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Louis Armstrong: Complete Okeh, Columbia, and Victor 1925-1933


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Since I always put these Satchmo sides down on the list for various reasons, I may go for it this time ....

I already have all this stuff, but Mike and anyone else who doesn't have these recordings, don't hesitate! "Cornet Chop Suey," "Potato Head Blues," "West End Blues," "Weather Bird," "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues," the alternate take of "That's My Home" - this is some of the most magnificent music ever recorded. If you don't have it, get it.

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sounds good to me (assuming it's not a blatand lie):

•Contains the best sound ever, having been remastered by Sony’s multi Grammy-winning engineer, Mark Wilder, in conjunction with producer Michael Brooks.

•New essay by Ricky Riccardi, Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House & Museum.

http://www.popmarket.com/louis-armstrong-the-okeh-columbia-rca-victor-recordings-1925-1933/details/27732990

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1) the best sound to me is still that old gatefold LP; can't remember the exact name -

2) we'll know if it's a new remaster by listening to Weatherbird; in the last issue, it had an almost bizarrely obvious CEDAR glitch near the beginning, a real obvious piece of distortion.

Edited by AllenLowe
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sounds good to me (assuming it's not a blatand lie):

•Contains the best sound ever, having been remastered by Sony’s multi Grammy-winning engineer, Mark Wilder, in conjunction with producer Michael Brooks.

•New essay by Ricky Riccardi, Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House & Museum.

http://www.popmarket.com/louis-armstrong-the-okeh-columbia-rca-victor-recordings-1925-1933/details/27732990

Also, consider the possibility that the remastering comment on the site for the Armstrong set refers to that done for the 4 cd Hot Fives and Sevens boxed set released by Sony 10+ years ago. It wouldn't be the first time that a record company was manipulative in its use of language in order to increase sales of its product.

Maybe board member Ricky Riccardi would have some information to share on this topic since he penned the new liner notes?

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sounds good to me (assuming it's not a blatand lie):

•Contains the best sound ever, having been remastered by Sony’s multi Grammy-winning engineer, Mark Wilder, in conjunction with producer Michael Brooks.

•New essay by Ricky Riccardi, Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House & Museum.

http://www.popmarket.com/louis-armstrong-the-okeh-columbia-rca-victor-recordings-1925-1933/details/27732990

Also, consider the possibility that the remastering comment on the site for the Armstrong set refers to that done for the 4 cd Hot Fives and Sevens boxed set released by Sony 10+ years ago. It wouldn't be the first time that a record company was manipulative in its use of language in order to increase sales of its product.

That would be good enough if they actually re-did the rest of the box!

And yes, would be nice if Ricky could chime in if he knows more!

2) we'll know if it's a new remaster by listening to Weatherbird; in the last issue, it had an almost bizarrely obvious CEDAR glitch near the beginning, a real obvious piece of distortion.

On the Sony Hot Fives/Sevens set?

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actually, Ricky has told me that there would be no new mastering done for this.

I'm told none of these reissues have been remastered, they've just repackaged the earlier issues.

But A Drum is a Woman and Bal Masque were never issued in the US. So either the mastering was taken from the previous French issues or they were remastered.

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It wouldn't be the first time that a record company was manipulative in its use of language in order to increase sales of its product.

I would assume more cock-up than conspiracy. My dealings with Popmarket suggest to me that its either a very incompetent outfit or a seriously understaffed one.

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Here I am! Sorry for taking two months to notice this thread. I'm happy to answer some questions, though sadly, even I don't have the concrete answers because I wrote the liners without even listening to the set! All they wanted was a general essay about how important this music is (a thousand words, though a million couldn't do it full justice) so I wrote one without listening. But based on my conversations with Sony, it does seem like they simply went back to all the discs they put out in the 80s and 90s and just compiled them for this set--including the original mastering. Thus, some of the earlier discs have 16-tracks (about 45 minutes of music) while some of the later ones push past 70 minutes. Also, there's some weird omissions/additions. For example, when Sony originally put the disc, "Stardust," covering the final 1931-1932 OKeh big band tracks, they didn't include an alternate of "Wrap Your Troubles in Drams" (not sure if it was even discovered yet). Well, good news, it's included now! But strangely, the box does not include the alternates for "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" or "Rockin' Chair." I don't know why they'd change up the original discs to include "Wrap" and not the others, especially when they already released the alt of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" on the Complete Hot Fives box from 2000.

