Which Jazz CDs Do You Like to Use

[Leeway]

Interested to know which jazz CDs you use to test or audition audio products. Not so much interested in special "demo" or "audiophile" CDs but just well-mastered CDs with the right combo of instruments and perhaps vocal that will bring out the best and worst of a product's capabilities. Any suggestions?

[wesbed]

This is not jazz. However, it's my standard system-testing album. If this album sounds good on a given system, I know I'll like the same setup for other types of music such as jazz.

I believe it could be difficult to test a system with jazz. Do you test with Van Gelder, McMaster, Addey, Myamoto, or who? Do you test with a stereo or mono recording? Do you test a more recent jazz recording that benefits from current technology and doesn't need to be remastered?

[robviti]

imo, it's best to test with music you know and love. for that reason, i'm most likely to bring along discs like kind of blue, soul station, and a love supreme when auditioning equipment. frankly, i don't care a great deal how spectacular a test disc sounds, or how well the cannon fire in the 1812 overture is reproduced. what i want to hear is how good the music i love is going to sound.

[Dr. Rat]

I always bring along a cd with lots of bass content, just to see how the speakers I am buying mishandle it (I am not rich enough to buy speakers that can actually reproduce loude deep bass accurately).

Salesmen get kind of pissed off when I launch a serious Bach organ record on their system "Of course these $500 speakers can't handle this!"

But that's the point, I want to know how they don't handle it. Do they just pass over in silence? Do they overempahsive the mid-bass? Do they go blaaaat?

A Monty Alexander or Earnest Ranglin cd might give you the needed challenging bass, but I prefer the Bach.

--eric

[Claude]

When I go to hifi stores to test some equipment, I use a CD-R sampler that I compiled myself, with various types of music. Mainly new classical and jazz recordings. Naturally recorded vocals and full classical orchestra are ideal for testing.

Although I mainly listen to older jazz recordings from the 50's and 60's, I would only use a few of them for testing. Even if they are enjoyable and can be used for demonstration purposes, they often have flaws which make it impossible to review the true qualities of a hifi system.

Blue Note RVGs for example sound bright and would make you favour speakers with reduced treble. 50's and 60's recordings generally have small dynamics and a rather muddy bass which does not allow to test components as to these aspects.

Here are some of my favourite jazz albums for testing:

- John Coltrane - Soultrane (or any other mono recording. I start with this to see if the speakers have been connected correctly. It happened a few times even in high end stores that they were connected out of phase )

- Bob Belden - Black Dahlia (dynamics, soundstage, frequency range)

- Konitz/Mehldau/Haden: Alone together (naturalness)

- Miles Davis - Doo Bop (reveals exagerated bass)

- Javon Jackson - When the time is right (very well recorded Diane Reeves vocals)

- Sonny Rollins & MJQ - At Music Inn (MFSL CD, incredibly detailed vibraphone sound)

- David Murray - Death of a sideman (very immediate recording of the horns, precise acoustic bass)

Edited April 12, 2004 by Claude

[WD45]

Edited April 12, 2004 by WD45

[jazzbo]

I actually usually use recordings of several bands that I participated in and recorded in my then garage apartment. I know the sound of the instruments and performers, the room, and the limitations of the tape deck. Works well for me.

Also I find that a good solo piano recording tells me a lot. Boom and clatter can't hide!

[Leeway]

Thanks for the different ideas- I will try some of the suggestions. I do bring CDs of music I have played a lot , but I'm really not sure how realistic the sonics are in some cases. Frankly, I'm better at vinyl, but few stores have vinyl rigs ready to go.

Of course, I really like Blue Notes, so was wondering if there was a "consensus" pick out there as to a BN CD -- whether it be RVG, TOCJ, JRVG, etc-- that will test a variety of speaker parameters. Additional comments, if any, are welcome.

[Bluerein]

If you're in a crowded store try Out to Lunch on a decent to loud level....and garanteed the store will empty AND you'll have a good recording to test the equipment with!!!

Cheers,

Reinier

[tonym]

The last time I bought home audio I took the following;

Ben Webster/Gerry Mulligan sessions on Verve Master Edition --- I know how the VMEs can often be hissy but the original CD issues lack clarity, I wanted to see how a good system would handle this well recorded album.

Radiohead - OK Computer --- although a well recorded modern album would sound decent enough on any system I was curious as to how this would with all of it's sonic effects and varying textures .

My wife took some Phillips recorded Elgar and Dvorak discs; a mixture of cello & violin concerti and some orchestral stuff.

[couw]

FZ's Yellow Shark is another good one: well recorded and with a lot of presence for a classical recording.

[tjobbe]

one of the older records I'm using for audio equipment tests is the Steve Hoffman remastered Sonny Clark Trio one from 1959 (which sound great in both terms audio fidelity and music). It sound really natural

Else I can recommend the Chesky Paquito D'Rivera Portrait of Cuba which some challenge to the equipment.

Not sure if I would use BN's as reference but I would rather recommend some of the Impulse! ones if you want to go for more 60's stuff instead.

Cheers, Tjobbe

EDIT: as I call myself an "audiophile" I would anyway try the same approach as Claude did and mix it with more then only one type of music.

Edited April 14, 2004 by tjobbe

[AmirBagachelles]

Jaki Byard - Sunshine of My Soul

[doubleM]

Blue Train, MSFL Gold cd. I know that these cd's are mostly hype, but I like the way this one sounds.

[wolff]

This does not answer your question, but........

I no longer need a whole set-up. I usually just buy a new piece every year or two.

I have brought many pieces home with me to audition before buying. Speakers, amps, pre-amps, cables and turntables. This is the best way, but not always possible.

I do not know how you can get familiar with a piece of equipment in a foreign system, even with your own music.

Of course, if you were auditioning an entire system it would work.

[Jazzdude]

Kind of an audiophile myself. Here are the discs I've been taking along for a few years now:

Patricia Barber---Nightclub. Great vocals for testing the midrange of speakers

Conrad Herwig---The Latin Side Of John Coltrane. Good for testing dynamics, imaging and soundstage.

Anything by Charles Lloyd on ECM. For testing imaging espeically

Andy Bey---Ballads, Blues and Bey. For detail. You can hear him take breaths and hear the piano bench squeak. It's like you are THERE.

Edited May 11, 2004 by Jazzdude

[tonym]

Anything by Charles Lloyd on ECM. For testing imaging espeically

Now, I find this interesting because I notice Lloyd's last few albums have been recorded on analogue (correct me if I'm wrong) whereas most ECM's and many contemporary albums are recorded digitally.

Does this mean that Lloyd's albums sound different on top range equipment compared to other ECM's, which are often accused of 'sterility' or 'lifelessness'?

I'm probing because I'm not an audiophile and my curiosity was stirred by the mention of these Lloyd discs.