Verve

Stan Getz / Luiz Bonfa – Jazz Samba Encore!

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More Antonio Carlos Jobim

More Bossa Nova

  • This superb collaboration debuts with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish and ’60s vinyl that’s about as quiet as any we can find
  • Smooth, full-bodied and Tubey Magical, the brilliant Ray Hall engineered this Demo Disc using an All Tube chain back in 1963, and it’s glorious to hear that sound reproduced on modern hi-rez equipment
  • 4 stars: ” Getz relies mostly upon native Brazilians for his backing. Thus, the soft-focused grooves are considerably more attuned to what was actually coming out of Brazil at the time… Two bona fide giants, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá (who gets co-billing), provide the guitars and all of the material, and Maria Toledo contributes an occasional throaty vocal.”

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Jimmy Smith – Bluesmith

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  • Bluesmith makes its Hot Stamper debut here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • Rich, lively and clear, with plenty of space for this exceptional ensemble to occupy, exactly the classic jazz sound you would expect from a vintage Verve recording that has been properly mastered and pressed
  • 4 stars: “… one of Jimmy Smith’s best Verve releases… [a] surprisingly freewheeling but relaxed jam session… Fine straight-ahead music.”

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Wes Montgomery – California Dreaming

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

  • This excellent Wes Montgomery title returns to the site for the first time in two years with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one and outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on side two
  • Both sides here are OUT OF THIS WORLD, incredibly big, bold, clear, rich and dynamic – this is DEMO DISC Quality Big Production Guitar-led Jazz
  • Credit goes to Rudy Van Gelder once again for the huge space that the superbly well-recorded group occupies
  • Forget the critics, this is one of Wes’s Best Albums of All Time I tell you!

This White Hot Stamper has the REAL Wes Montgomery/ Creed Taylor/ Rudy Van Gelder MAGIC in its grooves. You will not believe how big, rich and full-bodied this pressing is. Since this is one of Wes’s best albums, hearing this incredible White Hot copy was a THRILL for us and we’re sure it will be as big a thrill for you too.

As Good As It Gets Sound

So natural, transparent and clear. Listen to all the space around the guitar. (On the Cisco you might hear 20% of that space. That’s Heavy Vinyl for you. What a load of crap.)

Beware any and all imitations (even the one I used to like somewhat, the Cisco version). They barely BEGIN to convey the qualities of the real master tape the way this pressing does. This White Hot Stamper exhibits huge amounts of ambience and spaciousness, with far more energy and the kind of “see into the studio” quality that only the real thing ever seems to have. (more…)

Shelly Manne / Bill Evans – Empathy

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More Shelly Manne

  • With two Triple Plus (A+++) shootout winning sides, there is nothing that could touch this original stereo copy
  • This outstanding Jazz Piano Trio album is truly a Forgotten Classic with DEMO DISC audiophile quality sound – on this copy anyway
  • So big, so rich, so transparent, so open, so musical – this copy showed us that this album can compete with any recording by Bill or Shelly
  • Allmusic 4 Stars: “Evans was freed from the musical parameters he had set for his then-current trio. The result is that his playing seemed lighter, freer, and more relaxed than it had for a while. “

There is practically nothing to fault in the sound of either side of this pressing – what a record!

Both sides are Tubey Magical, rich, open, spacious and tonally correct. We’ve never heard the record sound better, and that’s coming from someone who’s been playing the album for at least ten years. (more…)

Johnny Hodges / Wild Bill Davis – Wings & Things

  • A KILLER copy of Wings & Things with amazing Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • The 1965 stereo sound here is clear, open and highly resolving, yet still incredibly rich, warm, and smooth
  • All the hallmarks of Vintage Analog are fully on display – when was the last time we played a Heavy Vinyl pressing that sounded as good as this one does? We can’t remember
  • This original vintage Verve LP has TONS of Tubey Magic – it’s simply more musically involving than the other copies we played, and that’s the quickest way to win a shootout
  • “The group always swings, and it is interesting to hear Hodges in this setting.”

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Ella Fitzgerald – Ella and Basie!

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  • With a shootout winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two and a Double Plus (A++) side one, this early stereo pressing is a knockout – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Ella is rich, Tubey Magical and breathy – this is the way she should sound, and that makes this copy a true Demo Disc
  • To get the vocals AND the brass to sound right on the same copy is the trick, and these two sides pulled it off
  • 4 1/2 Stars: “…this 1963 LP was the first time (other than a couple songs) that Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie recorded together. The match-up was so logical that it would be repeated many times over the next 20 years.”

Take it from an Ella fan, you can’t go wrong with this one. The sound is rich and full-bodied, in the proud tradition of a classic vintage jazz vocal album with big band backup. You could easily demonstrate your stereo with a record this good, but what you would really be demonstrating is music that the listener probably isn’t familiar with, and that’s the best reason to put on an old record.

The space is HUGE and the sound so rich. Prodigious amounts of Tubey Magic as well, which is key to the best sounding copies. The sound needs weight, warmth and tubes or you might as well be playing a CD. (more…)

Wes Montgomery – Movin’ Wes

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More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

  • Movin’ Wes finally arrives on the site with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER throughout
  • We guarantee there is dramatically more richness, fullness and presence on this copy than anything you have ever heard, and that’s especially true if you made the mistake of buying whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently on the market
  • Credit goes to Rudy Van Gelder once again for the huge space this superbly well-recorded group occupies
  • “The guitarist is in excellent form here, playing a nimble solo on the up-tempo waltz ‘Senza Fine’, as well on old favourites from previous albums like ‘Born To Blue’ and ‘West Coast Blues.”

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Johnny Hodges – Rippin’ and Runnin’

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  • Johnny’s wonderful 1969 release finally makes its Hot Stamper debut here with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • Full, rich, and spacious with tons of Tubey Magic and, better yet, never dry, hard or transistory — true DEMO DISC QUALITY sound
  • Val Valentin directed the engineering on this wonderful recording, and the results are every bit as good as you would expect, assuming you have an early stereo copy that sounds like this one
  • This pressing was simply more musically involving than the other copies we played – that’s the quickest way to win a Shootout

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Sonny Rollins – Brass / Trio

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  • An incredible sounding copy and the first to his the site in SEVEN years! Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on both sides; exceptionally quiet vinyl too!
  • Both sides sound wonderful here — rich, full-bodied, Tubey Magical and musical with a solid bottom end
  • This is a very tough album to find with the right sound and surfaces; they’re usually beat to hell!
  • “In 1958 Sonny Rollins split an LP between two very different settings… [he] excels in both of these settings, making this an easily recommended set.” – All Music

This isn’t an easy album to come by and even when you find a clean one they tend to be noisy, and as you might expect not all of them sound all that good. Add in the fact that you’re always going to pay good money for a clean early pressing like this one, and you’ll realize that getting a great copy in your collection is not going to be an easy task. Unless of course you’d like to take this 100% Guaranteed Hot Stamper home for a spin — that’s probably the easiest (and cost-efficient) method. And who knows if we’ll ever find another copy like this one? Certainly we haven’t been able to find a good one for many years, and we’ve been doing this for a LONG time. (more…)

Astrud Gilberto – Look To The Rainbow

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More Bossa Nova

  • An outstanding copy with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from first note to last
  • This kind of spacious, warm, rich, Tubey Magical analog sound is gone forever – you have to go back to 1966 to find it
  • Creed Taylor (the CTI man) produced, Gil Evans did most of the arrangements, Rudy Van Gelder and Val Valentin engineered – what’s not to like?
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This was a beautiful bossa nova record of Astrud Gilberto’s vocal stylings…”

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