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Post by bassman on Aug 15, 2022 12:56:55 GMT
On July 2 and July 9, 1954, the AKG C-12 condenser microphone had its first studio appearance on a jazz date. Yes, it was one microphone, suspended above a group of five musicians - three saxes, bass, and drums. The producer was Lester Koenig, and the recording engineer (though one might immediately think of Roy DuNann) was John Palladino. The result is still breathtaking. Just listen to the drum set - cymbals, brushes, and that bass drum! And listen to Monty Budwig's bass! Not the slightest trace of boom boom. The saxes recorded just as beautifully. Was it magic? The recording room was primitive, by any modern standards. But the equipment seems to have served its purpose, as is proved by dozens of Contemporary sessions done within a period of six or seven years, mostly with Roy DuNann as sound engineer. By 1956, they were using three AKG-12s, but they returned to two for one of the best recorded LPs ever (Sonny Rollins' Way Out West, March 1957). So here is one track from the July 9, 1954 session, with Lennie Niehaus alto, Jack Montrose tenor, Bob Gordon baritone, Monty Budwig bass, and Shelly Manne drums. - Sounds best when connected to your system. 
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Post by Doom Girl on Aug 15, 2022 15:22:29 GMT
“…when I look for music of this kind I usually go to the Lennie Niehaus sessions on Contemporary.” bassman, Jan 9, 2022 Saturday Listening
“…Niehaus et al. - a glorious sound of the three sax voices together - alto, tenor and baritone - and fine arrangements too.” dg, Jan 9, 2022 Saturday Listening
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Post by bassman on Aug 15, 2022 18:03:06 GMT
Duke Ellington: The 1932 band in TRUE STEREO! 1932? True stereo? Are you kidding? If you don't like early Ellington, this is not for you. If you do, it could be a revelation. As early as 1929, RCA Victor in the US, and HMV in England were recording in stereo. Precisely speaking: It had become common practice to use two microphones to pick up the sound and two cutting tables to record it. This resulted in records which, when taken individually, are perfectly ordinary monaural, but when paired with their 'mates' would - in theory - yield spectacular stereo sound.
The question is: Did they know they were recording in stereo? They may have been aware of this, but how could two discs be rigged up for stereo playback in those pre-tape days? Perhaps it was just the basic need for a safety master, and it also meant having two different balances for each take from which to choose.
Anyway, it took until 1984 before someone finally got hold of such a pair of records, synchronized them, and heard the stereo. The result can be heard on "Reflections in Ellington" (EVERYBODYS EV-3005 - parts of Side A):
The liner notes include diagrams of the probable set-up (placement of instruments) for both recording dates. To me, the sound is most remarkable, especially if you listen through headphone.
EDIT: Listen here! (Wrong record cover shown in video)
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Post by Doom Girl on Aug 16, 2022 14:02:21 GMT
Duke Ellington: The 1932 band in TRUE STEREO! ............... The liner notes include diagrams of the probable set-up (placement of instruments) for both recording dates. To me, the sound is most remarkable, especially if you listen through headphone.
EDIT: Listen here! (Wrong record cover shown in video)...... Interesting effect on this historic recording. Thanks for sharing... It is also striking, to me, the progress Ellington made in his music as the years went on. A favorite of mine is the January 1943 Carnegie Hall Concert, which is light years ahead in sophistication. I have the concert(s) as the 3 record Prestige set released in 1977, a beautiful package with extensive notes by Leonard Feather, who was actually working with Ellington at the time. The concert had the premier performance of "Black, Brown and Beige." |
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Post by bassman on Aug 16, 2022 14:38:00 GMT
Duke Ellington: The 1932 band in TRUE STEREO! ............... The liner notes include diagrams of the probable set-up (placement of instruments) for both recording dates. To me, the sound is most remarkable, especially if you listen through headphone.
