I would like to suggest a new topic. I still feel fairly new to this world of hi-end audio and love to learn what more experienced listeners find exciting. The “what are you spinning” threads are fun, and presumably since this IS an audiophile forum, I can assume the recordings are good. But I would like to know more about what caught your ear - what made it stand out for you? Why would you recommend it to others? For those of us new to the hobby, this would help sharpen our listening, give us things to listen for as we hear other recordings.
So I’ll start: I’ve been listening lately to the albums recorded by the alternative singer/songwriter Vienna Teng. My first intro to her was the track “1br/1ba” from her 2006 album Dreaming Through the Noise. The tune was included in a PS Audio playlist on Qobuz. I found her interesting and checked out more of her stuff. One thing I like is how she, and the recording, can give you the feeling she’s singing right into your ear - the presence is spellbinding. Her next album, 2009’s Inland Territory is even better for me. The fantastic soundstage spread on the track “White Light”, along with the presence and perfection of sound bring added support to her talented songwriting. The tonal range of the song “Kansas” works so well with her pure singing and how well the drummer’s brushes are captured made me go back and listen several times. Every track on the album is different, creative, and beautifully recorded, probably the best album I’ve heard in quite some time.
One of my favorites is Duke Ellington “Indigos”–I love both the mono and stereo but the stereo is the more “audiophile” experience.
First off I LOVE the music. This is an album made for dancing imo, an opinion that was sort of proven when I put it on in the background years ago having dinner at my place with my then in-laws, and the in-laws got up and started dancing in the living room. Dancing together was one of their things for decades, at that time they were going out dancing with other “seniors” once a week. So it is an album that inspires dance in those susceptible. It’s also an album that draws me to listen, so many instrumental threads to follow, arranged with delicacy.
The album conveys a sense of elegant swing via sensitive engineering. The horn sections are delineated and the soloists are spotlighted oh so right. And Duke’s piano introductions to the numbers are not only recorded with a definite sense of space, and beautifully captured tone, but each is an exquisite little poem to usher in the band.
Dynamics, gracefully from low sound to fanfare, and the sense of a band in a recording space–all these are there just as I would like them to be.
I listen to both the original Columbia LP I have (I have both mono and stereo) and the Impex Records gold cd that has the stereo so well mastered as well as mono material that differs from the stereo.
Oh man, your contribution just made starting this thread worth it - if nothing else happens, I won! I have always been a big fan and student of Ellington. I just downloaded from HDTT a fantastic remastering of the John Coltrane / Duke Ellington Rudy Van Gelder recording from 1963. Over the years I have become more and more aware of how similar Ellington’s piano style is to Thelonious Monk’s - certainly different, but in the same church, and his work on this album is some of the best accompaniment of Coltrane I’ve ever heard. So this will be a treat to listen to Indigos. What a perfect description: “elegant swing via sensitive engineering” - just yesterday I was trying to describe to a long-time friend and jazz fan why I get so much more from a higher-quality audio system and room - the swing is so much more apparent. Great post!
Yes, there is a lot of Duke in Monk, and both were influenced by the New York stride pianists, albeit Duke long before Monk. One of my favorite Monk albums is the fascinating . . . .
So I already have a new one to add. And this should give you a bit of an idea how varied my tastes can be. From Vienna Teng I move to Jimmy Webb. Maybe they’re not so different: I have always been a fan of great songwriting. Last night, Webb’s album Just Across the River popped into my head, so being lazy, went to listen on Qobuz, but found they don’t have it. I have my own copy, but decided to see what Q does have and ran across Webb’s 2013 album Still Within the Sound of My Voice. I was elated to see that it was produced by Fred Mollin who also did River. I really love the version of “All I Know” featuring Linda Ronstadt, which was supposedly her last studio recording before having to give up singing. Still Within the Sound had me close to tears, both because of the musicianship, but also the recording approach. I read Paul McGowan and others talking about “speakers disappearing”, but here not only did they go away, the sound became truly 3-dimensional. I could really place the instruments and singers in a deep soundstage. But even more, Paul and others talk about “space between instruments” - not only was everything captured with realistic precision, but I could hear the entire tonal “space” of each instrument distinctly. As for favorite tracks, I’m not through it yet, but I think everything is fantastic. Choosing Joe Cocker to sing with him on “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress” was phenomenal.
