Top Artists – Jim Hall

Gerry Mulligan – Gerry Mulligan ’63

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone

 

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it throughout this original Verve All Tube Chain Stereo pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This copy is hard to fault – big, open, clear, with space and three-dimensionality that modern pressings fail miserably to reproduce (particularly on side one)
  • “With originals by Bob Brookmeyer, Gary McFarland and the baritonist/leader (in addition to the standards ‘Little Rock Getaway’ and ‘My Kind of Love’), this is a high-quality if rather brief program. Trumpeter Clark Terry and guitarist Jim Hall co-star with Mulligan in the solo department. It is a pity that this orchestra could not prosper; all five of its recordings are worth getting.”

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Bill Evans with Jeremy Steig – What’s New

More of the Music of Bill Evans

  • The Hot Stamper debut of What’s New, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound throughout this early Stereo Verve 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
  • Exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied – this pressing was a big step up over all other copies we played
  • The brilliant Ray Hall engineered – anyone hearing this copy will understand exactly why we love to find his fabulous 60s recordings here at Better Records
  • 4 stars: “With the exception of Evans’ ‘Time Out for Chris’ and the ‘Spartacus Love Theme,’ the songs performed on this date would fit securely in the Miles Davis repertoire of the late 50s. Steig is in particularly fine form on the program which includes tunes such as ‘Straight No Chaser,’ ‘Autumn Leaves,’ and ‘So What.'”

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Paul Desmond – Desmond Blue

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone

  • Paul Desmond’s phenomenal 1962 release, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
  • This is vintage Sixties Living Stereo sound at its best – big, rich and Tubey Magical like you will not believe
  • A “highly innovative and meticulously crafted work,” this collection is brimming with delightful jazz classics, including “My Funny Valentine,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and “Body and Soul”
  • 4 stars: “… lush, reflective, thought-provoking, and soul-stirring. This work is quite a plus for any listener and especially those who consider themselves avid fans of Paul Desmond.”

Need a refresher course in Tubey Magic after playing too many modern recordings or remasterings? These original Living Stereo pressings are overflowing with it. Rich, smooth, sweet, full of ambience, dead-on correct tonality — everything that we listen for in a great record is here. (more…)

Sonny Rollins – What’s New?

More of the Music of Sonny Rollins

  • What’s New? returns to the site for only the second time in over five years, here with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from top to bottom
  • This is vintage 1962 Living Stereo sound at its best – big, rich, relaxed, tonally correct and full of Tubey Magic – thanks, Ray Hall!
  • Damn quiet for a Black Label stereo original – it plays Mint Minus Minus and has no audible marks of any kind
  • 4 1/2 Stars: “Rollins’ characteristically huge tone, relentless harmonic and rhythmic inventiveness, and fierce solos were consistently impressive. Not only did he state the melody clearly and superbly, but his ideas and pacing were remarkable; no solo rambled and his phrases were lean, thick and furious.”

For us audiophiles, both the sound and the music here are wonderful. If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good 1962 All Tube Analog sound can be, this killer copy will do the trick.

This pressing is super spacious, sweet and positively dripping with ambience. Talk about Tubey Magic, 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.

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Sonny Rollins – The Standard Sonny Rollins

More of the Music of Sonny Rollins

  • The Standard Rollins is back on the site for only the second time in over four years, here with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this original stereo pressing
  • Once again the brilliant engineering of Ray Hall for RCA conveys the vitality of live music for these sessions (which were undoubtedly recorded live)
  • Includes superstars like Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, and Bob Cranshaw, who’ve lent their talents to some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time
  • “Each standard is given a brief performance that basically gives us a solid dose of Rollins waxing rhapsodic, sometimes backed by just bass and drums, with guitar and piano added sparingly. It all adds up to a mighty package that contains small, but ample doses of undiluted Rollins.” – All About Jazz.com

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Sonny Stitt – Stitt Plays Bird

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone

 

