Favorite Jazz Recordings...

[jambirn]

Hey, I'm just wondering what perfectly-recorded jazz albums you guys love to death. I'm lately blown away by the sound of Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth." I could swear Eric Dolphy and Freddie Hubbard were in my car with me when I put it on a few days ago. My kind of sound.
It's great joy being able to hear rich overtones on ride cymbals, kaleidoscopically colorful wind sounds, etc.
So list 'em here for me!

Fondly,
Jim

[A440]

Lol...i'll be the first to say it

Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis

[Kirk D]

I'm lately blown away by the sound of Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth."

let me guess... engineered by Rudy Van Gelder?

It's utterly amazing (and frustrating) that he engineered some of the most incredible studio performances ever recorded, yet there is so little information about recording techniques and equipment he used in the sixties for Blue Note, Impulse!, Prestige, Riverside, etc.

Of course the musicians are responsible for 95% of the end result, but still... he made huge advances in the recording of jazz and it would be nice if it was documented sometime.

KD

[SaxJordan]

No way I could ever pick a single favorite. One I was just listening to that I love to death is Joe Henderson Live In Japan. The atmosphere is so electric, you can feel every member of the audience sitting there with their senses heightened, soaking up every note. Clinking of glasses in a room full of japanese people holding their breaths is just something you could never recreate in the studio. There's something special about the communication between an artist and the audience and this album captures that essence like nothing else. I love all of the great jazz recordings, but nothing comes close to live jazz in my book. The feeling of Jazz is the feeling of live Jazz...
...preparing to get flamed for my blasphemy

[nickolo]

Yeah!!!!! kind of blue is simply brilliant.Fantastic performance and recording.Warm,crisp and mindblowing!!1957!!!i think too!
Bill Evans-Explorations
Miles Davis-In a silent way
Milt Jackson sextet-invitation
Coltrane-Crescent and loads of the impulse recordings..
Loads of ECM recordings.Fantastic label,artists etc..

On a slightly different note,it would be cool if some details on the great engineer,Rudy Van-Gelder would be posted....anyone???

BTW great post!!

[Corran]

I have one of the umpteenth re-masters or whatever of the Kind of Blue album. I think the upright bass in it sounds like absolute trash...it's like nothing was recorded above about 80hz. Is it just the remaster or is that what they all sound like?? I don't like it, but the rest of the instruments are fine.

[Kirk D]

Originally Posted by nickolo

Yeah!!!!! kind of blue is simply brilliant.Fantastic performance and recording.Warm,crisp and mindblowing!!1957!!!i think too!

make sure you have a corrected edition!!

Columbia’s recording policy at that time was to run two tape machines simultaneously, a master and a safety. At the March 2 sessions, the master machine was running slow, so that when the tapes were played back at the correct speed, the music was slightly faster — sharper — than the April 6 session. Over the years, many musicians have noticed that the first side of Kind of Blue — “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” and “Blue in Green” — is about a quarter-tone sharp, and wondered what Miles could have had in mind. According to Teo Macero, the speed change was not intentional, and it is corrected here for the first time, using the safety tapes. (Amy Herot, liner note to Kind of Blue, MasterSound Edition, Columbia CK 64403, 1992)

[Svens]

Its not really acoustic jazz....but "Paint the World" by the Chick Coreas Electric band 2 sounds great in my ears. Lots of room on the drumsound, love it...

[nickolo]

Thanks!I know about that.To be honest over the years with moving etc...i must have bought kind of blue about 6 times and used to have a vinyl copy too.Even the dodgy uncorrected version stands as a copy of a moment when great music was made..I can understand some finding the bass sounding a bit weird but it is what it is and i find it all stunning and it does not bother me as.In context and often you have[folk] recordings up to the mid 60s where the bass has that muddy,stoggy sound!With the amazing explosion in music and creativity as well as recording technology,these records were put down in a few hours or a couple of days at most..I also imagine when kind of blue was made the record cutting technology had its limits or whatever....Its all good!Sound great to me!!

[Mr. Liszt]

"Moonlight In Vermont" - Johnny Smith with guest Stan Getz

"Sweet And Lowdown: Motion Picture Soundtrack" - Especially the modern recordings featuring Howard Alden and Dick Hyman.

