PristineAudio

The full set of twenty recordings can now be sampled here. They are also available to download as MP3 or FLAC files, or as mail-order CDs.

I'm pleased to say I've put together a selection of twenty tracks, ten of which were acoustic recordings, using this new technique, which should be available from our website tomorrow. I've done a few further minor tweaks to the tracks linked to on this thread and expect to have a full selection of samples available to listen to online shortly. The following notes are from our own forum, written for those who've not heard the items posted here: I've just completed work on a series of early recordings by Louis Armstrong for release tomorrow which see the first outing of a new 'variant' of the XR remastering process, tailored particularly for acoustic 78rpm recordings. By using a specially adapted 'double pass' XR approach I've been able to get much closer to the cleaner finished sound I want using equalisation alone, before bringing in digital noise reduction, whilst simultaneously tackling the problems of horn resonances and very uneven tonal response. Where noise is a huge problem, as on acoustic recordings, this is a real step forward - it allows much better preservation of the musical signal and reduces the risk of producing audible digital noise artefacts in the finished recording. What's been particularly fascinating about the Armstrong tracks is the realisation that, thanks to the sheer energy and harmonic richness of the brass instruments used, there's much, much more on some of these recordings than one might have expected to find. Normally we see acoustic recordings petering out somewhere between 3500 and 4500Hz, yet in occasional instances of particularly high notes I've detected harmonics right up to 19kHz. The achievement of the new aspects of XR used for this restoration is to preserve these high harmonics much more effectively than before. Sadly they do generally only exist in the really high-energy instruments when they're playing loudly - we're not suddenly going to unearth CD quality from acoustic horn recordings - but the fact that they're not only possible but clearly audible does suggest that a lot of traditional equalisation of acoustic recordings may have been throwing valuable music content away. It's been an interesting week!

Some of these acoustics are quite incredible in some ways. The sheer energy of the cornet on Armstrong's 1925 recording The St. Louis Blues, with Bessie Smith, managed to cut harmonics right up to 15kHz - indeed I can see traces heading up towards 18 or 19kHz. Although of little real sonic use at this extreme end (they're pretty faint) it's something that wouldn't be seen in commercial electrical recordings for a further 20 years. It's been a real eye-opener for me! It's hard work keeping some of this fine detail in when dealing with a hissy recording like this but, allowing for a slightly higher noise floor than I'd usually contemplate, I think it's another recording which has come out remarkably well. More details in due course...

Thanks for the feedback - I'm delighted to hear this kind of thing from the experts! What you're hearing is literally the first results of a quite radical new remastering technique which has come directly from working on this material. I've found it to be equally as effective on a variety of early Armstrong recordings, going right back to his very first outings in the studio. Take a listen to this short solo from Copenhagen, recorded acoustically in October 1924 by Fletcher Henderson & his Orchestra - you can hear why I'm so excited about this! short solo clip from Copenhagen, rec. 1924 There's a little more work to do on the overall remastering of this track, but hopefully nothing that'll change the tone of that horn!

This is something I'm currently working on for release - remastering a CD's-worth of early Armstrong recordings mainly from the 1920's. This particular track came out far better than I had any right to expect, especially when one considers that it was an acoustic (i.e. pre-microphone) recording. Made in New York on 8th January 1925, it was billed as Eva Taylor accompanied by Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Louis Armstrong (cornet), Charlie Irvis (trombone), Sidney Bechet (soprano sax), Clarence Williams (piano), Narcisse 'Buddy' Christian (banjo). The final minute is magic, as Armstrong lets rip and Bechet raises his game to give as good as he gets. As for the sound quality - well I think it's one of the best acoustic remasters I've heard (let alone achieved myself), but I'd welcome your comments here too. It's a 256kbps MP3 file encoded in stereo for compatibility (it is of course a straight mono recording), so you should get a very good idea of the quality of the master: Cake Walking Baby From Home, 1925

Interesting that Gershwin's first recording of his Rhapsody in Blue, made in June 1924 (soon after the concert première), sounds far more 'jazzy' than perhaps we've come to expect. The sound is of course acoustic, but pretty amazing for all that - here's a clip, featuring some of Gershwin's "improvising" style: Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin soloing It's been claimed by the Classical musicians, but on this hearing, is it jazz? Apparently as he was writing it (and passing it a page at a time to Grofé for orchestration) there were chunks "missing" for his improvisation, with the instruction to the orchestra to pick up again on his nod. The players here are the Paul Whiteman Concert Orchestra, for whom the parts were originally written. The full 9'16" recording is a download only release (FLAC or MP3) at Pristine Classical.

