Calling all Recording Engineers


I am a jazz fan and alot of the CD's I have were origionally recorded in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I have quite a few CD's from the Bill Evans Trio, Art Blakely, Miles etc. that were recorded in this time period and they are absolutely superb, far superior to some CD's I have that were recorded recently. I would have thought that with today's digital recording techniques, this would not be possible. I am simply curious why and thank you all in advance for your explanations.
liguy

Showing 3 responses by liguy

Frogman, you lucky dog! I have not been fortunate enough to have seen the Bill Evans Trio play live. I live on Eastern Long Island and have to travel to NYC for good jazz. I try to stop by Fat Tuesdays and the Blue Note whenever I am in the city but I have never seen anybody as good as the Bill Evans Trio. I will be seeing Cassandra Wilson at the Planting Fields Aboretum this summer though. I can't wait. Think I will go listen to some Art Blakely now. Ciao...
Kudos to all responders. It's rewarding to participate in a forum where the music is being discussed and not the cables, amps etc. that plays it back for us. All the great equipment is useless unless we have something good to playback. I hope we get more great replies in this thread. Great Job Ladies and Gents.
Excellent points Frogman! I know you are a Bill Evans fan. On his album "Waltz for Debbie" the drummer uses brushes quite alot. On one particular number (I do not recall which) he rubs his brushes on his snare and it is the most live sounding recording I have ever heard. I could of swore the guy was in my living room with his snare and brushes. This recording was done on analog tape and it is one of the best I have ever heard, "pure ear candy". Funny thing is, with all the advanced digital do-dad's available today this recording which was done in 1961 is still the best IMHO.
Do you agree?