Hot Stamper Pressings of Contemporary Jazz Available Now
The Contemporary Yellow Label stereo reissue from the 70s we played way back when, probably fifteen or twenty years ago, was a good record, but not nearly as good as some of the other Contemporary pressings we’d come across since we began collecting them in the early 90s.
(Yes, we admit, we got a late start, but by the time 1995 rolled around we knew just how good this label’s records could sound, something that not everybody else did.)
Live and learn is our motto — and that approach turns out to be a feature, not a bug, of record collecting at the most advanced levels.
Experimenting with records is the only sure way to learn about them.
Our notes for the copy we put up years ago:
Another wonderful Contemporary LP. This Yellow Label Stereo pressing was a nice step up from most of what we heard, earning an A++ on side one and an A+ on side two. Side one was particularly good — the bottom end is superb, the vibra-harp sounds great and the piano has good weight. There’s lots of energy and the overall sound is big and open.
Side two was clean, clear and transparent but not quite as dynamic as side one.
Not an easy record to come by, and they usually don’t sound this good when you manage to track one down.
A top quality pressing of the album is a very different animal, a jazz Demo Disc of the highest order.
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