michel devos

I only have the Moncur Select, and as I wrote above it is not a good remastering, despite the 24bits. The earlier Connoisseur CDs of "Some other stuff" and "Destination out" sound much better. Don't focus on the number of bits, it's irrelevant compared to all the factors that make a successful remastering: availablitity of the original master tapes, accuracy of the transfer from the analog tape machine to the mastering console, decisions by the engineer on tonal balance and correction and stereo spread, use of noise reduction systems, etc Thanks, Claude. I'd love more education on all this stuff. Any good books or journals on digital mastering, and/or modern recording considerations? I agree with you Claude, all these factors are more important that the bit rate...However, I'm surprised almost nobody mentions the quality (or lack of) of the DAC's used for the mastering. There are many good remastering jobs which are ruined by the graininess of the DACs, resulting in muddy bass sounds, distortion,lack of depth etc...just because of the bloody little low quality chips... Some years ago, the Yamaha OV 1 was fashionable in the mastering labs around here...ever cared to make an AB test between say a Yamaha OV1 and a DAR Sabre...?The DAR Sabre is kind of dinosaur (15 years old...) but the DAC's are very close to transparency, compared against more recent chips.At least, they do NOT degrade the signal

Jim, howdya like the sessions of Lem Winchester or Johnny Lytle with organ? "Tough Duff" with McDuff and Lem Winchester plus sax/drums is one of my favorite records of all time. Organ and Vibes are a match made in heaven. Plus they're two of the heaviest instruments in the world, so the must go together. The old Prestige catalog contains many gems of the genre...Unfortunately, I do not think they have been released in CD format. One of my all time favourite is still the Prestige 7395 "Lonely Avenue" featuring Freddie McCoy vibes with a small band of 6, a.o. Tate Houston tenorsax, Richard Harris trombone, James Thomas organ and Ray Lucas drms Superb music, beautiful players anf first rate sound by RVG...Now if someone would care to reissue these...

Yes, Dan, thank you...Sounds fantastic from reading your review and every comment on the board. Now where the hell can we get this LP, not to mention CD...? Frankly, being no masochist, what's the interest of diggin a piece from the vaults that most of us (I presume) won't ever be able to get a copy..?Of course there is always luck...or can you suggest a better way..?

I still have the original LP Good Move I remember buying for the daunting 'Ain't necessarily so'...Otherwise not familiar with the rest of Freddie's production ...Any comments about Mo Greens please'...?

Art Blakey, Erroll Garner, Jimmy Smith

No problem today (31st July) fro Brussels Belgium

I agree with Connoisseur, Jim and Joe...Would be very nice to hear your reading of Laura.The Master version by Jimmy is great, but check also the one on Groovin' at Small's Paradise

Simply Great...

I would go for Idle Moments, although Street of Dreams would come very close...I love grant's guitar sound ;unfortunately the material he plays lacks sometimes of substance. Agree with your taste for organ/vibes combination : one of my top favorite albums in this category is 'lonely Avenue' played by Freddie Mc Coy-vibes backed by a sextet including James Thomas-organ Prestige 7395.Ever heard that one?

About the 1981 Goldberg, I heard Gould has used 3 different pianos for this recording : he pretended he needed the subtle sound colour of each instrument to fit his playing in different parts of the work....Film director Bruno Monsaingeon took the greatest care to mask this by adjusting the shooting angles in function of the piano being played. Now keep this in mind next time you watch the video...he really IS an artist (I mean Monsaingeon!) Still I confirm I love this version...

Yeah...Very nice picture, and building...I f only we could squeeze some better music out of it...I'm not sure I heard one note of Larry, Don Patterson or DeFrancesco for quite a time on France Musique... Maybe they should read this forum..?

Check Amazon...This morning, there were still 2 copies left (DVD)

That is the main paradox with Gould : sounds like most people dislike his interpretation, but they are all fascinated...just like myself. Having said that, I really DO like his second version of the Goldberg, though my favourite one would also be Perahia's for the power and fluidity. If you have an opportunity to find Kempff's version, it is also very worthwile, although totally different from Gould's and Perahia's.

