More of the Music of Count Basie

• With INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from start to finish, this vintage copy is doing practically everything right
• Here are just a few of the things we had to say about a recent Shootout Winning copy in our notes: “3D and tubey brass”…”big, weighty low end”…”silky and spacious”…”sweet and jumping out [of the speakers]”
• Both sides are clear, rich, and full of Tubey Magic, with a solid bottom end and huge amounts of three-dimensional studio space
• Demo Disc sound – guaranteed to beat the pants off of any Heavy Vinyl pressing, at any speed, of any title from the extensive catalog of The Count
• “…an excellent outing by the Count Basie Orchestra during its later years.”

Musically, FMB is a top Basie big band title in every way. This should not be surprising: many of his recordings for Pablo in the mid- to late-70s all the way through the early 80s display the talents of The Count and his band of veterans at their best.

Sonically, it’s another story. Based on our recent shootout for this title, in comparison to the other Basie titles we’ve done lately, we would have to say that FMB is the best Basie big band title we’ve ever played.

(I never noticed until recently that the album cover picture for I Told You So and this album are exactly the same. Wow, Pablo, that takes balls.)

This vintage pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to “see” the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It’s what vintage all analog recordings are known for — this sound.

If you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it — not often, and certainly not always — but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.

What The Best Sides Farmers Market Barbecue Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear

• The biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space
• The most Tubey Magic, without which you have almost nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes even as late as 1982
• Tight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low
• Natural tonality in the midrange — with all the instruments having the correct timbre
• Transparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional space of the studio

No doubt there’s more but we hope that should do for now. Playing the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above, and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.

Transparency

What typically separates the outstanding copies from the merely good ones are two qualities that we often look for in the records we play: transparency and lack of smear. Transparency allows you to hear into the recording, reproducing the ambiance and subtle musical cues and details that high-resolution analog is known for.

(Note that most Heavy Vinyl pressings being produced these days seem to be inordinately “transparency-challenged.” Lots of important musical information — the kind we hear on even second-rate regular pressings — is simply nowhere to be found. That audiophiles as a whole — including those that pass themselves off as the champions of analog in the audio press — do not notice these failings does not speak well for either their equipment or their critical listening skills.)

Lack of Smear

Lack of smear is also important, especially on a recording with this many horns, where the leading edge transients are so critical to their proper reproduction. If the sharply differing characteristics of the various brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, and three kinds of saxes) smear together into an amorphous blob, as if the sound were being fed through 50s vintage tube amps (for those of you who know that sound), half the fun goes right out of the music.

Richness is important — horns need to be full-bodied if they are to sound like the real thing — but so are speed and clarity, two qualities that insure that all the horns have the proper bite and timbre.

What We’re Listening For On Farmers Market Barbecue

• Energy for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?
• The Big Sound comes next — wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.
• Then transient information — fast, clear, sharp attacks for the guitars, horns and drums, not the smear and thickness common to most LPs.
• Tight, note-like bass with clear fingering — which ties in with good transient information, as well as the issue of frequency extension further down.
• Next: transparency — the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the players.
• Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.

Tight Bass

A problem we noted on many copies in addition to smear and opacity was blurry bass. Most copies are rich and full-bodied, with plenty of bottom end. So far so good. However, when the bottom is not well-defined, you can’t hear Freddie Green strumming along nearly as well as you can on the copies where the bass is tight and note-like.

The same is true for the baritone sax; it got lost in the murky depths of some of the copies we played. And of course the way we know that is when we drop the needle on a randomly chosen copy and — suddenly — there it is! Now we’re hearing the instrument clearly and correctly. Who knew it could sound like that? Only on these very special copies are we given the opportunity to appreciate the baritone’s contribution to the music.

Hi-Fidelity

What do we love about these vintage pressings? The timbre of every instrument is Hi-Fi in the best sense of the word. The unique sound of every instrument is reproduced with remarkable fidelity. That’s what we at Better Records mean by “Hi-Fi,” not the kind of audiophile phony BS sound that passes for Hi-Fidelity these days. There’s no boosted top, there’s no bloated bottom, there’s no sucked-out midrange.

This is Hi-Fidelity for those who recognize the real thing when they hear it. I’m pretty sure our customers do, and whoever picks this record up is guaranteed to get a real kick out of it.

A Must Own Jazz Record

We consider Farmers Market Barbecue a Masterpiece. It’s a recordings that belong in any serious Jazz Music Collection.

Others that belong in that category can be found here.

Side One

Way Out Basie
St. Louis Blues
Beaver Junction
Lester Leaps In

Side Two

Blues for the Barbecue
I Don’t Know Yet
Ain’t That Something
Jumpin’ at the Woodside

AMG  Review

This was an excellent outing by the Count Basie Orchestra during its later years. Actually, half of this album features a medium-sized group from Basie’s big band, but his orchestra usually had the feel of a small group anyway. Soloists at this late stage include Eric Dixon and Kenny Hing on tenors, trombonist Booty Wood, altoist Danny Turner and four different trumpeters. The rhythm section is of course instantly recognizable and the music is very much in the Basie tradition.