wolff Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 (edited) at the recordings of Contempoary Records. Listening to a stereo copy of Phineas Newborn Jr. / A World of Piano. This was recoded in 1961. I would so love it if all my jazz LP's sounded like this. Incredible sense of rightness to the sound and the highs are as good as it gets. Makes my Blue Notes sound terrible(the added reverb is a joke) and way over processed by comparison. A few of my RCA's come pretty close to this clean, undistorted sound. Also, the stereo spread is way, way ahead of anything recorded at this time. No left, right and middle that makes you want to flip the mono switch. Most of their original LP's sound reminds me of walking into Jazz Alley, it's that natural. Makes me want to go knock on DuNann's door(he lives about 4 miles away) and thank him. Edited June 20, 2004 by wolff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Makes me want to go knock on DuNann's door(he lives about 4 miles away) and thank him. I'd do that, along with a bottle of something non-transparent. He'll probably appreciate the gesture. If you ever decide to go for it, I have a couple of questions about Newborn for him... Agree about RVG and piano and will take this a step further: There were easily 5 or 10 guys in the booth who were way over RVG's head, imo. DuNann is one of them. Do you have the original pressing? Yellow label or green? I got this one on cd only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 DuNann was THE Best! If you go see him, please extend my warmed thanks for his achievements. I have quite a number of the Contemporary LPs and still marvel at the quality of his engineering. Some favorites are the Art Peppers, the Hampton Hawes, the Curtis Counces, not to forget the Don Ewells... There was a very nice interview of him in 'Stereophile' magazine about two/three years ago. He looked in pretty good shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolff Posted June 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 (edited) Do you have the original pressing? Yellow label or green? I got this one on cd only. My 'World of Piano" is the original black, stereo label. Original mono's are yellow. Green labels are 70's re-issues that sound very inferior in many cases. I also have an original mono of "The Great Jazz Piano of Phineas Newborn Jr.", but it's has a white, 'not for sale' promo label on it. Only one I've seen. I wish I had many more titles from their catalog. I have a bunch, but most are the less desirable/ more affordable titles. A pretty good one, with top sound is Manne's "Gambit". Best cymbols I've heard, with some interesting tunes. My favorite is the 2LP set "Manne and His Men at The Manne Hole", with Conte Condoli, Richie Kamuca, Russ Freeman and Chuck Berghofer. I also have many OJC Contemporary's(all the one's that are too pricey now ), Theie sound is good, but a lot was lost in the transfer. Edited June 20, 2004 by wolff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Contemporary Records always was the finest sounding label of them all. Superb mastering on those lps. The more recent OJC cd reissues of the past few years on this label also sound great as well. "Checkmate" comes to mind, as well as "My Son the Jazz Drummer." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ariceffron Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 they sound good and werent a lot of em recorded in contemporary's back storeroom-- wasnt that were the sessions were Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 (edited) 'Shelly Manne and His Men at the Manne Hole Vols 1 & 2' sounds fantastic on the original stereo black/gold pressing. I've always admired the Contemporary recordings of the 50s and 60s, particularly those yellow monos and black/gold stereos. Those 4 Manne Blackhawk LPs also sound pretty phenomenal (and the CD remasterings were pretty good too). The way that the precision of Manne's drumming is captured is just incredible. Having said that, I still very much like the characteristic sound that RVG gets... Edited June 20, 2004 by sidewinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzhound Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Green labels are 70's re-issues that sound very inferior in many cases. I always assumed because of the scarcity of the black label pressings the green label came in the sixties. Can anyone post sequence of stereo labels and dates? I don't think Van Gelder's drum sound on the Blue Note dates has ever been equaled in jazz recording, partly because of the room they were recorded in, post 1959.. Reverb had to be added during mastering of Contemporary dates to make up for the small room early dates were recorded in. To my ears the Contemporary sound became more" hifi "as time went on with extensive equalization being used on the drums for example, with midrange being notched down resulting in that airy sound on the cymbals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 In addition to his celebrated work on Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Sonny Rollins albums on Contemporary, some examples of Roy DuNann's recordings, all sounding amazingly natural: - Howard McGhee 'Maggie's Back In Town', - Teddy Edwards & Howard McGhee 'Together Again', - all four LPs by The Poll Winners (Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Shelly Manne), - Victor Feldman 'The Arrival' - Jimmy Woods 'Awakening'. Here is a list of some of his recordings: http://ubl.artistdirect.com/music/artist/a...,425622,00.html As Sidewinder stated above: nothing against Rudy Van Gelder's work but DuNann was the Master! