- Outstanding sound throughout this vintage Contemporary pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
- We discovered that even the best of the early Black Label pressings are not remotely in the same league as the pressings that win our shootouts
- Only this pressing and our shootout winner earned grades of 2+ or better on both sides, which means, among other things, that truly top quality sound is very hard to find on this title!
- This pressing boasts clean, clear and lively sound, with lovely space around all of the instruments
- Not an easy title to find, and this one is about as quiet as we have yet to find – at the high end of Mint Minus Minus
- The early G1 OJC pressings were bright, hot and veiled and are best avoided by audiophiles looking for even halfway decent sound
- 4 1/2 stars: “Hawes had lost nothing of his swinging style while in prison, as can be heard on such numbers as ‘Vierd Blues,’ ‘St. Thomas’ and ‘Secret Love,’ and he was just starting to hint at moving beyond bop. Recommended.”
This Contemporary LP has wonderful Contemporary All Tube sound, courtesy of the amazing engineering of Howard Holzer. The piano is right — weighty and percussive with a full-bodied tone. The bass definition is superb. The clarity and transparency here are nothing short of breathtaking.
Steve Ellington’s brush work on the snare is very clear on this copy, helping to push the music to the next level. On the great Sonny Rollins track, “St. Thomas,” Steve Ellington is doing some fancy playing on the rims of his drums — the ambience bouncing off the studio walls is amazing.
A major highlight here is the completely original interpretation of “Blue Skies.” Hawes gets going with some really complicated two-handed playing. With the superb clarity of this copy you won’t miss a note.
What The Best Sides Of The Green Leaves of Summer 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 in 1964
- 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 studio space
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.
What We’re Listening For On The Green Leaves of Summer
- 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, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.
- Tight, full-bodied bass — which ties in with good transient information, also 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 instruments.
- Extend the top and bottom and voila, you have The Real Thing — an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.
Side One
Vierd Blues
The Green Leaves of Summer
Ill Wind
St. Thomas
Side Two
Secret Love
Blue Skies
The More I See You
G.K. Blues
AMG Review
Pianist Hampton Hawes’ first recording after serving five years in prison finds Hawes evolving a bit from a Bud Powell-influenced bop pianist to one familiar with more modern trends in jazz… this trio date finds Hawes interacting closely with bassist Monk Montgomery and drummer Steve Ellington (making his recording debut). Hawes had lost nothing of his swinging style while in prison, as can be heard on such numbers as “Vierd Blues,” “St. Thomas” and “Secret Love,” and he was just starting to hint at moving beyond bop. Recommended.