Van Gelder's Hackensack Studio

[JohnS]

I came across this illustration on the back of a Johnny Costa Savoy lp. The curtains and the table lamp show a bit more of the domesticity of RVG studio than we usually see. I thought it might be of interest.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I seem to remember it being the Van Gelders' lounge.

Englewood Cliffs had a separate studio - another errant memory surfaces - wasn't it a Frank Lloyd Wright job?

MG

[michel1969]

Johnny Costa is totally forgotten, but a very intersting pianist, by the way...

[jazzbo]

I agree Michel.

There are some very homey photos of the Hackensack home in the Herbie Nichols box set (Blue Note).

[AllenLowe]

the later studio was a funny shaped conical thing; I was at one or two sessions there -

Johnny Costa was a great pianist; he played for Mr. (Fred) Rodgers' house band until he died. Talked to him once, a very nice guy who was, he told me, no relation to Eddie Costa; I wondered about this because he had a very similar style. He told me when he played with Marsalis on that show that Wynton was surprised that Rodgers had a piano player with real jazz chops -

[Christiern]

The Hackensack "studio" was actually Rudy's home. Then he built a real studio at Englewood Cliffs. I produced a few sessions there, but never really liked the sound that much. Rudy engineered tons of albums by major players and I think some people thus lost ome of their AO (aural objectivity). Like Blue Note, the label, Rudy's rep has been elevated beyond aural evidence, IMHO.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I'm sure you're right that Rudy pretty well defined what jazz was "supposed" to sound like, simply by being there when all those albums were made.

But speaking personally, comparing his sound to the sound of the Don Schlitten productions for Prestige with Richard Alderson at the dials, there's no contest between RVG and RA, which is effin' awful (and I think the pressings were different, too). And RVG is noticably better than Ter Mar studios. Riverside was very good; Contemporary was splendid, but not greasy enough for me

MG

[Chuck Nessa]

There were two Ter Mar studios too. The second one was much better as a "room" and had a good staff.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I didn't know that.

Was Baby Face Willette's "Mo rock" recorded in the nicer room and "8 ball" in the not so good one? That's what it sounds like to me.

MG

[AllenLowe]

the other engineer that Schlitten liked (as he told me himself years ago) was Paul Goodman, who later turns up as a re-mastering engineer on some early CD reissues (the good ones; he did some amazing work in the early digital years while everyone else was screwing up) - I think Goodman also did most of the Xanadus -

Edited January 21, 2009 by AllenLowe

[Shrdlu]

The Columbia engineers in the 50s and 60s, and, of course, the 30th St. Studio, are hard to beat.

But although I agree that the vast number of RVG recordings shears our expectations, I do like Rudy's work (I'm referring to the original recordings). The piano doesn't sound natural, but we are all used to it, and I like it too.