budg-re-jazz-wins

Cannonball Adderley – What I Mean

More of the Music of Cannonball Adderley

  • Adderley’s superb double album reissue from 1979, which includes the complete 1961 album Know What I Mean?, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all FOUR sides – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • With outstanding presence, clarity, space and right-on-the-money timbral accuracy, these pressings are guaranteed to be one of the best sounding jazz records you’ve played in a long, long time
  • A hard record to find, and an even harder record to find with this kind of audiophile sound and playing surfaces
  • This is some of the best sound we have ever heard for this exceptional Golden Age 60s recording, and that is really saying something
  • 4 stars: “This two-LP set combines two fine sessions from 1961. The great altoist is heard with his quintet in 1961 (featuring cornetist Nat Adderley, Victor Feldman on vibes and piano and guest pianist Wynton Kelly) and in a quartet date with pianist Bill Evans.”
  • This is a Must Own album from 1961 that belongs in any jazz-loving audiophile’s collection

Sides one and two of this double LP were originally issued as The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Plus, while sides three and four were originally released as Know What I Mean?

All four sides boast excellent mastering and very good sound. The cymbals have that just right “tap” followed by an open and sweet “shimmer.”

The piano and sax, the heart of the music of course, are rendered as accurately as can be expected.

As good as the OJC sounds, and it can sound very good indeed, this Milestone reissue from the decade before is even better. It has more of a “vintage analog pressing” sound, the kind you would expect to hear on a recording from 1962. (more…)

Kenny Dorham – Quiet Kenny

Hot Stamper Blue Note Albums Available Now

  • You’ll find solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this New Jazz recording pressed on exceptionally quiet OJC vinyl
  • It’s tubier, more transparent, more dynamic, with plenty of that “jumpin’ out of the speakers” quality that you won’t find on the average pressing
  • 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 (which you can find discussed later on in the body of this listing)
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Cool and understated might be better watchwords for what the ultra-melodic Dorham achieves on this undeniably well crafted set of standards and originals that is close to containing his best work overall during a far too brief career.”

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Bill Evans – Everybody Digs Bill Evans

More of the Music of Bill Evans

  • This vintage Riverside recording pressed on OJC vinyl boasts STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it from start to finish
  • Some of you may have discovered that the original Bill Evans records on Riverside are mostly awful sounding – I can’t recall ever hearing one sound better than mediocre – so we are not the least bit worried that this Hot Stamper pressing won’t beat the pants off of the original, along with any reissue you may have, and of course the no doubt awful Analogue Productions 45
  • 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
  • “With the unmatched pair of former Miles Davis drummer Philly Joe Jones and bassist Sam Jones (no relation), Evans was emerging not only as an ultra-sensitive player, but as an interpreter of standards second to none.”

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Red Garland Trio – Bright And Breezy

More of the Music of Red Garland

  • Boasting two solid Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them, this Stereo Jazzland recording pressed on OJC vinyl will be very hard to beat
  • The sound is clear, spacious, relaxed, and full-bodied, with Tubey Magical richness and analog smoothness that only the better copies can offer (particularly on side two)
  • The typical copies are thin, lean, and lifeless, but we managed to unearth some that really get it right, and here is an excellent one (also particularly on side two)
  • “During 1961-1962… pianist Red Garland recorded four LPs for the Jazzland label. [T]his trio set with bassist Sam Jones and drummer Charlie Persip… is very much up to par. An enjoyable straight-ahead session.” (more…)