Yes, that is correct. What you're doing is importing a copy of a recording where the original is in the public domain in just about every country in the world except the USA, and hence can be sold without applying for licensing from the original (but now expired outside of the US) copyright holder. If you look at the market for historic Classical music recordings following the court case between Naxos and Capitol (EMI) a few years ago, you'll find collectors buying CDs from the likes of Amazon and specialist record stores in Canada, the UK, Japan, Germany etc. by post or over the Internet and getting them shipped to the States - after Naxos removed their historic stock from the shelves of US stores. You'll also find discs from the record company Music and Arts Programs of America (based in LA and successfully operating for over 25 years) which state on the disc cover that they're not for sale in the USA - this doesn't stop them from being reviewed in US magazines, and from US collectors ordering them from outside of the country. Yes, it's madness (legal madness!), but that's music copyright laws for you, all being gradually ratcheted up (if the major record companies get their way) to preserve income from The Beatles et al. So exportation from France is effectively what we're doing with these downloads - though if you're in any doubt about this particular system of delivery you can of course order CDs instead.

What is interesting to me as someone who's done a huge amount of live and broadcast sound mixing in the past is hearing the sound balance coalesce during the first number. At the very opening of the concert it all sounds pretty mediocre and out of focus, but within three minutes it's been gradually tweaked and refined until it's actually very good. Thereafter it does continue to improve very slightly, I believe, though it's much less noticeable. I can only conclude that there was little or no opportunity to set up levels and so forth in rehearsal such a way as to be able to carry on with exactly the same settings in the concert itself. I'm guessing there'd be about 6 mics or so in total, with live concert-hall sound to worry about (for announcements, violin solos and vocals) as well as the recorded sound, so not necessarily that simple with the technology of the day...

The takes came to me with the following e-mailed notes from the collector: "I also have some rare and wonderful live performances by the Ellington band that could make a third CD. Twelve of these are tracks recorded at Fargo, North Dakota on November 7, 1940 by early sound wizard Jack Tower. The sound is simply astonishing: here is the famous Jimmy Blanton-Ben Webster band in high fidelity! But, there is surface crackle and the discs could use some of your help (wink, wink). Selections are: Ko-Ko Pussy Willow Slap Happy Sepia Panorama The Shiek of Araby Chatterbox Across the Tracks Blues Rockin' in Rhythm Stardust St. Louis Blues (vocal: Ivie Anderson) Warm Valley As addenda to this CD, you might want to consider four of the rarest live Ellington tracks of th 1940s. These were privately recorded, and not terribly well, on November 10, 1946. The attraction? They are the only known recorded performances of the Ellington band with Django Reinhardt on guitar! Improvisation on Tiger Rag Blues Improvisation No. 2 (Django Reinhardt, guitar solo) Honeysuckle Rose" ...and in a second e-mail... "As fillers on the extra Ellington disc I'm sending you, I thought it would be a neat idea to include three long-lost takes of Ellington clasics. One is the original recording of his theme song, "Take the 'A' Train," made exactly one month before the famous commercial recording. Ray Nance plays an entirely different trumpet solo, which leads one to wonder how this would have impacted its reception had it been in fact released commercially. The second is "Chelsea Bridge." Billy Strayhorn wrote this as a showpiece for Ellington's brilliant young bassist, Jimmy Blanton, but by the time it was recorded commercially in December 1941, Blanton had to leave the band due to his illness from tuberculosis. Thirty-six years ago, however, a short-lived series of French RCA LPs included a take of "Chelsea Bridge" recorded on September 17, 1941 with Blanton. The same session also produced a big-band version of "C-Jam Blues" featuring Nance on violin, Rex Stewart, Ben Webster, Tricky Sam Nanton and, of course, Blanton. The sound quality of all three is a little rough but, since these were commercial recordings and not junky amateur tapes, I'm positive that you could make them sound much better than they are." If this sheds any further light do let me know - the previous details are as copied from the notes that came with the disc I was sent. As you're aware, I'm not an Ellington expert, yet...