[Lee Knight]

Everybody Digs Bill Evans

Produced wonderfully by Orrin Keepnews of Riverside Records. Philly Joe Jones on drums. The soundstage is awesome. No weird panning that sometimes occured in the late 50's / early 60's. Everything sounds as it should with creative use of ambiance on the drums. Very clever recording and amazing music.

[nickolo]

Yes Lee 'everybody digs bill evans'!Love it!! But im quite an Evans fan anyway!

[nickolo]

I was listening to an interview with Harold Budd on radio a few months back and he was asked what made him get really into doing music etc..He said ''on a road trip and this creamy dream-like Stan Gets track was playing in the car''..
I have liked the Getz i have heard but have yet to really get familiar.Would anyone recommend a Getz record for me to start with.???
Recently been enjoying 'Mulligan meets Monk' on riverside..

[unit7]

Originally Posted by A440

Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis

1+

[DSD_Mastering]

Frank Laico will be speaking at our AES meeting next week. He did some of my favorites, like Bitches Brew, Getz, Evans, Blakey and Earl Klugh!

Regards,
Bruce

[vernier]

Shelly Mann

Stan Getz

Dave Brubeck Quartet

Sinatra ..his 50's swing stuff
'

[TomD]

Gil Evans--Into the Hot, Out of the Cool, Svengali.... some of the best writing and arranging you'll ever hear!

[docbop]

The stuff Ed Michel produced like the classic Impulse years.

I got to meet Ed back in the late 70's and what a master of editing. With the time limitations of vinyl to take LONG jam/takes and masterfully edit them down to LP size tracks. His recordings really made your feel like you were at the sessions.

[lowswing]

there are many many great sounding jazz albums
one less famous I always come back to is
Joe Henderson's "So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles)"
engineered by Jim Anderson which is great engineer/mixer

[GYMusic]

Hard to beat...

1959 - Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out - Fred Plaut/engineer

[kkll00b]

See if you can find a copy of "Misty" recorded by the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio on Three Blind Mice Records. It's a Japanese import and it blows me away. I got the vinyl back in the in the mid '70s and then got my hands on a CD several years ago. Now I see it's been released in SACD.

The trio has other releases, but Misty is my fave.

Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Misty - 180 Gram Vinyl LP

TSUYOSHI YAMAMOTO - MISTY - JAZZ at WorldsRecords.com

[RCM - Ronan]

John Coltrane: A Love Supreme.

Perfect composition.
Perfect Performance.
Perfect Sound.

[DSD_Mastering]

Originally Posted by kkll00b

See if you can find a copy of "Misty" recorded by the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio on Three Blind Mice Records. It's a Japanese import and it blows me away. I got the vinyl back in the in the mid '70s and then got my hands on a CD several years ago. Now I see it's been released in SACD.

The best one is the "Autum in Seattle" with K2 mastering

Regards,
Bruce

[big country]

Herbie

[duckyboard]

i love 'blues and the abstract truth'

hank mobley - soul station
miles davis quintet - miles smiles
steve lehman quintet - on meaning
trevor dunns trio convulsant - sister phantom owl fish (this is some wild stuff)
vijay iyer - reimagining
woody shaw - rosewood

[donsimpson]

+1 billion for Kind of Blue

Also:

Jon-Luc Ponty - Imaginary Voyage
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Al Di Meola, John Mclaughlin and Paco Delucia - Friday Night In San Francisco
Slim Ritchie - Jassgrass (this one is really hard to find)

[Omicron_9]

Originally Posted by nickolo

I was listening to an interview with Harold Budd on radio a few months back and he was asked what made him get really into doing music etc..He said ''on a road trip and this creamy dream-like Stan Gets track was playing in the car''..
I have liked the Getz i have heard but have yet to really get familiar.Would anyone recommend a Getz record for me to start with.???
Recently been enjoying 'Mulligan meets Monk' on riverside..

"Getz/Gilberto" is a classic. Another long-time fave is "Stan Getz & Bill Evans."

There are so many....

And in the "not Stan Getz" category of favorite jazz records: any of the ECM albums of Peter Erskine's trio featuring John Taylor on piano. Just stunning.

-0.9

[Toasterboy]

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

It's so powerful, it rocks.

[Mafiacondon]

cookin and relaxin - Miles Davis

[bcgood]

Dave Brubeck -- Time Out