Thelonious Monk / Brilliant Corners

More of the Music of Thelonious Monk

  • Boasting STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from start to finish, this vintage MONO recording pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl was giving us the sound we were looking for on Monk’s 1957 release
  • Rich, full-bodied and present yet still clear and spacious – we guarantee this copy sounds better than any pressing you’ve heard, and should beat the pricey originals hands down
  • With masterful horn playing from Sonny Rollins and Clark Terry, and a rhythm section that can actually keep up with Monk – made up of Max Roach, Oscar Pettiford and Paul Chambers – this is a Must Own for any music loving audiophile
  • 5 stars: “Brilliant Corners may well be considered the alpha and omega of post-World War II American jazz. No serious jazz collection should be without it.”
  • If you’re a fan of Mr. Monk, this All Tube Recording from 1957 belongs in your collection.
  • We’ve recently compiled a list of records we think every audiophile should get to know better, along the lines of “the 1001 records you need to hear before you die,” but with the accent on the joy these amazing audiophile-quality recordings can bring to your life. Brilliant Corners is a good example of a record most audiophiles probably don’t know well but would benefit from getting to know better

If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good a 1957 All Tube Analog recording can be, this superb copy should be just the record for you. 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.

No recordings will ever be made like this again, and no CD will ever capture what is in the grooves of this record. There is of course a CD of the album, but those of us in possession of a working turntable could care less.

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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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Wynton Kelly Trio & Sextet – Kelly Blue

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • Wynton Kelly’s hard-to-find second album, here with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on both sides of this vintage OJC pressing
  • A superb pressing, with lovely richness and warmth, good space, separation between the instruments, and real immediacy throughout
  • Kelly brings in jazz greats Nat Adderley, Bobby Jaspar, and Benny Golson, as well as several of his bandmates from Miles Davis’s sextet, including Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb
  • There are some bad marks (as is sometimes the nature of the beast with these vintage LPs) on “Old Clothes,” but once you hear just how incredible sounding this copy is, you might be inclined, as we were, to stop counting ticks and just be swept away by the music
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Kelly was renowned as an accompanist, but as he shows on a set including three of his originals and four familiar standards… A fine example of his talents.”
  • “Wynton Kelly demonstrates once again why he has been a major influence in the history of jazz piano.”

Jack Higgins was the engineer for these sessions. He recorded Chet Baker’s brilliant Chet album the same year, as well as many other albums for Riverside in New York in the 50s and 60s.

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Count Basie – Basie Plays Hefti

More of the Music of Count Basie

  • Only the second copy to hit the site in nearly three years and, boy, does it have superb sound, with both sides earning solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER
  • If all you’ve ever heard is the Roulette original (or the wacky MoFi, or whatever current Heavy Vinyl pressing is being made), this LP is guaranteed to be a revelation
  • Basie Plays Hefti catches Basie’s band at the peak of their powers in 1958, and in this All Tube Recording you get every bit of the magic they made in the studio
  • 4 stars: “The Count Basie Orchestra was in top form for this set of Neal Hefti arrangements. Hefti had been one of the main architects of the new Basie sound of the 50s… ‘Cute’ (heard here in its initial recording) became a standard.”

This is the followup to the smash Basie album The Atomic Mr. Basie, an album we would love to make available if we could ever find a clean, good sounding copy to play. The liner notes tell the story of this album well. Click on the tab above to read them.

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Bill Evans / Moon Beams on OJC

More of the Music of Bill Evans

  • This Riverside recording of Evans’s 1962 classic pressed on fairly quiet OJC vinyl boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from first note to last
  • Full-bodied and warm, exactly the way vintage analog should sound, yet as clear and as open as any pressing you’ve heard (or your money back)
  • The first album Evans recorded after Scott LaFaro’s death and it is a deeply immersive experience
  • AllMusic raves it’s “…so well paced and sequenced the record feels like a dream … Moonbeams was a startling return to the recording sphere and a major advancement in his development as a leader.”

Moon Beams is one of the best sounding Bill Evans records we’ve ever played. You can see why we chose it to be the first OJC Hot Stamper of his to hit the site back in 2015.

Play It Might As Well Be Spring for the kind of sublime musical experience you only find on 20th century analog.

(Well, almost. Some of the newer OJC pressings from this century can be quite good too.)

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