Bill Evans Trio "Bill Evans at Town Hall" (Verve UMV 2053) Japanese pressing Grofe "Grand Canyon Suite" Ormandy/Philadelphia (Columbia MS 6003) six eye Wei Li/Fei Song "Autumn Yearning Fantasia" (First Impression Music FIM LP 003) Dvorak "Cello concerto in B Minor, Opus 104" Dorati/LSO/Starker (Mercury SR90303) |
T_Bone, excellent listening session! The Carlos Kleiber recording is my favorite performance of the 5th - what a great LP. The past Saturday with friends, a very eclectic music free for all for the afternoon: Hank Mobley, Soul Station Eva Cassidy, Songbird Stravinsky, Firebird (Dorati) Ella Fitzgerald, Live in Berlin Louis Armstrong, Satchmo Plays King Oliver Holst, The Planets (Previn, of course :-)) Buddy Miles, A Message to the People Porcupine Tree (not sure which album) Laurinda Almeida, Virtuoso Guitar (45rpm D2D) Chet Baker, Picture of Heath ...and more. |
Playing all kinds of material last night Patricia Barber "Companion" (Mobile Fidelity 45 rpm) Stravinsky "Firebird" Leinsdorf/Los Angeles (Sheffield LAB-24) Respighi "Ancient Airs and Dances" Dorati/Philhamonia Hungarica (Mercury reissue) Ella Fitzgerald "Fine and Mellow" (Pablo/APO 45 rpm reissue) Tom Waits "Swordfishtrombones" (love "Frank's Wild Years") "Exotic Dances From the Opera" Oue/Minnesota (Reference Recordings/ Tape Project TP-007) 15 ips analog tape. An absolutely stunning recording. Arnold "Arnold Overtures" Arnold/London Philharmonic (Reference Recordings/Tape Project) 15 ips analog tape. |
Today will be a "listening free-for-all" with frineds coming over to share music. By concensus, because everyone will be familiar with the music, the initial line-up to calibrate everyone's ears to our audio system will be: ...a couple of cuts from Hank Mobley's "Soul Train" (Music Matters 45rpm reissue) ...The "Fields of Gold" cut from Eva Cassidy's "Songbird" album ...The last side Stravinsky's "Firebird" from the 45rpm Mercury reissue by Classic Records for a big symphonic piece From there, the field will be open. Other candidates we considered for calibrating everyone's ears and our system included: Malcolm Arnold's "English Dances" on Lyrita, Stravinky's "Petrouchka" conducted by Danon on Chesky, Ravel's "Rhapsodie Espagnole" with Reiner on Classic's 45rpm reissue, Starker's Bach solo cello on Mercury, Armstrong's "St. James Infirmary" on Classic Records 45rpm, Ella Fitzgerald's "Mack the Knife" or a duo with Armstrong... What would you have chosen? |
Joan Baez, Joan (Just bought for $2.99, flawless, blew me away!)Many of the recordings made for the Vanguard/Vox/Turnabout labels were simply outstanding sonically. The Joan Baez Vanguard records were particularly nicely recorded by one of the great recording engineers: Marc Aubort. (See the Mike Fremer interview with Aubort in which he comments about recording Joan Baez and The Weavers, among other topics.) It's no wonder this LP sounds so good! Congratulations on finding a copy in good condition. . |
Last night was: Dylan At Budokan Jonathan Edwards, self-titled ELO, Face The Music (guilty, guilty pleasure) Grand Funk, Phoenix (original pressing just bought) Elton John, Empty Sky (orig UK pressing, no better than that US pressing, meh) Joan Baez, Joan (Just bought for $2.99, flawless, blew me away!) Joan Baez, Joan Baez (Another $2.99 find) |
Nino Rota, "Concerto per archi" - I Musici, Fone 026J (Another in the very nicely evolving series of new all analog classical music recordings from Fone Records - engaging music, nicely performed and extremely well recorded - recommended, but with a very limited pressing run this 33 rpm LP will not be available for long.) Coltrane's "Giant Steps" in the 45rpm ORG label reissue - yes, it's very nicely mastered and pressed, and the 45rpm resolution, air and detail are a huge help in delineating everything going on in these performance. Recommended if the music suits you. . |
Tonight was old Decca recordings of shorter pieces night- 1. English String Music (including Britten's Simple Symphony)--Britten/English Chamber Orchestra. The King Super Analogue re-issue, pretty heavy in the bass but a very good recording. 2. Espana--Argento/London Symphony Orchestra 3. Rossini Overtures--Gamba/LSO 4. Hindemith-Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Weber (Addabo/LSO)--one of my favorite fun pieces, sadly under-recorded. |
