Teasing the Korean

What's up with the CD? Is it really mastered from vinyl? Has anyone heard the CD?

Sorry, I meant Freedom Now Suite, Max Roach with Abbey Lincoln. So there was a Columbia LP of this in addition to the original issue?

The CD of this available from Amazon is (supposedly) mastered from vinyl. Has anyone heard this CD and you comment on that? Was the original LP ever reissued on vinyl (like as a twofer in the 70s)? Are there more than one CD versions?

"French Horns for My Lady" on Philips is a space-age bachelor pad classic!

Dean Martin - This Time I'm Swingin' - Capitol (rainbow, mono) with Thee Great Nelson Riddle.

Howard Roberts - Sounds - Capitol (Decadent 70s orange label with olive font).

Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa - Atlantic

I was just listening to that one the other day. Better than the AMG review would suggest. The one I hope to get my mitts on someday is the Andromeda Strain, which has some the coolest packaging ever. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3111/256530...9c6c8eb.jpg?v=0 Wow ! Tome VI is a real favorite of mine. Andromeda Strain is almost impossible to find at an affordable (for me) price.

I think they started using the rainbow label with their first stereo releases. The mono counterparts may have still retained the turquoise or dark grey labels, but all the stereo albums I've seen have the rainbow.

I typically don't buy stuff on CD that I have on LP, but there are exceptions, including the first three Miles/Gil Evans albums. I have the 90s CD remasters of Porgy and Miles ahead. I generally like the sound but they don't sound as good as my mono six-eye LPs. My CD of Sketches is from the early Columbia jazz CD period with the blue border on the cover. I don't think it sounds that great, but I don't know if I'm pre-disposed to thinking that way because I know it's from the 80s. I love the sound of the mono Sketches LP. Bonus tracks aside, do the more recent releases of Sketches sound significantly better than the 80s version?

This is an interesting point, although I must say that when I like the work of an arranger, I typically don't pay too much attention to who is in the group. If a soloist I happen to like is participating, that's gravy, but this is never a deal-sealer for me. Maybe I'm the exception.

Oops - wrong guy!

No, I meant that during a single session, two tape machines, two mixing boards, two sets of mics, and two engineers were used. The difference in sound is significant enough that if you listen to the mono and stereo recordings, you may as well be listening to two different sessions.

Ella in Hollywood - Verve (mono)

Oh, Christ, I accidentally killed jazz. I'm so sorry.

Please report back when you get it, my mono copy is pretty scratchy.

Laurindo Almeida - Guitar from Ipanema - Capitol (rainbow mono)

Last night: Herbie Hancock - Inventions and Dimensions - Blue Note (stereo) This morning: Jobim - Love Strings and Jobim - WB ( gold label mono)

Most of the mono/stereo Sinatra sessions have used the stereo versions on CD. However, the Mobile Fidelity Gold CD of "Only the Lonely" used the mono recording, as the label felt that it was sonically superior to the stereo. This CD does not include the two bonus tracks that are on the standard OTL CD.

Jack, no worries, I didn't take your statement that way. Yes, I would love to know who some of the behind-the-scenes folks were at Capitol. I'd also love to know who was responsible for the cover art during that period - those are some of the greatest album covers ever IMHO.

Thanks Jack. Well, my opinions about which I like better are subjective; but the descriptions of the different recording techniques are factual. If anyone has any of these Capitol titles from this (brief) period in both mono and stereo and compares them, they will hear the difference between the ambient hall sound on the stereo albums and the more present, detailed sound on the mono records. Whichever of the two sounds better is a matter of preference. I appreciate both aesthetics for different reasons. Either way, I think it's interesting to compare the two approaches, and to realize that a universally admired album may have been heard and appreciated by so many people, albeit in two significantly different forms.

While it eventually became commonplace for labels to mix to both mono and stereo from the same multitrack masters, mono and stereo recordings were sometimes done separately in the early days of stereo recording. This means that when a session was recorded, two sets of equipment and two engineers were employed in the recording. This may have been standard at a number of labels, but it was definitely done at Capitol in LA circa 1956 - 1958. What is particularly interesting about Capitol is that the mono and stereo versions were each recorded with different microphone placement and very different production values. This is notable, because Capitol mono LPs from the 1950s are among the best sounding records I have ever heard; and, for a mainstream, major pop label, Capitol had one hell of an artist roster and released an incredible string of excellent albums in the 1950s and early 1960s. What was the big difference? In 1956-58, Capitol used close-mic techniques, maybe eight microphones/channels in a session, to mix on-the-fly to their mono recordings. This allowed for more detail, more balance, and generally a more intimate sound on their mono records. Capitol's stereo recordings from this period, by contrast, were done with with two or three overhead mics, resulting in an ambient, concert hall sound. It could produce a big, beautiful, and natural sound, but sometimes details were lost. These different approaches, of course, have different implications, depending on the nature of the music and ensemble being recorded. For example, the symphonic ensemble on Les Baxter's "Ports of Pleasure" sounds incredible in stereo, while Billy May's big band on Sinatra's "Come Dance With Me" has more teeth and presence in mono. As examples, I can tell you that at least four Frank Sintra albums and at least four Les Baxter albums were recorded separately in mono and stereo during this period. The Sinatra albums are "Where Are You," "Come Fly With Me," "Only the Lonely," and "Come Dance With Me." The Les Baxter albums include "Ports of Pleasure," "Space Escapade," "South Pacific," and "African Jazz." While this may seem like an exercise in extreme geekdom, the differences in some of these albums are unbelievable. For example, "Only the Lonely" in mono is much more intense and intimate, and much closer in mood and feel to "Wee Small Hours" than the stereo version. The earliest of the albums I referenced is "Where Are You," (S)W 855, recorded as early as April, 1957. The latest (released) of these is "African Jazz," (S)T 1117, recorded August 1958. "Come Dance With Me," which has a lower catalog number (S)W 1069, was recorded as late as December 1958. And while this may be an oddity, "Kenton in Hi Fi," W 724, was recorded in mono and stereo as early as February 1956. (The stereo version was released only years later, AFAIK). Anyway, I thought this may be interesting to some of you. I'm curious to know how late the dual mono/stereo recordings on Capitol lasted, in terms of catalog numbers, recording dates, and/or release dates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNMm5CKmknQ

So glad I wasn't with those unwashed hippies listening to endless blues jams! I would have enjoyed drinking scotch with their parents in their modern ranch houses.

A previous music teacher of mine, who dropped names like mad and boasted to have worked with everyone, claimed that John Coltrane didn't like Red's playing and that he tried to talk Miles into firing him. Is there any truth to this?