Hot Stamper Pressings of Recordings by Rudy Van Gelder Available Now
For our 2023 White Hot Stamper shootout winning pressing we wrote:
A triumph for Rudy Van Gelder, a top Blue Note title, and as much a showcase for Miles Davis as it is for Cannonball Adderley.
The best sides of this album have as much energy, presence, dynamics and three-dimensional studio space as any jazz recording we’ve ever played.
When you hear it on a copy like this, it’s hard to imagine it could get much better.
We’ve heard more than our fair share of tubby, groove-damaged originals and smeary, lifeless reissues over the years, but this White Hot Stamper blew them all away.
This is a record we could play every week and never tire of.
But this expensive ($125) MoFi pressing had us wondering what the hell we were on about, because almost nothing about it is right except for something we were not expecting: it’s actually tonally correct.
What are the chances?
With Mobile Fidelity, slim and none, but in this case they managed to pull off slim. So let’s give credit where credit is due.
But the sound is still a mess no matter how tonally correct it is.
Allow me to list its faults based on the notes we took as the record was playing. The last line sums up the experience nicely.
- 1) It’s very recessed and lean.
- 2) The trumpet is thin and very squawky.
- 3) There is an exaggerated resonance in the peaks.