piano-trio

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 – The Riverside Trios

More of the Music of Thelonious Monk

  • This Milestone 2-LP set boasts solid Double Plus (A++) grades or BETTER on all FOUR sides
  • We know of no better way to hear these legendary MONO recordings – these are by far some of the better sounding pressings of both these albums we’ve yet to play
  • The 1979 transfers of tape to disc by David Turner are superb in all respects – this is remastering done right
  • Can anybody working today make a record that sounds as good as this one? We can think of only two, and one of them we only know by his work, not by his name, as there is no trace of it in the credits for the great sounding Bill Evans title he remastered!
  • 4 1/2 stars: “When Thelonious Monk first signed with Riverside Records in 1955, producer Orrin Keepnews thought that it would be a good idea for the unrecognized giant to record an album of Duke Ellington compositions and follow it up with a set of standards so as to discount his eccentric and forbidding image. The results were quite satisfying, trio performances that made Monk’s playing seem more accessible to the regular jazz audience without watering down his style.”

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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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Bill Evans – Explorations

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Bill Evans Available Now

UPDATE 2026

This is a very old review. The last time we sat down to play some OJC copies of this recording we were underwhelmed. There may be some great sounding pressings out there, but we did not have any on hand and don’t want to commit the resources that would be needed to find them.

Our old commentary follows.

Outstanding sound throughout with both sides rating a solid Double Plus (A++) or close to it

The sound here is, above all, natural – the tonality is correct, and the recording sounds right for Riverside circa 1961

4 1/2 stars: “Explorations proves that the artist was worth waiting for no matter what else was going on out there. Evans, with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, was onto something as a trio, exploring the undersides of melodic and rhythmic constructions that had never been considered by most… an extraordinary example of the reach and breadth of this trio at its peak.”

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The 2002 OJC Pressings Can Be Very Good but They Don’t Win Shootouts

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Bill Evans Available Now

For a Hot Stamper pressing we put up recently, we noted:

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 work 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 recordings.

All of that is true for the best of the 20th century pressings we played. (Which, by the way, does not include any originals as those are consistently inferior to the later pressings we’ve auditioned.)

As for the 21st century, the sound of the best 2002 pressings on OJC are somewhat opaque and dry compared to the best that came before. This is something we rarely point out in the listings we have on sale on the site. You generally have to come to the blog to get a fuller picture of the specific shortcomings we might have of some of our Hot Stamper pressings.

We know both dry sound and opaque sound well, having played hundreds of pressings that suffer from such conditions.

The sound may be decent on most of these 2002 pressings, and fairly good on the best of them, but that’s not really what we were hoping to find. We spent a lot of money and we spent a lot of time, to quote a famous line by a famous rock band, but the six 2002 pressings we cleaned and played nevertheless came up a bit short. That’s just how it goes sometimes. (And sometimes it goes completely off the tracks.)

The way we approach a shootout such as this typically involves playing a copy or two some pressing, the 2002 OJC in this case, and hearing sound good enough to make us think it might have the potential for greatness. As you can see by the marks we gave out, the average copy earned a grade of 1.5+, which is a good, not great Hot Stamper grade.  Greatness was just not in the cards.

Andre Previn – These Two OJC Pressings Didn’t Make the Grade

Hot Stamper Pressings of Contemporary Jazz Recordings Available Now

The mastering choices of the cutting engineers for these two recordings did them no favors.

Like so many of the early OJC pressings we’ve played over the years, we found that both of these reissues tended to be somewhat thin tonally, with a brittle top end, which can clearly be heard in the tizzy quality of the cymbals.

This is not remotely the right sound for a vintage Contemporary recording.

When doing the shootouts for these albums, warmth turned out to be key to the sound of the best copies.

When the piano sounds warm and smooth, everything else in the recording seems to fall into place.

The OJC pressings of these two albums were brighter and thinner than even the worst of the real Contemporary pressings.

Above all they badly lacked Tubey Magic, a quality the best sounding pressings are swimming in. Consequently, none of them made the cut for our shootout.

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Bill Evans – Montreux II

More of the Music of Bill Evans

  • This vintage copy of this classic live jazz recording boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last
  • An excellent pressing, with lovely richness and warmth, real space and separation between the instruments
  • Recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, this 1970 release showcases Evans’s stylings in the trio setting that marked his best work
  • “Bill Evans’ second recording at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1970 was a highly anticipated concert, finding the pianist in peak form, accompanied by bassist Eddie Gómez and drummer Marty Morell. “

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Oscar Peterson Trio – West Side Story

More Jazz Recordings Featuring the Piano

  • A West Side Story like you’ve never heard, with KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them throughout this early Stereo Verve pressing
  • Rich, solid bass; you-are-there immediacy; energy and drive; instruments that are positively jumping out of the speakers – add it all up and you can see that this copy had the sound we were looking for
  • Which wouldn’t mean much if the music wasn’t swingin,’ but it is – every track shows just how good this trio was in 1962
  • Credit engineer Bob Simpson, the man behind the legendary Belafonte at Carnegie Hall live recording from a couple of years before
  • An absolute Must Own – for sound and music, this is our pick for The Best Oscar Peterson Album of All Time
  • It’s hard to imagine that any list of the Best Jazz Albums of 1962 would not have this record on it

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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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