Rudy Van Gelder, Engineer

Donald Byrd – A New Perspective

More of the Music of Donald Byrd

  • A wonderful stereo pressing of one of our All Time Favorite Blue Note albums, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides
  • “Cristo Redentor,” one of the most amazing pieces of music ever recorded, sounds outstanding on this side two
  • The gospel vocals are exceptionally well recorded (thanks, RVG!) – with the transparency of this copy, you can easily pick out and follow each singer
  • To hear the real RVG magic, play “Beast of Burden” on side one – that’s some real audiophile Demo Disc sound
  • 5 stars: “One of the most successful uses of a gospel choir in a jazz context. This is a memorable effort that is innovative in its own way, a milestone in Donald Byrd’s career.”

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Jimmy Smith / Any Number Can Win

More of the Music of Jimmy Smith

  • Any Number Can Win is back on the site for the first time in years, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides of this early Verve pressing
  • With richness, clarity, space and timbral accuracy, this is guaranteed to be one of the best sounding big band jazz records you’ve heard in a while
  • Another top jazz recording from Rudy Van Gelder (among others) – big, bold and lively, just the right sound for this music

This is one of Rudy Van Gelder’s triumphs and one of the best Jimmy Smith albums we’ve ever heard. All of side one and the last cut of side two sound stunning! This is dynamic, big speaker sound.

Lots of old Verves weren’t mastered right, but this one was. It’s as good as it gets — it’s right up there with Bashin’.

RVG did not record this entire album. Some songs are recorded by other engineers and don’t have the dynamic slam that his do but the best tracks are amazing.

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Red Garland – Soul Junction

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • This vintage Prestige recording pressed on OJC vinyl (the first copy to ever hit the site) boasts INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) MONO sound or close to it from first note to last
  • These sides are doing practically everything right – richer, fuller, better bass, more Tubey Magic, and the list goes on
  • Another top jazz recording from Rudy Van Gelder – big, bold and lively, just the right sound for this music
  • We refer to the Dark Blue Prestige label copy we played in the notes you see below, a label we tend to like, but in this case it let us down with sound that was smaller and less tubey than our Shootout Winner
  • 4 stars: “Pianist Red Garland’s very relaxed, marathon blues solo on the 16-minute “Soul Junction” is the most memorable aspect of this [release]. With such soloists as tenor saxophonist John Coltrane and trumpeter Donald Byrd, plus steady support provided by bassist George Joyner and drummer Art Taylor, Garland gets to stretch out on the title cut and four jazz originals, including ‘Birk’s Works’ and ‘Hallelujah.’ Coltrane is in excellent form, playing several stunning sheets of sound solos.”

This vintage Prestige recording 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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Coleman Hawkins – Coleman Hawkins All Stars

More of the Music of Coleman Hawkins

  • This vintage Prestige Swingville recording pressing on OJC vinyl boasts KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • If you want to hear the Tubey Magic, size and energy of this wonderful session from 1960 – recorded by none other than Rudy Van Gelder – this pressing will let you do that
  • “Hawkins proves again and again why his sound is not only the epitome of jazz, but forever timeless… The demonstrative yet subtle Hawkins is in full flight here, with the equally elegant Thomas and naturally subdued Dickenson in lock step. What a joy they must have been to hear together at a club or concert date, if in fact it happened in this small-group setting.”

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Mal Waldron – The Quest

More Recordings Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder

  • This New Jazz recording pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl boasts incredible Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) grades from top to bottom – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • These sides are rich and full, from the extended top end all the way down to the deepest bass — thanks, RVG!
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “The seven selections in this set, wildly divergent in character though they are, are notable for their fresh thinking and rhythmic and harmonic daring.” -Down Beat

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Etta Jones – Don’t Go To Strangers

More Pop and Jazz Vocal Recordings

  • This vintage Prestige recording pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl boasts two solid Double Plus (A++) or BETTER sides
  • The vocal naturalness and immediacy of this copy will put Etta in the room with you – more than anything else, it lets her performance come to life
  • Remarkably spacious and three-dimensional, as well as relaxed and full-bodied (thanks, RVG!) – this pressing was a solid step up over most other copies we played
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…Don’t Go to Strangers is a perfect gem of a recording.”