This question of how bass is produced from a Hammond player seems to be a hot subject as far back in 1965. In those times, it was taken for granted bass was played with the foot pedals, while chords came from the left hand and the main voice from the right... I started watching closely the few players that performed in Brussels and Paris and realized there were several ways to go...Actually, the left hand seemed to take the major part in the bass lines, with some rockbottom notes played on the pedals. To quote Jim Anderson in one of his audio threads :"Whatever it takes, provided the results are OK..."I agree with that view, being just a listener who does not play the Hammond...I can tell whenever I like the bass playing, be it from the lower keyboard or from the pedals, and indeed, Don Patterson is among my favourites, with Mc Duff and McGriff. I remember a small talk I had after a set with Lou Bennett : he was extremely good with the pedals and somewhat upset by other players who were 'cheatin' with the bass (no names mentioned of course..).He pretended he would practise even harder to master totally his pedal playing and be able to play a Conn organ.I asked what instrument that was and the answer was : you cannot cheat the bass with a Conn, you have to use your feet...Half an hour later, he went back on stage a played Round Midnight with an extended pedals solo just to show his words..., very, very impressive. What are your views, Soulstream and B3er about bass lines in modern Hammond playing? Where would you place Larry Goldings in that perspective..?Thanks for your ideas I

Aargh...good question but with no answer, except from the tuner who did the job.... I would expect in the '50 in a jazz club the tuning would be a plain octaves one : which isn't bad : I know places around here who require a tuner once a year, just as for the central heating system

try mar-sial so-lal that's it...

Was there any other jazz organist ever doing a whole record solo? I know of some single solo tracks on Don Patterson's LPs, but a whole album? What a challenge! And duos as well, I think she did it more often than all other organists, at least on record. Hi Mike, No doubt you know sweet baby Barbara Dennerlein : she made recently a solo cd recorded Live Try also Love Letters and B.D.Plays classics. She mainly tours Germany and Switzerland, sometimes playing church organ, notably in Luxembourg*-Dudelange (Claude..?)

Another female superstar for the contender of the wildest solo organ player would be delicious Barbbara Dennerlein...Jawöhl, she's sweet and powerfull, using sometimes both feet for the pedals She plays more and more church organ in Germany, Zwitserland and Luxemburg (Claude, watch this closely...)One of her albums is dedidated to solo work, recorded Live.Try also Love Letters and Barbara Dennerlein plays classics (jazz, I mean...) Real tough...

Don't forget Gil Mellé! Wasn't he the guy who hipped Alfred Lion to Rudy Van Gelder? I like the pictures of the old Hackensack studio in the booklet of the Herbie Nichols box set (the Blue Note slipcase edition). Looks pretty much like Ma 'n' Pa's living room. jazzhound Posted on Mar 11 2003, 09:44 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think it was the custom made tube console that accounts for the difference between your home recordings and Rudy's more than the room Jim. Rudy mentions it in the book. Possibly, Jazzhound, the tube circuitry applies a mellower, airier space quality to the sound, but then only to a limited extend...For sure, there MUST be something else that brings us that unusual mix of immediacy and subtle ambience in the sound. I have ordered the book from Amazon and really look forward going thru Rudy's pages. BTW, I remember reading inan old interview he mentioned several contiguous rooms (alcoves?) that could be opened or closed in function of the space he wanted : did you read this one?I think it is still somewhere on the Net if you check via google

I would go (for the living ones...) Keith Jarret Herbie Hancock Joanne Brackeen Dave Brubeck For the ones who left... Errol Garner Michel Petrucciani Bill Evans

