Hot Stamper Pressings of Contemporary Jazz Albums Available Now
The Shootout Winning pressing we played in 2024 was yet another killer Barney Kessel recording from the Golden Age of Tube Recording:
Both sides of this vintage Contemporary pressing were giving us the rich, sweet and tubey MONO sound we were looking for, earning INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
Roy DuNann (at the console on select tracks, with Val Valentin handling engineering duties on the others) always seems to get phenomenally good sound out of the sessions he recorded – amazingly realistic drums in a big room; Tubey Magical guitar tone; deep, note-like string bass, and on and on
For some reason, the guitar sound from this era of All Tube Chain Recording seems to have died out with the times – it can only be found on the best of these vintage pressings, and, as you may imagine, the better the guitar sounds, the more likely it is that the record will win our shootout
If you don’t have an electric guitar jazz record with this kind of off-the-charts Tubey Magical sound, maybe it’s time you got one
You would never know how good the recording was by playing this D14/D9 pressing on the original label.
The sound was hollow and dry with a boosted top end. The 1+ grade awarded to this side two means it’s simply not that good, early label or no early label.
This Is Why
This is why we do shootouts, and why you must do them too, if owning the highest quality pressings is important to you.
Fortunately for readers of this blog, our methods are explained in detail, free of charge.
We’ve also written quite a few commentaries to help audiophiles improve the way they think about records.
I implore everyone who wants to make progress in this hobby to learn from the mistakes we’ve made. There are 146 “we were wrong” listings on the site as of this writing, and we learned something from every damn one of them.
The Players and Personnel
- Arnold Ross – Piano (“Tenderly,” “Lullaby Of Birdland,” “What Is There To Say?” “Bernardo,” “Vicky’s Dream,” “Salute To Charlie Christian”)
- Barney Kessel – Guitar
- Bud Shank – Flute, Alto Saxophone (“Tenderly,” “Lullaby Of Birdland,” “What Is There To Say?” “Bernardo,” “Vicky’s Dream,” “Salute To Charlie Christian”)
- Buddy Collette – Flute, Alto Saxophone (“Easy Like,” “That’s All,” “April In Paris,” “North Of The Border”)
- Claude Williamson – Piano (“Easy Like,” “That’s All,” “April In Paris,” “North Of The Border”)
- Harry Babasin – Bass (“Tenderly,” “Lullaby Of Birdland,” “What Is There To Say?” “Bernardo,” “Vicky’s Dream,” “Salute To Charlie Christian”)
- Lester Koenig – Producer
- Red Mitchell – Bass (“Easy Like,” “That’s All,” “April In Paris,” “North Of The Border”)
- Roy DuNann – Engineer (“Easy Like,” “That’s All,” “April In Paris,” “North Of The Border”)
- Shelly Manne – Drums
- Val Valentin – Engineer (“Tenderly,” “Lullaby Of Birdland,” “What Is There To Say?” “Bernardo,” “Vicky’s Dream,” “Salute To Charlie Christian”)
Further Reading