Just received Ebony Jazz Quintet's "Brand New Bag" on Mapleshade. Would be excellent for your purpose. Good bite, air and buzz (where called for) to the brass. Unadorned, very natural sound. Two trumpets, fr. horn, trombone and tuba (playing jazz) give you good variety in brass voices. Drum kit, which shows up only in a couple places, also is very well recorded.
Best sounding CD of Brass?
I attended a performance of an unamplified brass jazz band the other night and wondered what CD in my collection (I have around a hundred jazz CD's) would be best to evaluate my system compared to what I heard live. I don't have one, so I turn to you, wise Gonners, to tell me what CD of brass music SOUNDS the closest to live instruments? I don't really care about classic performances, as this will be an analytical tool. Strictly sound, especially catagories such as dynamics, clarity, tonal characteristics, frequency, to a lesser degree soundstage and image.