Please, someone else listen to this recording and tell me if I’m making all this up!
Yes, I’ve heard the Monk does Ellington album, but it’s been a while. The friend I mentioned was really big into the “compositional” approach that Monk and Ellington both developed in their improvisations. I have helped many people better understand Monk by telling them to forget he’s improvising - listen to what he’s COMPOSING.
Hey, I listened to Indigos last night. I found that High Definition Tape Transfers had re-issued the original stereo version in 2018. It has to be one of the most unusual large ensemble recordings I’ve ever heard, both from a musical and audio engineering perspective. The realism is stupendous, but the word that kept going through my head was “exposed.” There are a handful of recordings in the jazz realm where I am almost embarrassed for the musicians, wondering who in their right mind would make themselves so vulnerable. The version of “Tenderly” is not only unique, but emotionally risky, if that makes sense, bringing new meaning to the idea of “being tender.” I think my favorite track - although I have to listen to this album many times to give a final verdict - was “Solitude.” I think it’s like a “piano concerto”, but where from the beginning Ellington is searching to find the right way of expressing the song, and he tries and tries to the bitter end, never fully resolving it in his mind, despite using the ensemble in every way he can. The role of the engineering in this is incredible, hard to pin down, but it’s there. And I can see where the mono version would definitely reveal the engineer’s contribution. I have an extensive collection of 78 rpm records, so I’m very familiar with what can be done through one speaker.
Thank you so much for recommending this - I honestly didn’t even know this recording existed.
Great. I’m really glad you enjoyed it and agree about the wonderful engineering that weaves the tapestry together. I am not sure I hear “Solitude” the same way or claim to know what Duke was thinking and feeling but oh well. Now pay some attention to “Jazz Party” (both mono and stereo are excellent) and “Blues in Orbit” if you haven’t reveled in those before.
Well maybe nobody else (aside from Ionson) is interested in this category, but I ran into something last night that I was spell-bound by and wonder if I’m on the right track. I don’t know quite what it is, but I love jazz improvisation on the alto sax. I used to be a mediocre trumpeter and when I hear what people can do on alto sax, I’m jealous. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE jazz improv on trumpet, but it just doesn’t fly quite the same way as on sax. I have recently discovered a young guy named Patrick Bartley - I first heard him on a few YouTube videos with pianist Emmet Cohen - this version of “After You’re Gone” is incredible (and don’t cut it off after Bartley’s solo - there is a good trumpet solo and Emmet Cohen kills it - fantastic collective energy.
But back to audiophile land, last night I checked out Bartley’s recent album First Song - Qobuz / Apple Music. It is one of the most perfect capturing and rendering of instruments I’ve ever heard - jazz or otherwise. Every note on Bartley’s sax, every drum touch, every bass pluck - perfection. I think I read somewhere that this was a live recording, but not sure. Then there was the balance, of how they sound together. A tight soundstage, but gosh it’s only 3 musicians! I worried that my ears were going to get bored with no piano, but their inventiveness makes up for it, and the quality of the recording makes it swing, maybe even better without piano. I don’t know how else to describe it. It is honestly the best recording of jazz drums I’ve ever heard, but of course within that particular context - chamber jazz?
One of my favorite recordings is “I Got Rhythm” by Don Byas and Slam Stewart. Besides the tenor solo by Byas, Slam Stewart hums with his bass solo with great results!
Oh yeah, that was a trademark of Slam Stewart to do that hum-along thing. Other musicians have done it with other instruments - Keith Jarrett (piano), George Benson (guitar), but they weren’t trying to do it as a true performance effect like Stewart. So on the subject here, do you think the Byas/Stewart recording has anything to offer in the realm of audio quality, or were you just triggered to remember it because I was talking about a sax-bass-drums thing?