EDIT: Listen here! (Wrong record cover shown in video)...... Interesting effect on this historic recording. Thanks for sharing... It is also striking, to me, the progress Ellington made in his music as the years went on. A favorite of mine is the January 1943 Carnegie Hall Concert, which is light years ahead in sophistication. I have the concert(s) as the 3 record Prestige set released in 1977, a beautiful package with extensive notes by Leonard Feather, who was actually working with Ellington at the time. The concert had the premier performance of "Black, Brown and Beige." The turning point was 1939, when Duke added Jimmy Blanton, Ben Webster, and Billy Strayhorn to his band. Best collection, in fantastic sound: "Ko-Ko" (Dreyfus). The "Complete Blanton-Webster..." ("Never No Lament") by RCA, alas, is sonically inferior. Virtually unlistenable. |
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Post by bassman on Aug 22, 2022 14:19:02 GMT
I think this is essential reading for anyone honestly interested in audio technology. (And aren't we all smart asses in this field?) CAUTION: Trying to read from beginning to end might result in nausea! Select chapters according to your interest, one at a time. Avoid jumping to conclusions.
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Post by bassman on Dec 29, 2022 18:51:25 GMT
Multiple track jazz recordings were tried time and again, sometimes less convincingly (Jimmy Giuffre), sometimes to stunning effect (Dizzy Gillespie & The Double Six of Paris). "Zoot Sims Plays Four Altos", a record from 1957 hitherto unknown to me, must be reckoned among the more successful attempts, to say the least. Pianist/arranger George Handy writes in his liner notes that
" [ ... ] when the idea did come to me it came to me in my sleep. I had been dreaming of four Zoot Sims, all playing alto saxophone, all ad-libbing, all precision. [ ... ] The first date was going to be simple. I took seven standard harmonic movements and wrote melodies to them all. These seven arrangements were very simple indeed and were played by Zoot Sims (alto saxophone), Knobby Totah (bass), and Nick Stabulas (drums), and myself on piano. [ ... ] The next job was to be a simple one, so I thought. It was to take down on manuscript paper every note that Zoot played at the first session. But I found myself faced with more than notes. There were slurs, slides, slitherings, spacious soarings, false notes, blue notes, whisperings of notes, non-existent notes, grace notes, millions of pieces of notes - Zoot Sims' notes [ ... ] but having Zoot Sims again as the further performer in quadruplicate, the chances for similarity and identity would be enhanced by one hundred percent [ ... ] "
And they were. Here is the result, obviously taken from "vintage" vinyl, but amazing nonetheless. |
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Post by dmgrl on Apr 13, 2023 16:58:14 GMT
Here are a few quotes from THE NATION (April 17/24 Issue), from an article titled THE END OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS by Ethan Iverson - worth reading...
“….Consider as urbane a product as the 1959 album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, generally held to be a flawless masterpiece. The luminous sidemen on Kind of Blue—Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb—were paid union scale for each of the two sessions; since Cobb was a drummer, they tossed him a few extra bucks for cartage. A receipt for the second session lists Cobb’s earnings that day as $66.67..…”
“….The coffee shop next to my laundromat in Brooklyn uses jazz for its background music. All my friends and associates know that I am good in a “blindfold test”—in other words, I can recognize jazz albums and personnel from a cold start without being given any information. But in this coffee shop, I can’t recognize the jazz. It is the work of anonymous Scandinavian musicians playing in a deliberately bland style for Spotify playlists, which the streaming giant uses to shave even more pennies from the already tiny checks they send to serious artists. According to the music-recognition app Shazam, the faceless rendition of “Georgia on My Mind” I heard yesterday by the Nouveau Jazz Trio has been streamed millions of times, possibly thanks to its presence on Spotify playlists like “Jazz for Study” and “Lazy Jazz Cat.” When I consider the Nouveau Jazz Trio, I feel the same shiver down my spine that writers feel when they consider ChatGPT….”
“…As a counterweight to streaming, the LP has enjoyed an amazing resurgence. Last year, some 43.5 million LPs were sold in America. When I switched from LP to CD in the late ’80s, I thought for sure that was that. But people like buying vinyl—they like the size, they like the sound, they like taking care of something that degrades. It’s not a moral choice, but a fun one. For all my solo releases in the past decade, the first question from my fans on the socials is always the same: “Are you putting it out on vinyl?”….”
(“Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer, and writer who was a founding member of the Bad Plus. His latest recordings are on ECM and Blue Note.”)
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