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Stanley Turrentine – The Sugar Man

More of the Music of Stanley Turrentine

  • The Sugar Man appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with a STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side one
  • Rudy Van Gelder really knocked this one out of the park – the sound here is solid, punchy and present, just the way we like it
  • If you prefer a recessed, vague, washed-out presentation, may we recommend you find whatever Heavy Vinyl reissue pressing is currently available – it will surely be more to your taste than this one
  • Thanks to RVG and Creed Taylor, this is some very well recorded funky Jazz Fusion that we enjoyed the hell out of in our shootout
  • “…Turrentine’s playing is excellent, and the overall results certainly top most of the tenor’s upcoming Fantasy releases.”

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Wes Montgomery – Bumpin’

More of the Music of Wes Montgomery

  • Superb sound throughout, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades
  • This vintage Verve stereo pressing is transparent, uncolored and undistorted, as well as tonally correct from top to bottom
  • With Don Sebesky‘s lively arrangements and a big group of musicians to play them, a good time is guaranteed for all
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Not only is his brilliant command of the six-string present here, so is the vivid color tones of notes and blue notes played between. Backed up by a hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizing orchestra conducted and arranged by Don Sebesky, the music almost lifts the listener off his feet into a dreamy, water-like landscape.”

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Horace Silver – Blowin’ The Blues Away

More of the Music of Horace Silver

  • Incredible sound throughout this early 60s Blue Note Stereo pressing, with both sides earning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them
  • A Must Own from Horace Silver, with the kind of sound that only the better vintage pressings can offer
  • If you don’t know his music, this is a good place to start
  • Another triumph for engineering maestro Rudy Van Gelder – he refined a “live-in-the-studio” jazz sound that still sounds fresh to this day, even after 67 years
  • Marks in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these early pressings – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Blowin’ The Blues Away is one of Horace Silver’s all-time Blue Note classics, only upping the ante established on Finger Poppin’ for tightly constructed, joyfully infectious hard bop… one of Silver’s finest albums, and it’s virtually impossible to dislike.”
  • If you’re a fan of Silver’s, this 1959 album belongs in your collection, along with quite a few others, if only we could find them
  • The complete list of titles from 1959 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.

The really good RVG pressings (often on the later labels) sound shockingly close to live music — uncompressed, present, full of energy, with the instruments clearly located on a wide and often deep soundstage, surrounded by the natural space and cool air of his New Jersey studio. As our stereo has improved, and we’ve found better pressings and learned how to clean them better, his “you-are-there” live jazz sound has come to impress us more and more. (more…)

John Coltrane – The John Coltrane Quartet Plays

More of the Music of John Coltrane

  • The John Coltrane Quartet Plays appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades or close to them on both sides of this vintage Impulse stereo pressing – remarkably quiet vinyl too
  • No other copy earned 2+ on both sides, meaning this is the best Super Hot Stamper we have to offer this time around
  • Full-bodied, energetic, and tonally correct from top to bottom, this pressing is guaranteed to bring Coltrane’s music to life (particularly on side one) – it’s possible that you would not own any Coltrane record that sounds as good as this one
  • The sound is everything that’s good about Rudy Van Gelder‘s recordings – it’s present, spacious, full-bodied, Tubey Magical, dynamic and, most importantly, alive in the way that modern pressings never are (also particularly on side one)
  • 4 stars: “One of the turning points in the career of John Coltrane came in 1965. The great saxophonist, whose playing was always very explorative and searching, crossed the line into atonality during that year, playing very free improvisations (after stating quick throwaway themes) that were full of passion and fury.”

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