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Green labels are 70's re-issues that sound very inferior in many cases. I always assumed because of the scarcity of the black label pressings the green label came in the sixties. Can anyone post sequence of stereo labels and dates? I can't, sorry, but Bill Fenohr once gave me the same info that Dmitry states re:label chronology (but not sound quality), and if anybody would know about that kind of thing, it would be Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Green labels are 70's re-issues that sound very inferior in many cases. I always assumed because of the scarcity of the black label pressings the green label came in the sixties. Can anyone post sequence of stereo labels and dates? I can't, sorry, but Bill Fenohr once gave me the same info that Dmitry states re:label chronology (but not sound quality), and if anybody would know about that kind of thing, it would be Bill. Don't want to step into Bill Fenohr's shoes but here is the info on Contemporary Records from an early version of Goldmine's Price Guide to Collectible Jazz: ''By 1959, Contemporary was issuing their mono albums in stereo with an 'S' prefix and the same last three digits as the 3000 monos: this included reissuing the Stereo Records titles with their original 7000 numbers.. The mono 3000 series received an 'M' prefix. The label was defunct through the late '60s, picking up again in the early '70s. New titles and reissues from the '70s have green labels; from the '80s, a light orange-gold label.'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertblues Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 Another thumbs up for those Contemporary stereos - another great example is the Joe Gordon lp (black label). I have to stick up for RVG's monos though - I recently scored a m- copy of "Midnight Blue" (mono deep-groove) and it is just incredibly great-sounding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 they sound good and werent a lot of em recorded in contemporary's back storeroom-- wasnt that were the sessions were That is the story I have heard as well; seems I've also seen photos from the SONNY ROLLINS AND THE CONTEMPORARY LEADERS session where the musicians are still partially surrounded by boxes and other evidence that the studio is in fact a storage facility. Yet weren't the early Hampton Hawes trio sessions were recorded in a high school [?] auditorium "after hours"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzhound Posted July 2, 2004 Report Share Posted July 2, 2004 I happened to listen to a RVG of McCoy Tyners first Blue Note after a gold cd of Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. The Blue Note does sound noisy in comparison. I also compared a green label pressing of the Pepper title to an original. The green held up very well, but if you have a high end system the original will sound alot warmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Well I'll bring this thread back up because I happened to pick up hybrid SACDs of Art Pepper Plus Eleven and Gettin' Together. Even on my low-end CD players (car, computer, etc), it still feels like I'm in the same room with them, the stereo separation is very nice, and the overall sound is very warm. Makes me wanna look into more Contemporary's just for the sake of hearing more work by DuNann! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 The best-sounding LP that i own is a Stereo Records copy of one of the Poll Winners albums. Absolutely glorious sound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etherbored Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 i'm not suprised. all of those poll winners dates were well engineered. i really like them, too. great air and seperation... -e- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 Add me to the DuNann fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Songer Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I too am a HUGE fan of Contemporary/Stereo Records. This was the first label that I actively collected back in the late 70's/early 80's as a LABEL and I have all of them--every mono and stereo original pressing. I think the first green labels appeared in either late 1968 or early 1969 from what I can determine. At first they were still thick, "deep groove" pressings but soon became thin, flixible pressings. The thick ones sound as nice as the black label pressings. And I concur that DuNann was the FIRST engineer recording jazz to get Stereo "right." And he also did THE best job recording piano. I ended last night's session listening to Gerald Wiggins' "Relax and Enjoy It," an easy-swiging gorgeously recorded LP that never gets it's due!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 (edited) And I concur that DuNann was the FIRST engineer recording jazz to get Stereo "right." And he also did THE best job recording piano. Warmly agree! I am just listening Hutcherson's SAN FRANCISCO, a 1970? (not sure) session, no time to check now. A Liberty Stereo Pressing, SE was David Brand. Still after a decade of stereo the drums are not well recorded, IMHO, they are spread from left to right like it was played by a giant on a giant drums set. I understand it was the stereo style of rock recording of the times, but...we are talking about a quintet, not a multitracks mixing of a King Crimson album. Now I am on Ornette's TOMORROW IS THE QUESTION, stereo, Black and Gold Label, DG, DuNann was THE man of stereo recording ten years before! BTW, RVG's stereo Impulse! recordings are usually better the BN dates of the same time. Edited December 7, 2006 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Seeing that a distinction is made between the fidelity qualities of various pressings, here is a question from another Contemporary label fan: I have quite a few original (or at any rate VERY early) British Vogue pressings of the late 50s Contemporarys, including many DuNann-engineered sessions, of course. How would the (European?) hi-fi experts rate those compared to the U.S. pressings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Green labels are 70's re-issues that sound very inferior in many cases. I've a few green label Lps and they sound great ( Hampton Hawes Green Leaves...). Ive also got some relatively lightweight yellow label LPs that appear to come in original heavy sleeves- these also sound excellent as do Vogue Uk imprints etc. Basically decent sound to start off with helps a lot..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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