I know that Don Byas and Slam Stewart well, from an old Commodore Records reissue LP, and then I bought the entire run of Commodore on Mosaic LP sets (all three box sets) and I listen to it from there. Not the most “audiophile” recording, but truly great playing. I knew Slam before this from his work with Slim Gaillard, when they were billed as “Slim and Slam.” Both those cats were great entertainers.
For some reason Columbia Records LPs come to mind when I think of great sounding recordings. Here’s one that I will recommend: “Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy.” It’s a mono recording done in a small Chicago studio, BUT it’s very lifelike and “right” sounding. It’s the All Stars on a night off doing their thing, and the joy of playing and the familiarity and confidence in their playing, as well as the quality of the material, help to make it special. Highlights for me are the singing and repartee between Louis and Velma Middleton, and the excellent, propulsive and spirited drumming of Barrett Deems.
It’s not surprising that another recommendation from me would include another Ellington recording. His music has slowly, over the last five decades, become almost sacred in my listening world, the scope and depth of his work is one that takes a lifetime to really explore and digest. At least that is my experience.
This recording is one made in that wonderful recording venue Columbia should have kept and used forever. And it features the careful and totally sympathetic engineering that “Indigos” does. . . but the vibe and feel is very different. This one swings unapologetically, and the ensemble writing and performances are what stand out to me both as “sound” and the composing. And just an amazing auditory experience.
Duke Ellington “Blues in Orbit”
I have both the Mobile Fidelity SACD and this one from Analogue Productions (plus Redbook versions from Columbia, and an LP). Both the SACD are excellent sounding. I love this music!
I’m away from my library at the moment, so rather than work from an admittedly faulty memory of all the stuff I love the sound of, for now I’ll just say that I’ve recently been getting into independent musicians who hawk their wares on social media, specifically Facebook. There are a lot of them, and musical and audio quality can vary widely, but one I’m listening to a lot is Maybe Modern by Grace Morrison. If I had to pigeonhole it, I’d call it Americana. What caught my ear is its combination of song quality, its high level of musicianship and production, and recording quality. It’s a very professional record. Judged on this album, I’d say Ms. Morrison is an excellent musician and she’s surrounded herself with same, and her production and engineering crew are first-rate.
For context, I’ll say that after a lifetime of hearing crappy records played on crappy AM and FM radios in the '60s and '70s, I’m a sucker for any recording that is clean enough to turn it up and hear “into” it instead of being simply being hit by a solid wall of sound. In my imagination, these recordings create a musical landscape - a physical space - that the listener can enter and “walk around” among the musicians. Sounds goofy, I know, but I’m sure I’m not alone in seeking and enjoying that quality.
I love this album. The late iconoclastic jazz DJ Ron Cuzner used its version of “Solitude” every night to open his 12:00 AM program “The Dark Side” on WFMR in Milwaukee back when I was pulling all-nighters in architecture school in the '70s.
Hey, I listened to most of the Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy album Sunday evening. I’m a little torn on some things. I’m sure part of it is that even though I’ve been listening to recordings from this era for many years, exploring from an audiophile perspective is still pretty new for me. There was certainly a level of “realism” there - that I was being presented the jazz in the way I might have heard it in a concert. But the balance - no, not between right and left, this being a mono recording (a little joke there) - but the mix balance I found pretty inconsistent. In some tracks, and even sometimes WITHIN tracks, I could hear the rhythm section much better than others, almost as though they were in an isolation booth and someone forgot to plug in the mics. Other places, it was fine. Aside from the vocals or lead instruments (mainly Armstrong’s trumpet), the presence of instruments was just not where I think it should have been. I even noticed in a few places a mix-balance difference when the vocals came in, almost like a tape edit.
However, and this is a BIG however, when it came to the presence of the front-presentations - instruments and vocals - there IS a kind of special presence. I really loved the capture and reproduction of Velma Middleton’s voice, and even Louis’ “growl” came through in a way I’d never been aware of before.
Please don’t get me wrong - I’m not doubting your impressions and I agree with your characterizations, and the musicianship is fantastic, but I just wasn’t feeling like I was getting the whole picture of the session.