  • With two excellent Double Plus (A++) sides, this original Blue and Green Atlantic Stereo pressing (one of the few copies to hit the site in recent years) will be very hard to beat
  • No reissue in our shootout could touch it, although it’s tough to find these early pressings with surfaces as quiet as we would like
  • Tom Dowd engineered, which is why the best copies of the album sound so damn good – Dowd recorded many of the best Coltrane albums in the early 60s, so if you like the sound of those, and who doesn’t?, you will no doubt find much to like here
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Sonny Stitt forged his own approach to playing bebop out of the sound and style of Charlie Parker, so this tribute album was a very logical project… Stitt, who mastered bebop and could play hot licks in his sleep, is in top form… making this an essential item for straight-ahead jazz fans…”

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Sonny Rollins – The Bridge
  • Seriously good Living Stereo sound throughout this 70s reissue pressing, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • It took us close to ten years to track down enough originals as well as the right reissues — so many to choose from, and so many of them just awful sounding — to get our most recent shootout going
  • Both of these sides are remarkably clean and clear with wonderful size, clarity and transparency, with real texture to the instruments and an abundance of energy
  • Of all the reissues we played, this one sounded the best, which came as a (costly) surprise
  • The sax sounds right, and played loud enough it’s almost as if you’re hearing the real instrument and not just a recording of one
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The interplay between Rollins and [guitarist Jim] Hall is consistently impressive, making this a near-classic and a very successful comeback.”

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Sonny Rollins – The Bridge
  • An original pressing of the The Bridge debuts on the site, here with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) Demo Disc Living Stereo sound throughout
  • It has taken us close to ten years to track down enough orginals (and reissues) to get this shootout going, and the very high price of this copy reflects the work that went into finding it
  • Although the best originals will always win our shootouts, the early reissues from 1975 with the later cover can sound quite good – ten years ago those were the ones that won our shootout, but now we know better
  • Here’s just one of the things we had to say about this killer copy in our notes: “Tubey and sweet and silk all over. Perfect.”
  • The sax sounds just right, and played loud enough it’s almost as if you’re hearing the real instrument and not just a recording of it
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The interplay between Rollins and [guitarist Jim] Hall is consistently impressive, making this a near-classic and a very successful comeback.”

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John Lewis – The Wonderful World Of Jazz

More John Lewis

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • This Atlantic reissue was doing just about everything right, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Bigger, richer, more Tubey Magical, with more extension on both ends of the spectrum and more depth, width and height than most other copies we played
  • An outstanding (and very hard-to-find) Jazz LP – a Better Records Top Recommendation from decades ago, and we are pleased to report that the music and the sound still hold up
  • 4 1/2 stars: “This is one of pianist John Lewis’ most rewarding albums outside of his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet. Three numbers (including a remake of ‘Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West’) showcase his piano in a quartet with guitarist Jim Hall, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Connie Kay.”

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Paul Desmond – Pure Desmond

More Paul Desmond

More Jazz on CTI

  • With two excellent Double Plus (A++) sides, this copy is guaranteed to blow the doors off any other Pure Desmond you’ve heard
  • Huge amounts of three-dimensional ambience, along with boatloads of Tubey Magic, make this a very special pressing indeed
  • Credit goes to Rudy Van Gelder once again for the huge space that the superbly well-recorded group occupies
  • 4 stars: “Paul Desmond reverted back to the relaxed quartet format that suited him well in the past… [this album] sparked a Desmond renaissance where he regained a good deal of the witty spark and erudite cool of his collaborations with Hall…

CTI is better known for the funky grooves of artists like Stanley Turrentine, Ron Carter and Deodato, but this album features mature adult jazz from Dave Brubeck’s former sideman, Paul Desmond.

It’s a lovely album, but if your pressing doesn’t have all the magic, we would forgive you for not giving the music the credit it deserves. Unless your copy has a lot of energy and good amounts of richness and fullness, you probably wouldn’t give the music a second thought.

When you hear a copy like this, it’s an entirely different story. Fans of Contemporary label jazz are sure to get a lot out of this one.

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