The Proprius Records three volumes of “Jazz at the Pawnshop” have recently been reissued in an SACD box set for the thirtieth anniversary. I stayed away from these recordings for decades but as the box set is so cheap I picked it up and have to say the sound is very good, and the music is quite nice. I think anyone looking for “Top SACDs” would enjoy the playback of these discs.
Always wanted to hear these, but they were always on audiophile labels, for a high buck. Love jazz, often wondered if content would match SQ.
I decided to see if any of the releases were on Tidal, they have the 30th in CD quality. Great opportunity to audition content. Never would have thought to look, if you hadn’t posted, thank you!
Actually, I am very interested in other’s comments about this SACD… it has some of the most heavy stereo I have ever heard. So much so that it can be a bit uncomfortable on headphones. Through speakers, it is just great.
After doing some searches, it supposedly is a closet Audiophile sleeper… with huge variations in release quality… but this SACD version appears to have nailed it.
The music: Her first album recorded in 1958. She was classicly trained at Juliard… I never heard a jazz artist mix classical-styled riffing with jazz/blues. Amazing talent this woman.
That Nina does indeed deliver. So does Pet Sounds which I think was mentioned.
These are new SACD additions (and I’ve been on a collecting TEAR since the PST/Sunlight/blahblah…). I’m always so excited for these two in the last few days. I’ll post more if people are looking, Jazznut mentioned the new Coltrane Ballads release, which I’ve also been enjoying…but these two are really kicking my butt.
Either way, definitely cool from start to finish. Always have loved that one.
At 45, really Iove/know the mid-late 70s and 80s. A bias I had little to do with, and based almost entirely on pop culture and a pretty cool older brother who was into music.
I am one of those rare birds who loves and knows something about most/all music.
Glad to see this thread revived. I’ll try to remember to contribute to it when I’m actually in my listening room, with samples at hand.
Until then, I’ll mention two that come to mind: one that’s worth avoiding, in my opinion, and one that’s an out-of-the-park home run.
First the bad: the MoFi “Stampede” by the Doobies. In my experience it lacks anything close to high-end sparkle, to the point that it sounds like a blanket has been draped over the speakers. My original LP (and the CD I transferred it to) are much better to my ear in that regard, and others. At first I thought it was the result of my old SA8005 player’s “Marantz house sound,” which is on the warm side, but I hear the same thing through my new SACD-30n, and more telling, through my brother’s system that includes the DMP and DirectStream DAC. For example, the very first track has tambourine strikes right after the guitar comes in at the start (following the piano intro), and on the MoFi SACD they’re pretty much not there, even through headphones. They can be heard clearly on the LP.
And the good: MoFi’s “Nilsson Schmilsson.” This one didn’t forget the high frequencies, and it has a wonderful overall roundness and fullness to the tone. Great depth, and air around instruments and voices. Very natural sounding, and much, much better than my recollection of my old RCA LP version, long since gone. I may be misremembering by now, but I seem to recall it was one of their flimsy “dynagroove” records.
Never heard of Nillsson Schmilsson, but I remember Herman Schmerman (no relation?).
Just looked it up and it was almost 30 years ago, but seems like yesterday. Where does the time go? Who needs SACD if you have a portable VHS recorder?
My first show was Rush on the Presto tour. I think Mr. Big opened, who didn’t do anything for me.
Speaking of Rush, I’m listening to Counterparts right now from Audio Fidelity…Grey/Hoffman, reissue, etc… It’s really celebrated in the Rush fandom world as the best copy to have out there. Hope to see why after a few more listens, but this album was never a huge album for me. Still fun. I’m such a nerdy Rush fan, that visiting the latest albums that weren’t among my favorites is still a smashing good time.
Love their big, top 20 anthems but just never moved them to the top of my favorites for some reason.
I am still revisiting music from my youth and discovering that my tastes have changes along with the quality of my music reproduction kit. Maybe I’ll take another listen to the Rush catalog.
Having Roon, Qobuz and Tidal subscriptions for a couple of years now, has really allowed me to expand my music horizons - both behind me (older music) and in front of me (newer music).
I have become a big fan of Muddy after purchasing this SACD. I really like his style on this recording; and yes, the quality of production is very good.