A point worth making here on the copyrights held by authors: There are standard contracts in place to pay authors or their estates for the use of music written by them. If you wish to release an album with a track written by composer X, whoever is playing it, you submit your details to the relative collection agency and a license is automatically granted, with the author getting 8% of wholesale sales revenue on a pro-rata basis. By contrast, if you wish to release a recording owned by record company X you have to negotiate directly with them and they can charge you whatever they like, or refuse point blank to license the music. In the case of rare classical orchestral recordings this can often be prohibitively expensive. I know of a British composer in his 80s who would love to have recordings of his compositions made for radio broadcasts in the 60s, 70s and 80s put into the commercial sphere. We know they'd sell in very small numbers as he's pretty obscure, despite my best efforts to get some of his older music out. The likelihood is that an orchestra would demand something in the region of $30-40k in payment for the rights to issue these recordings, a sum which would never be recouped - he'd be very lucky to make a fiftieth of that. Likewise other rarely performed music has had to stay in the vaults awaiting the passing of 50 years simply before it can be heard. The BBC has a huge number of recordings that cannot even be broadcast because their orchestral contracts specified no more than two outings without new payment negotiations. The idea that any of this as it stands is in the service of either the musicians or the public is a joke - to extend it in order to further line the pockets of 3 or 4 record companies is madness.

Sorry this thread has all got sidetracked over issues of spam or otherwise. That's not my intention and, as I've said, if you'd rather I didn't mention anything we release here, I'll go away and let someone else perhaps make note of it. Could I just, for a moment, say a few words as a music-lover (and occasional mediocre pianist), please? I've spent this evening listening to this recording as a listener, not as a sound restorer (a week or two of listening closely to flaws and trying to fix them isn't really that wonderful, I promise) or as someone with a vested interest in sales. So what I'm writing is from the heart. I'd not really figured big band jazz before now. I have just about everything Miles Davis has ever issued up until 1975. I have a decent collection of small-group jazz from the be-bop era onwards. But this stuff had largely passed me by until this week. This was the week that I finally 'got' it, thanks to this recording. To hear something as phenomenally good, so ridiculously good as this, and sounding as clear and alive as this now does has to be a part of it I'm afraid, has tripped the switch and turned the lights on for me. And that is what it's about for me - that's why I quit a well-paid job at the BBC in London to work in relative poverty in an obscure corner of a foreign country where I could afford to do so - to discover and revel in music like this, and to be able to do something small but (I hope) important to make it happen for others, is such a privilege and a joy. So my apologies if I may have appeared a little emotional earlier in this thread...

With regard to Duke Ellington, there are a couple more recordings in the pipeline - the 1946 Carnegie Hall concert (also on Prestige, and similarly capable of much improvement in sound quality), and a 'rarities' issue which should contain the following: Fargo, North Dakota, November 7 1940 11 tracks Hollywood, January 15, 1941 Take The 'A' Train - original unissued recording Hollywood, 17 September 1941: Chelsea Bridge - unissued take with Blanton on bass "C" Jam Blues - unissued full-band version Chicago, November 10 1946: Improvisation on Tiger Rag Blues Improvisation No. 2 (Reinhardt) Honeysuckle Rose These four featuring Django Reinhardt on guitar. I'm not yet sure which will come first - work on both is underway, but at one release a week and a lot of classical and blues fans to keep happy too it may be a little while yet...

I don't believe I've ever received one from you, Allen - there was a PM which I'm sorry I didn't get around to replying to, but never an e-mail. To be totally honest, because I run an online business and don't have anyone to deal with e-mails for me, if I did answer in full every last e-mail I got I would genuinely never get any work done, though I do try to answer as many as I possibly can, if at times briefly. Sorry to be such a bore, but I regularly work from perhaps 6 or 7 in the morning until well into the evening, 6 or 7 days a week - there simply aren't enough hours in the day to attend to absolutely everything! My list of urgent "to-do's" never seems to get any shorter! So let me apologise for not responding to your PM - by the time I got it the question you'd asked was out of date as the clip you'd referred to on our website had been and gone. In answer to the question you posed, the recording you referred to is only available to subscribers... Right now all our sales are online downloads or mail order only (from France). Thanks to US copyright laws this isn't likely to change in the Jazz realm in the near future, I'm afraid.

Thank you - I'd like to have the time to contribute more but a lot of the restoration and remastering work is intensive, hands-on stuff! I'm also running a business and website more or less single-handedly (except for CD manufacture and distribution and some aspects of the book-keeping) so it's hard to keep up with everything. I do check in to a number of forums as regularly as I can though...

I've made a modest donation to the board - my apologies for not realising this was a requirement and if this is the condition for letting people know about these releases I won't bother in future as it's not really worth the time and effort: So far we've sold a grand total of six copies of this recording, none of which appears to be connected to my posting on this forum. I just thought you'd all be interested to hear about the music - if not, let me know and I'll post elsewhere.