Danses Du Moyen-Age - Clemencic Consort and Ensemble Ricercare, Harmonia Mundi HMC 2472 (excellent performances of dance music of the middle ages in outstanding sonics) Lennox Berkeley, Quintet for Winds & Piano, Meridian E77017 Vienna 1908-1914 - Dorati/LSO, Mercury SR 90316 ...Berg - Three Pieces for Orchestra ...Schoenberg, Five Pieces for Orchestra ...Webern, Five Pieces for Orchestra Horace Parlan, Us Three - Blue Note ST-84037-45, Music Matters 45rpm reissue . |
Johnny & Edgar Winter - 'Together' - Live Recorded in '76, this was the Winter Bros. at their peak. I was a HUGE fan back in the day (saw Edgar 9 times! 5 with White Trash. Johnny 4 times w/Derringer). They were like a R&R gypsy tribe back then. This recording was basically the Johnny Winter And... Band plus the Edgar Winter group ALL on stage playing together doing old R&R, R&B, & Blues tunes. I think a coupla things prevented this record from having the 'classic' status of let's say, the Allman Bros. Live at the Fillmore. 1st and foremost, the recording quality wasn't the best, the volume setting at the mixing board allowing for borderline feedback and distortion, compared to the Allman's which was/is pristine. That plus on a single 2-sided album the 2nd side is primarily a long stoned blues jam, not a bad thing since again, Johnny was in fine form, but this long jam would've worked just fine if the record was (I wish) a double album, I always felt that as a single album, the time could've been put to better use. All that said, honestly, I'd forgotten how these guys were Rock'n'Roll MONSTAS back then!! Side one closes with a R&R medley consisting of 10-12 'standards' with the Winter Bros. taking turns on each tune, truly smokin'!! Tell ya what, Johnny Winter never seems to get mentioned as one of the all-time greats, his gtr playing rivals Hendrix (he wasn't the whole package like Jimi was in that he lacked Jimi's amazing songwriting abilities but it took me a long time to admit to myself that Jimi at his core was always a bluesman, so was Johnny), and I consider him one of Rock's greatest most distinctive singers. When you add his genius virtuoso brother Edgar to the mix I feel this was a classic 'Supergroup'! Gave the record a quick wash on my trusty ol' Record Doctor and while not an audiophile recording by any stretch, it's a GREAT R&R record! Don't think I've ever seen this on CD so I recorded it last night, tonight I'll transfer to Itunes and get it on the Ipod, it's all good!!;) |
I am recording Lps to digital, and the whole of the Spooky Tooth catalogue is on the turntable tonight. This is, politically, a somewhat embarassingly incorrect band that nevertheless had something to say, and especially, good music - even some of the fillers are interesting e g for bass and arrangement work. |
My favorite Hugh masekela album. THE AMERICANIZATION OF OOGA BOOGA Hugh Masekela Live At The Village Gate; New York City: November 1965 Hugh Masekela (tp, vcl); Larry Willis (p); Harold Dotson (b); Henry Jenkins (d); unknown (background vcl). For a discography try this link. http://dougpayne.com/hmd5569.htm |
Listening to a bunch of different pressings of Emerson, Lake and Palmer: "Brain Salad Surgery" and "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends" BSS pressings include Manticore, US Atlantic, UK Atlantic. Best bass response has been best on the Manticore, but some of the high end seems to be a bit hot, even with fine tuning the VTA |
Beginning this evening with Freddie Hubbard's "Here to Stay" Blue Note ST-84135 (Music Matters 45 rpm reissue). And moving into... Malcolm Arnold's chamber music with the Nash Ensemble on a lovely three volume set from Hyperion (A66171, A66172 and A66173 - recording engineer Mr. Bear delivers another outstanding set of recordings!). . |
Last night listening with friends, the following eclective batch of LPs found their way onto our turntable: ..Rossini, Italian in Algiers Overture, Fone 45 ..Kevin Burke, If the Cap Fits, Green Linnett ..Tori Amos ..Janis Ian, Breaking Silence, test pressing from the AP reissue ..Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man, Johanos/DallasSO, Vanguard AP resissue (a great recording by engineer David Hancock) ..Led Zepplin II, Atlantic, RL mastered pressing ..Autumn Yearning Fantasia, Wei Li & Fei Song, FIM LP 003 ..Rossini, Sonate a Quattro: No. 3, Philips 4759648 ..Leo Kottke, 6 & 12 String Guitars, Classic Records reissue . |
I have been "spinning" a recently acquired collection of RCA and Mercury 2-track 7.5 ips tapes on my R2R deck. The RCAs are Chicago/Reiner classics as well as a large group of Dorati/LSO, Dorati/Minneapolis Mercurys, all in their original boxes. The acetate is in pretty good shape considering a lot of these tapes are 50 years or so old. |
