Hot Stamper Pressings on Contemporary 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.