressing.
I might give it an 11 rating if the scale was 1 to 100.
Even that might be too generous. Let’s be honest, it’s a zero on any scale worth a damn, a complete failure and proof, as if more were needed, that Michael Fremer has been as deaf as a post since at least 2017, when he favorably reviewed the first Impex iteration of Legrand Jazz.
No one with two working ears should have anything good to say about this record. If you own these ridiculously bad pressings, buy the CD and find out for yourself if it isn’t better sounding.
IMPEX RECORDS
Impex’s pristine release was mastered by Chris Bellman on Bernie Grundman’s All-Tube cutting lathe from a 2-track, all-analog mix down of the original studio work prints, made especially for Impex Records by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios in New York. The results are revelatory. The large recording space is captured in every detail, while Davis’ full force dynamic variations come through with incredible veracity. The gentle ebb-and-flow of Legrand’s parts highlight microtonal fluctuations on every track. You are along for a magic carpet ride of a large jazz ensemble recording when you drop the needle into these grooves.
Packaged in a meticulously recreated outer jacket in a gatefold with an original photo montage inside honoring Michel Legrand’s masterpiece of reinvention and focused fan-boy enthusiasm. This release will be individually numbered up to 3,000!
Features:
• Numbered, Limited Edition!
• 45rpm 180 Gram Vinyl
• Double LP
• Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
• Analog mix-down transfer of original 1958 work tapes by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios, New York, NY
• Pressed at Record Technology
• Gatefold jacket housed inside a resealable, protective plastic sleeve
• Exclusive large-format booklet with new art & an appreciation by Tom Schnabel (Rhythm Planet & KCRW)
Reviews from the Impex Website
(Emphasis added)
“Jazz lovers! Do you want to support audiophile record labels that go the extra mile? Well, Impex Records does, and this is proof! Abey Fonn who runs Impex Records just gave me her personal copy of this, hot off the press, the newly cut 45 RPM version, mastered at Bernie Grundman by the handsome Chris Bellman and my long time vinyl buddy Bob Donnelly on the Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios all vacuum tube cutting system earlier this year. In fact, I think it is the first cutting using the original analog work parts since 1959. Pressed on heavy vinyl at Record Technology Inc. by Rick Hashimoto and the RTI gang, this really has to be the greatest assembly of musical talent ever on one album. Features performances by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Ben Webster & 27 more Jazz Greats, all in glorious analog stereophonic sound. Nice booklet enclosed, layout by Impex Records jack-of-all-trades Robert Sliger. This is a true jazz sleeper album, a gem in the Columbia Records’ jazz catalog, now reissued in grand audiophile style by Impex Records. All analog mastering, (no digital anywhere in the chain), this is a real treat for jazz and jazz vinyl collectors everywhere. The sound quality is amazing as well. All in all a beautiful package, quiet vinyl, wonderful, dynamic sound, great performances, a little known jazz gem given a Legrand audiophile treatment! This is something that you should grab while you can, music lovers. A real Legrand treat for the senses! This has been on my VPI Industries Avenger turntable for a week, non-stop! Order your copy now. Best place would be Elusive Disc, Inc. Hurry before it sells out!”
– Steve Hoffman, via Facebook
“There is no question that the version I was sent for review on Impex Records is the definitive version of ‘Legrand Jazz’. And the sound quality? Second to none. Yes, to be expected, there is a bit of tape hiss in the background, it was recorded in stereo in 1958, after all. But other than that, there is not much I could say that wouldn’t sound as if I was simply reciting audiophile clichés. This album is demo disc quality with music on it that not many that I know will walk out on. Besides this double 45 rpm version Impex also pressed a version on a single 33 rpm LP, and an SACD. Those lamenting about LP’s rising prices might use the double 45 LP version as fuel for their argument, priced on Amazon at nearly $60. But really, how many audiophiles haven’t seen a single audiophile pressing priced at $30? Plus, the pressing is limited to 3000 numbered copies and packaged in a thick gatefold cover with a 14-page ‘large format’ booklet with rare photos and art, and an appreciation by Tom Schnabel. One spin should convince every audiophile who purchases this album that their money was money well spent.”
– Tom Lyle, http://www.enjoythemusic.com, July 2019
