More Hot Stamper Pressings of Digital Recordings with Audiophile Quality Sound
UPDATE
2007 was a long time ago, so please take that into condideration when reading this review.
This is a practically brand new UHQR JVC test record.
I’m SHOCKED at how good this record sounds.
It has AMAZING live jazz sound.
Hot Stamper Pressings of Direct-to-Disc Recordings Available Now
Recently we put up a copy of this wonderful direct to disc recording with this description:
Here are just a few of the things we had to say about this incredible copy in our notes: “tubey and 3D and breathy”…”huge and lively”…”powerful orchestra”…”jumping out of the speakers”…”very rich and present.”
Great energy, but the sound is relaxed and Tubey sweet at the same time, never squawky, with plenty of extension on both ends – that’s analog for ya!
This is no sleepy over-the-hill Sheffield Direct-to-Disc (referring to the later Harry James titles, not the excellent first one) – these guys are the real deal and they play their hearts out on this album, recorded in a church with exemplary acoustics.
Note that side two did not have all the space, but was so punchy and 3-D that it was easy to award it a Nearly White Hot Stamper grade of 2.5+. The copy that beat it had all the same qualities and more space, sounding more like side one of this very pressing.
And here are the actual notes for the Shootout Winning copy we found.
We have no trouble hearing when a record is doing everything right, and when a record has one side that is a bit lacking, it’s the shootout that shows us in what area it is lacking.
In this case, our notes read:
Track one had sound that “jumped out of the speakers,” and if — like us — that’s the kind of sound you are looking for, our Hot Stamper pressings are where you can find it.
If you would like to test the pressings you own, here are a few that might make good tests for that quality. Also, many of our customers have commented about that quality in the Hot Stamper pressings we sent them, and you can read their letters here.
It’s our favorite jazz label for sonics by a long shot. Roy DuNann always seems to get The Real Sound out of the sessions he recorded — amazingly realistic drums in a big room; full-bodied, breathy horns; Tubey Magical guitar tone; deep, note-like bass; weighty pianos; vocal immediacy, and on and on.
For us audiophiles both the sound and the music here are wonderful. If you’re looking to demonstrate just how good a 1957 All Tube Analog recording can be, this 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.
This IS the sound of Tubey Magic. 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 this album, but those of us who possess a working turntable and a good collection of vintage vinyl could care less.
If you want to hear the full six tunes recorded by The Three at that famous Hollywood session (which ran all day and long into the night, 4 AM to be exact), these 33 RPM pressings are the best way to go. The music is so good that I personally would not want to live without the complete album. The Three is, in fact, my favorite Piano Trio Jazz Album of All Time; every one of those six tracks is brilliantly arranged and performed (if you have the right takes of course; more about that later).
More On The Subject Of Energy
This is a quality no one seems to be writing about, other than us of course, but what could possibly be more important? On this record, the more energetic copies took the players’ performances to a level beyond all expectations. It is positively shocking how lively and dynamic the best copies of this record are. I know of no other recording with this combination of sonic and musical energy. It is sui generis, in a league of its own.
Both sides are so transparent you can hear Shelly Manne vocalizing as he’s playing the drums. The drum solo on side two is killer here. So full of energy and so dynamic. Why aren’t more drum kits recorded this well? Check out the pictures inside the fold-open cover to see all the mics that were used on the drums. That’s where that wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling sound comes from.
The transients are uncannily lifelike, conveying the huge amounts of kinetic energy produced when Shelly whacks the hell out of his cymbals.
Ne Plus Ultra Piano Trio
This record is made from the “backup” tape for the session. East Wind released two versions of the famous direct to disc version at 33 RPM, and for those of you who bother to read the commentary, you know that take one of that pressing presents a completely different performance of the music than the one found on the Inner City on offer here.
There was a time when the best copies of a recording like this would go directly into my collection. If I wanted to impress someone, audiophile or otherwise, with the You-Are-There illusion that only Big Speakers in a dedicated room playing a live recording can create, this would be up near the top of the list. There is practically nothing like it on vinyl in my experience.
This is without a doubt my favorite piano trio record of all time. Joe Sample, Shelly Manne, and Ray Brown only made one album together, this one, recorded direct to disc right here in Los Angeles for Eastwind in the Seventies. Joe Sample for once in his life found himself in a real Class A trio, and happily for jazz fans around the world, he rose to the occasion. Actually, it was more like an epiphany, as this is the one piano trio album I put in a class by itself. All three of The Three are giving us the best they’ve got on that November day in 1975.
When it comes to small combo piano jazz, there is none better.
Time Further Out is consistently more varied and, dare we say, more musically interesting than Time Out.
If you want to hear big drums in a big room, these Brubeck recordings will show you that sound better than practically any record we know of. These vintage recordings are full-bodied, spacious, three-dimensional, rich, sweet and warm in the best tradition of an All Tube Analog recording.
Time Further Out is consistently more varied and, dare we say, more musically interesting than Time Out.
If you want to hear big drums in a big room, these Brubeck recordings will show you that sound better than practically any record we know of. These vintage recordings are full-bodied, spacious, three-dimensional, rich, sweet and warm in the best tradition of an All Tube Analog recording.
If you want to hear the full six tunes recorded by The Three at that famous Hollywood session (which ran all day and long into the night, 4 AM to be exact), our 33 RPM pressings are your best bet.
If you want absolutely amazing, mind-blowing, you-are-there sound, a Hot Stamper 45 is the only way to go.
The music is so good that I personally would not want to live without the complete album. The Three is, in fact, my favorite piano trio jazz album of all time. Very one of those six tracks is brilliantly arranged and performed (if you have the right takes of course; more about that later).
This album checks off a number of important boxes for us here at Better Records:
Time Further Out is consistently more varied and, dare we say, more musically interesting than Time Out.
If you want to hear big drums in a big room, these Brubeck recordings will show you that sound better than practically any record we know of. These vintage recordings are full-bodied, spacious, three-dimensional, rich, sweet and warm in the best tradition of an All Tube Analog recording.