I consider a Steinway "D" almost like a human being...Each one has its own personality, already present in his prime youth, when it is not even "played in". His character will develop with time, as the wood body and table get into their definitive, matured shape, when the hammers move totally free, when the felts have taken the hammer imprints and have the right density, when the strings fall into place...etc... You can easily imagine, with all these parameters , that 2 pianos seldom sound alike, not to mention the hands who play them...Tuning is of course of paramount importance : there are several techniques used for this, setting the ratios between corresponding keys slightly higher or lower, giving a kind of growl or breathing to the sound...The piano can be tuned to be spot on in octaves or in fifth or...else.The voicing has a definite influence over the produced sounds and this needs frequent adjustments , depending on how the instrument has been played, the temperature and hygrometry of the room etc... Whew...no wonder a concert piano is as capricious as a diva but, if you know how to care for it, the reward will be one of the most sumptuous tones ever produced...This is just to underline the influence the instrument has over the produced sound, regardless of the pianist.Of course, the player has the final word over the final performance, even with a so-so instrument, but that makes it even more difficult to make valid comparisons. IMO, recording a concert grand is an "exercice de style" for every sound engineer and I read various opinions over the results Rudy got from it, notably in Richard Cook book The Biography/Blue Note Records(Secker and Warburg Random House London).It would be extremely interesting to hear opinions of the knowledgeable people we have in this forum about it. There are many interesting pianists in the BN stable who were recorded by Rudy on his Steinways : I like the music of Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Andrew Hill,The 3 Sounds, Michel Petrucciani, Keith Jarret etc... and I would like very much to read your comments on the perceived sound quality of their records Thanks guys..

I have known Rhoda Scott since 1973 : she had just arrived in Paris and was playing around , she even came to play a jazz club in Brussels called Pol's at that time.Eventually, she was so successful she played back again here in 1974 and she was kind enough to let me tape the 3 sets she played, since I was then a student in sound engineering(very nice home work to do, I must say...). At that time, she had played on a regular basis with Kenny Clarke who was also living in Paris : this duo was her regular format, adding from time to time Joe Thomas (flute and tenor).Having played long engagements at the Club St Germain in Paris, she went back on the road with a dutch drummer, Kees Craenenburg Jr and toured a good deal of France, Belgium, Germany and recorded several albums for Barclay.Just to mention afew of them : Take a ladder with Daniel Humair drms probably her first recording dated 1973. Rhoda Scott plays Ballads 3 LP's with Michael Silva drms Come Bach to me with Felix Simtaine drms Classics and Jazz with Vic Jones drms Living in France not so far away from Paris, she is very active and seems to come back more often in the US, where she played with Houston Pearson, a.o invited by Pete Fallico at the Monterey Festival. I met her again last year and we recorded six sessions live with drummer Felix Simtaine : her playing is astonishing as ever, with real bass from the footpedals...her virtuosity in that sector is beyond par, believe me.In the club she played, there were 3 Leslie's 147 connected to her B3 : powerfull setup, I daresay. Nevertheless, do not miss any opportunity to listen to her live...she's a killer....

Wesbed, Yes, the drummer is somewhat laid back in the soundstage and the guitar sounds a little bit dull by today's standards...also, it is difficult to figure out how the surrounding acoustics were, but that is possibly a deliberate choice by Rudy, given the level of ambient noise(chats, laugh, drinks noises).Nevertheless, the organ sound is very, very good, back to 1957. I originally bought the 2 BN Lp 1585 and 1586 in 1962 at 2 months time interval (short of money at that time... ) and repeated playings wore them down completely until I was able to buy the RVG set...A super buy, for one accustomed to the 8 original tracks of the LP's, I discovered the extras Champ, Walkin , Can't give you...,and Paper Moon Talk about a great deal...So it is difficult to select 'stand out' tracks, but I still love Lover Man, Funny Valentine and Laura more than the others for their beautiful melodic lines. Soul Stream is right : this is most probably THE Jimmy album to get....

Another very interesting thread....yes, definitely, we are interested in analyzing the the components, physical and intellectual, that build up Rudy's exemplary reputation. I feel Rudy's sound results mostly from a no nonsense use of miking techniques and post production processing kept to a bare minimum....Listening to his own remasterings in the RVG Edition confirms, at least to me, his basically uncomplicated approach of recording in a live acoustical environment.Therefore, any practical information about the structure , surfaces and furnitures of his studio would improve our understanding of how things really happened there... Now would anyone be interested in developing ideas over what exactly a good mastering job should be..?

I placed my order for this CD after hearing the samples from the website.The CD arrived in Brussels (Belgium) only after 3 days, that's Very fast...After listening to it for a week or so, my advice is ...run and buy it : it is one of the best organ CD's I heard in many years.Congratulations...