Jazz, Guitar

Here you will find reviews of some of the jazz guitar records we’ve played.

Charlie Byrd – Delicately

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  • Superb sound for Byrd’s 1968 release, with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this original 360 Stereo pressing
  • Teo Macero‘s production here is rich, sweet, and highly resolving, with all the space and three-dimensionality that Frank Laico‘s brilliant engineering is known for
  • The music on this enchanting jazz / pop guitar album is every bit as good as the sound quality (and that is rarely the case with these kinds of records – we should know, we’ve played scores of them)

Hearing is definitely believing, especially in our unique corner of the record business — we don’t give a fig about who, why or when a record was made; we just play it and judge it based on what we hear in its grooves. Needless to say. this pressing of the album was judged to be a knockout.

Apparently the album has garnered attention from other audiophiles – HDTracks offers a high-rez digital download of it! (more…)

George Benson – White Rabbit

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  • Benson’s Must Own Masterpiece returns to the site for only the second time in two years, here with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout this vintage CTI pressing
  • Open and transparent throughout, with wonderfully full-bodied guitars, solid bass and huge amounts of swingin’ jazz energy
  • Superb engineering by the legendary Rudy Van Gelder – White Rabbit features jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Airto, and more
  • 4 stars: “For George Benson’s second CTI project, producer Creed Taylor and arranger Don Sebesky successfully place the guitarist in a Spanish-flavored setting full of flamenco flourishes, brass fanfares, moody woodwinds and such… In this prime sample of the CTI idiom, everyone wins.”

We recently conducted another extensive shootout for White Rabbit and it was a blast. It always is. Benson and his funky jazz all-stars buds (Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and Airto to name a few) tear through some great material here, and on both sides of this copy the sound is outstanding.

If you want to hear the best George Benson record we know of, this is the one. The Grammy-winning Breezin’ from 1976 is a perfectly good album but it’s quite a bit more commercial than our White Rabbit here from 1972, his first album to make the Top Ten on the jazz charts.

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Al Di Meola – Casino

  • With incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades throughout, this copy (only the second to hit the site in years) is practically as good as we have ever heard, right up there with our Shootout Winner
  • Both of these sides are open and transparent, with wonderfully full-bodied guitars, solid bass and huge amounts of jazz fusion energy
  • A fusion classic featuring the stunning technique and superb improvisations that keep us on the hunt for great Di Meola pressings like this one
  • 5 stars: “Following up the superb Elegant Gypsy was no mean feat, but Al di Meola gave it his best shot with the similarly styled Casino…. Featuring a core band of Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson, and Barry Miles (whom di Meola came up with before the guitarist was invited to join Return to Forever), the playing is sharp and fiery, matching the youthful intensity of the leader.”

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Kenny Burrell – Weaver of Dreams

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More Recordings on Vintage Columbia Vinyl

  • With two excellent Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides, this original 6-Eye Stereo pressing of Burrell’s 1961 vocal release will be very hard to beat
  • Exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was a big step up over most of the other copies we played
  • ANALOG at its Tubey Magical finest – you’ll never play a CD (or any other digitally sourced material) that sounds as good as this record as long as you live
  • If you have the Classic Records pressing from 1995, you were probably as unimpressed by the sound of it as we were, but not to worry, our Hot Stamper pressing murders that Heavy Vinyl wannabe
  • These are the Top Titles from 1961 we’ve reviewed to date. From an audiophile perspective, depending on your taste in music, most should be worthy of a place in your collection
  • Here is the complete list of titles from 1961 that we’ve reviewed (which overlaps quite a bit with the group above). Just about any of these, depending on how much you like the artist(s) or music, are worth seeking out

This original 6-Eye Stereo 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.

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Gabor Szabo – 1969

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Reviews and Commentaries for Gabor Szabo


  • Here is a seriously good sounding copy with Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
  • Tubey Magical, smooth, sweet and spacious, with a huge three-dimensional soundfield as well as transparency that really allows you to hear into the music
  • Superb choice of material, with a heavy emphasis on Beatles tunes – “Dear Prudence,” “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” “In My Life,” and “You Won’t See Me” all make an appearance here
  • Skye pressings are notorious for the quality of their vinyl, or lack thereof, which explains why so few of Szabo titles from this era have ever made it to the site
  • The DCC CD mastered by Steve Hoffman is excellent for those who insist on quieter backgrounds
  • “Szabo acknowledges that worthwhile popular music didn’t die with George Gershwin… [he] deserves credit for bringing a jazz perspective to songs that so many other improvisers were ignoring.”

The four Beatles tunes are the highlight of the album: “Dear Prudence,” “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” “In My Life,” and “You Won’t See Me,” as well as two folkie tracks by Joni Mitchell: “Both Sides Now” and “Michael From Mountains.”

