Best on Vintage Stereo Vinyl

These records are available in mono, but they sound their best in stereo.

Art Pepper – Gettin’ Together

More Contemporary Label Jazz Recordings

  • A vintage copy of Pepper’s 1960 release with stunning Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sound from first note to last, just shy of our Shootout Winner – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • Our most recent shootout involved 14 pressings, from the Black Label originals to the last of the vintage OJCs (of which there are two versions, neither one making the cut)
  • We love the amazingly natural, uncolored, un-hyped sound Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer were able to achieve at Contemporary back in the day
  • You will hear, as we did playing this very copy, that there’s simply nothing between you and the musicians
  • Note that even the best of the early Black Label pressings are not remotely in the same league as the pressings that win our shootouts
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Pepper utilizes Davis’ sidemen on this 1960 near-classic… as usual, Pepper brings something very personal and unique to his playing; he sounds like no one else.”

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Hampton Hawes – The Green Leaves of Summer

More Contemporary Label Jazz

  • 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.

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Dvorak – Cello Concerto / Starker

More Mercury Classical Recordings

  • Starker and the LSO’s sublime performance, here with big, lively and rich Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this pressing of SR-90303
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is wonderfully full and harmonically natural
  • Some old record collectors (like me) say classical recording quality ain’t what it used to be – here’s all the proof anyone with two working ears and top quality audiophile equipment needs to make the case
  • As you may well imagine, shootouts for this album are exceedingly rare. For a sought-after TAS List title such as this, we’re lucky to be able to do one every five years or so. Until the next one comes around, please consider trying some of our other classical and orchestral Hot Stamper pressings

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Gil Evans – Into the Hot

More Jazz Recordings of Interest

  • Into the Hot debuts on the site with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this vintage ABC Impulse pressing
  • A tough shootout, as no other copy earned a 3+ grade on either side, which simply means that when you find a top copy, it sets such a high standard that everything else ends up getting marked down
  • These sides are big and rich, with loads of Tubey Magic, wonderful transparency and lots of space around the players
  • Exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was a big step up over every other copy we played

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Beethoven & Kodaly / Serenade & Duo / Heifetz, Piatigorsky

Hot Stamper Pressings Featuring the Violin

  • Solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER bring these two wonderful chamber pieces to life on this early Shaded Dog pressing of LSC-2550
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most-well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • The Living Stereo sound is rich and transparent and, unlike a lot of RCA’s chamber recordings, not dry, with tonality that is right on the money
  • The performers are present and the transients of their instruments are not in the least bit smeared, vintage tubes or no vintage tubes in the recording chain

The performers on this recording are Heifetz, violin / Primrose, viola / Piatigorsky, cello.

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Grant Green – Am I Blue

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Guitar

  • Green’s 1964 release, here with very good Hot Stamper grades on both sides of this vintage Blue Note pressing
  • It’s richer, fuller and with more presence than the average copy, and that’s especially true for whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently being foisted on an unsuspecting record buying public
  • This is true of even our lowest-priced, lowest-graded copies – they are guaranteed to sound much better than any pressing you can find on the market today, as well as any pressing you may already own
  • Feel free to explore whatever reissues might suit your fancy, but one pressing you should probably steer clear of is anything on the Music Matters label — they really made a mess of Grant’s Green Street album, so unless you have return privileges, you are asking for trouble buying any of their records
  • Rudy Van Gelder was masterful at this kind of spacious, low-distortion, dynamic, energetic sound

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Paganini – Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Menuhin

More of the Music of Paganini

  • This vintage EMI pressing of two of the truly great virtuoso/romantic violin concertos boasts a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • It’s simply bigger, more transparent, less distorted, more three-dimensional and more real than practically all of what we played
  • The best balance of orchestra and soloist we know of for both works, with sound to rival the greatest works for the violin we’ve played

Another remarkable Demo Disc from the Golden Age of Vacuum Tube Recording Technology, in this case 1961, with the added benefit of mastering using the more modern cutting equipment of the ’70s. (We are of course here referring to the good modern mastering of 40 years ago, not the bad modern mastering of today.)

This combination of old and new works wonders on this title as you will surely hear for yourself on this wonderful copy.

The sound of the best copies is transparent, undistorted, three-dimensional and REAL, without any sacrifice in solidity, richness or Tubey Magic. The illusion of disappearing speakers is one of the more attractive aspects of the sound here, pulling the listener into the space of the concert hall in an especially engrossing way. (more…)

Clifford Jordan – Starting Time

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone

  • This vintage Jazzland recording pressed on remarkably quiet OJC vinyl boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from first note to last
  • Both of these sides are remarkably rich, clear and transparent with sound that positively jumps out of the speakers
  • 4 stars: “A stirring set, to be sure, with good solo work all around and a rhythm section that, in addition to its flawless time-keeping, is all spunk and fire” – Down Beat

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Ravel / Daphnis et Chloé / Monteux

More of the Music of Maurice Ravel

  • Boasting INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout, this original London pressing was giving us the sound we were looking for on Ravel’s complete Masterpiece
  • It’s also remarkably quiet at the high end of Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • The sound is big and rich, lively and open, with an abundance of depth and huge climaxes that hold together
  • The voices in the chorus are clear, natural, separate and full-bodied — this is the hallmark of a vintage Golden Age recording: naturalness
  • We know of no other recording of the work that does as good a job of capturing such a large orchestra and chorus
  • Of course, Monteux is a master of the French idiom – his performance of the complete ballet is definitive in our opinion
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

Both sides here are big, with the space and depth of the wonderful Kingsway Hall that the LSO perform in. John Culshaw produced the album, which surely accounts for the huge size and space, not to mention quality, of the recording. The sound is dynamic and tonally correct throughout.

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Bach / Suites For Solo Cello No. 2 & No. 5 / Starker

More of the Music of J.S. Bach

  • An early Mercury label pressing of Starker’s legendary 1963 recording (SR-90370) of Bach’s sublime music for solo cello with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from top to bottom
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • The bass-boosted, muddy, veiled and ambience-challenged sound of the modern Heavy Vinyl remaster is nowhere to be found here
  • I would bet money that whatever version is currently available has plenty of shortcomings along those lines, which may be acceptable to the mid-fi crowd but is positively ruinous on the high-fidelity systems that our customers tend to have (or why on earth would they keep paying these prices?)
  • We are very confidant that it will beat the pants off any Heavy Vinyl reissue because every one of those that we played was opaque, muddy and thick enough to have us crying “uncle” after five minutes
  • Some Mercury pressings from the 50s have absolutely amazing sound – we should know, we’ve played them

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