A music thread for diehard analog guys that get great sound from cd

A story I have told before. At the ’96 Stereophile show at the N.Y. Waldorf, Pierre Sprey came into my room (Jadis) and handed me a Mapleshade cd of his, to demo. It was ’’Big Sweet N’ Blue"..."Norris Turney with his Quartet". There are a few tracks that are OUTSTANDING, all engineered by Pierre and digitally mastered by Bob Katz. Inserted between the front of the case and the booklet, was a printed label that read: Norris Turney: Demo Tracks # 1,2,10. Without question, the musical compositions and performances are great! I have a few others as well. 

I called Mapleshade one Saturday morning and Pierre answered. We talked for more than thirty minutes without any hint of him needing to be doing something else. 

For  jazz fans that go beyond the usual warhorses from the 50's and 60's ("oh wait, you mean jazz is actually a living, evolving art form?"), the label ECM is a great source for excellent sounding CD's. 

It did not take them long to do a good job remastering their analog recording for CD.

And now, they contemporary CD releases are universally excellent. 

Relaxed, open, great soundstage and imaging, with lots of "space". 

And they seem to continue discovering talented, creative, musicians, with their own voice.

Michal Formanek (bass), Craig Taborn (piano), Avashai Cohen (trumpet), Mette Henriette (sax), Thomas Strønen (percussion), Julia Hülsmann (piano), just to name a few.

Much of ECM's releases can he thought of as "chamber-jazz", IMO.

Kairos Music, seems to be unable to release a bad sounding recording on CD. 

Not a shred of harshness that many associate with digital. Very natural soundstage with great imaging. Timbre sounds natural. And consistently good dynamics, detail, and attack/decay.

Musically speaking, the vast majority of their catalog is contemporary, avant-garde classical. So, YMMV with regards to the music, since it is not exactly easy listening.

But there is no arguing the sound quality. 

Kairos Music

Bap Kennedy's LONELY STREET.  Masterful recording.  Sonics!

Even better, I bought the CD for $0.50.