The music more than compensates for the less than stellar sound. Dollar Brand’s, Abdullah Ibrahim’s, earliest recordings were nothing special, but the performances have always been special for me. Rumor has it the indigenous South African musicians would book time at a South African recording studio. Typically late night after hours when the studio was not booked. The recording was more or less a rush job, relying on first takes only as the recording engineer was in a rush to finish up.
The above, Sphere Jazz is the best example of that in my collection, but the performance “heals all wounds”.
The enja pressed LPs in the states from the late 70’s through mid-80’s could be horrendous. The imported, German, versions at least offered better vinyl.