A heartfelt ballad is handled with quiet and warm intimacy: Buffy Saint-Marie’s “Until It’s Time For You To Go.”

Uptempo pop classics like Bobby Hyland’s “Sealed With A Kiss,” The Classics IV’s “Stormy” and The Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renee” round out the best of the rest.

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Barney Kessel – Some Like It Hot on OJC

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  • Superb sound for Kessel’s brilliant 1959 large group outing, with both sides of this Contemporary recording pressed on OJC vinyl earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • With Tubey Magic, richness, sweetness, and dead on tonality from top to bottom (particularly on side two), this is a textbook example of Contemporary’s sound when it’s really working
  • The other OJC pressings in this shootout did not do nearly as good as this one, but out of what we played it sounded right to us
  • An All Star West Coast lineup came together for this one: Art Pepper (on sax and clarinet!), Shelly Manne, Joe Gordon and others
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Such tunes as ‘I Wanna Be Loved by You,’ ‘Runnin’ Wild,’ ‘Down Among the Sheltering Palms,’ and ‘By the Beautiful Sea’ are given fairly modern arrangements…”

This copy is spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience. The liquidity of the sound here is positively uncanny. This is vintage analog at its best, so full-bodied and relaxed you’ll wonder how it ever came to be that anyone seriously contemplated trying to improve it. (more…)

Bola Sete – At The Monterey Jazz Festival

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More Bossa Nova

  • Sete’s superb trio album from 1967 (one of only a handful of copies to hit the site in two years), here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them throughout this vintage Stereo Verve pressing
  • We are big fans of Bola Sete here – his Tour De Force has been a favorite of ours for more than twenty years (if only we could find clean, good sounding copies to sell)
  • This is always the problem with acoustic guitar jazz – there are just too many quiet passages where the surface noise will be audible
  • This copy not only sounds great, but it is reasonably quiet for a vintage Verve pressing
  • Recorded in 1966, this side one boasts remarkably natural guitar sound, as well as note-like bass and the kind of energy you rarely get outside of a live performance, and side two is not far behind in all those areas

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Wes Montgomery Trio – Self-Titled aka ‘Round Midnight

More of the Music of Wes Montgomery

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish, this copy will be very hard to beat
  • These sides are rich and full-bodied but clear and spacious – the 1959 All Tube Analog sound is perfect for Wes’s organ trio format
  • 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, such as this one
  • 4 stars: “Montgomery’s style, block chords and octaves, is already firmly in place, and he delivers lovely solos on ‘Round Midnight,’ ‘Whisper Not,’ and ‘Satin Doll.’ The choice of material, in fact, from classics like ‘Yesterdays’ to originals like Montgomery’s ‘Jingles,’ never falters.”

Old and New Work Well Together

This OJC reissue is spacious, open, transparent, rich and sweet. It’s yet another remarkable disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording Technology, with the added benefit of mastering using the more modern cutting equipment of the 70s and 80s. We are of course here referring to the good modern mastering of 40+ years ago, not the generally opaque, veiled and lifeless mastering so common today.

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Wes Montgomery Trio – Self-Titled aka ‘Round Midnight

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  • Boasting INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it throughout, this copy is practically as good as we have ever heard
  • These sides are rich and full-bodied but clear and spacious – the 1959 All Tube Analog sound is perfect for Wes’s organ trio format
  • 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, such as this one
  • 4 stars: “Montgomery’s style, block chords and octaves, is already firmly in place, and he delivers lovely solos on ‘Round Midnight,’ ‘Whisper Not,’ and ‘Satin Doll.’ The choice of material, in fact, from classics like ‘Yesterdays’ to originals like Montgomery’s ‘Jingles,’ never falters.”

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George Benson – Weekend in L.A.

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  • A Weekend in L.A. like you’ve never heard, with incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades or close to them on all FOUR sides of these vintage Palm Tree pressings – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • Some of the tubiest, biggest and richest guitar sonics you could ask for from a “modern” record – this is the sound of analog done right
  • Al Schmitt handled production here, and he did the same kind of bang-up job that earned him Grammy awards for his production on the Hatari soundtrack (a TAS list title) and his engineering on Steely Dan’s Aja, Toto IV, and more
  • Before our most recent shootout, it had been more than ten years since we last listed a pressing of this album, but now that we’ve “cracked the code” for the best sounding pressings, expect to see this one show up on the site regularly – live is the way to hear the man sing and play
  • 4 stars: “Recording live at Los Angeles’ Roxy club … was just the tonic that George Benson and his Breezin’ band needed on this often jumping album. [T]he band gets deep into the four-on-the-floor funk and Benson digs in hard, his rhythmic instincts on guitar sharp as ever.”

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