So, will this set impress the discographical completist or the hardcore Armstrong nut that already has this material ten times over? Doubtful. Will the 80s and 90s remastering impress the audiophiles out there? Probably not. But it's nice to have all these tracks in one set--finally--all killer, no filler and at a good price. (Note: this paragraph is not included in my liners. Shhhh...don't tell Sony!) Anyway, between this and Universal's "Complete Satchmo at Symphony Hall" coming out within weeks of each other, Pops will be back in the spotlight again in October and that's always cause for celebration. S'all for now!

Yours in Pops,

Ricky Riccardi

What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years

Archivist, Louis Armstrong House Museum

dippermouth.blogspot.com

P.S. Because I rarely get to check the forums any more, if anyone has an Louis-related questions, comments, answers, shoot me an e-mail at dippermouth@msn.com, find me on Facebook or visit me at the Louis Armstrong House Museum!

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One more thing: I have a PDF of the layout of the booklet. Here's the production/mastering credits:

"Box Set Produced by Michael Brooks (Discs 1-8) and Orrin Keepnews (Discs 9-10)

Sonic Restoration: Harry Coster

Digital Mastering: Darcy Proper, Sony Music Studios, NY

Original 78s from the collections of Bob Altshuler, Michael Brooks, Harry Coster and John R. T. Davies."

This is actually interesting. I don't know Darcy personally but I know she's done some of the more recent Armstrong Sony releases (Andreas Meyer thinks she's terrific). I just grabbed the original Sony discs from the 90s off my shelves and they're a hodgepodge. For "Stardust, " Digital Engineering and Restoration By Mark Wilder. For Vol. 7 "You're Driving Me Crazy," Archival restoration and remastering by Larry Keyes. I won't go through every one but now it does look like it's possible that Darcy might have given them a fresh remaster. Again, the track lists for each disc are identical to the originals which gives me pause, I 'spose it's possible. The set comes out at the end of October and I get a few copies in advance. Once I listen, I'll post my opinions (I don't work for Sony so I'll be honest) and maybe I'll do some A/B stuff on my blog. Stay tuned....

Yours in Pops,

Ricky

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One more thing: I have a PDF of the layout of the booklet. Here's the production/mastering credits:

"Box Set Produced by Michael Brooks (Discs 1-8) and Orrin Keepnews (Discs 9-10)

Sonic Restoration: Harry Coster

Digital Mastering: Darcy Proper, Sony Music Studios, NY

Original 78s from the collections of Bob Altshuler, Michael Brooks, Harry Coster and John R. T. Davies."

This is actually interesting. I don't know Darcy personally but I know she's done some of the more recent Armstrong Sony releases (Andreas Meyer thinks she's terrific). I just grabbed the original Sony discs from the 90s off my shelves and they're a hodgepodge. For "Stardust, " Digital Engineering and Restoration By Mark Wilder. For Vol. 7 "You're Driving Me Crazy," Archival restoration and remastering by Larry Keyes. I won't go through every one but now it does look like it's possible that Darcy might have given them a fresh remaster. Again, the track lists for each disc are identical to the originals which gives me pause, I 'spose it's possible. The set comes out at the end of October and I get a few copies in advance. Once I listen, I'll post my opinions (I don't work for Sony so I'll be honest) and maybe I'll do some A/B stuff on my blog. Stay tuned....

Yours in Pops,

Ricky

The transfers for the big Sony Armstrong box that was released in 2000 were done by Steve Berkowitz, Michael Brooks, Ken Robertson and Phil Schaap and the mastering was done by Seth Foster, Ken Robertson, Tom "Curly" Ruff, Phil Schaap and Mark Wilder. There's no mention of Harry Coster and Darcy Proper, so I guess the upcoming box was newly transferred and remastered. Would it be possible for you to compare a few tracks from both boxes, once you have received the new one?

Edited by J.A.W.
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Is everybody (Allen and J.A.W.) talking of the Sony Hot Fives and Hot Sevens set?

Wasn't that big, just four discs ...

Big or not, you guessed it.

well, as I mentioned before - go right to Weatherbird. On the last box there's CEDAR distortion right near the beginning.

Good suggestion.

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