New Vinyl Roundup

It's a great time to be a record collector.  Between reissues from big labels like Blue Note and Verve, audiophile remasters from high-end labels like Mobile Fidelity, Analogue Productions, Music Matters, Impex, Speakers Corner, and Pure Pleasure, as well as an ever-increasing number of outstanding releases by quality-conscious smaller labels like Gearbox, Mack Avenue, Resonance, Sam, In+Out, ORG, and a bunch of others, it's hard to keep up with the flood of new vinyl.  Just about every day I see an email ad, an online review, or a post on Analog Planet about a new release, an audiophile remaster, or a limited edition box set that I really need to have.  As a public service for those of you who may not be following all the new releases as fanatically as I am, I thought I would list some highly-recommended new titles you might want to check out.  Fair warning: Many of these albums are limited edition pressings and will likely sell out quickly, so if you are interested, don't mess around.

First up is a terrific 2020 release by Ron Carter, the dean of jazz bass players.  Carter, 84, got his start with Chico Hamilton in 1959 and quickly rose to prominence as a member of Miles Davis' second quintet in the mid 1960s.  This double LP, called Foursight - Stockholm, is on the In+Out label and was recorded live at the Fasching Jazz Club in November of 2018.  In+Out is a German label which has been around since 1988, putting out 5-10 quality titles a year, including releases by artists such as Chico Freeman, Billy Cobham, and Art Blakey.  This set (by Carter's touring quartet, called Foursight), is straight-ahead melodic jazz, beautifully played and recorded.  The packaging is first-class, and the pressing (I believe by Pallas in Germany), is superb with a wonderfully textured, right down front feel.  Don't sleep on this one.  And while you're at it, check In+Out's 2021 Ron Carter release called Golden Striker, a live trio date recorded in Germany in 2016.

Resonance Records is a small, independent US jazz label that is actually a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and supporting jazz artists.  They have become well known for unearthing unknown or forgotten live recordings from Europe and elsewhere.  Among their noted finds have been several previously unknown live dates by Bill Evans.  

Love You Madly by pianist Monty Alexander is a two-disc, 2020 release originally recorded in 1982 at Bubba's Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  The sound is phenomenal, recorded by Criteria Studios engineer Mack Emerman using a remote truck.  The tracks are a mix of Alexander originals and jazz and pop standards, including a smoking version of the chart-topping "Arthur's Theme" by Burt Bacharach.  The track starts off like a bit of light jazz fluff, but then the congas kick in and it morphs into a "churning urn of burning funk" (props to James Taylor).  The gatefold package is well done and includes a 12-page glossy booklet packed with photos, interviews, and background information.  The vinyl was cut by Bernie Grundman, pressed at RTI, and sounds wonderful.  This was a limited edition release and may be hard to find, but it's well worth the effort.

Talk about a labor of love, Sam Records, based in Paris, is a one-man operation founded by Fred Thomas in 2011.  To date, Thomas has reissued 29 albums, all originally recorded and released in France in the 50s and 60s.  He works only from original master tapes and recreates the look and feel of the original issues down to the vintage labels and flip-back jackets.  The Ronnell Bright Trio is a 1958 studio set recorded in Paris while Bright was there working as Sarah Vaughan's accompanist.  In a fascinating interview for Marc Myers' JazzWax blog, Bright relates how he was playing at a late-night jam session at a club in Paris when a rep from Polydor Records approached and asked if he wanted to record an album while he was in town.  Bright pulled together bassist Richard Davis (also from Sarah Vaughan's band) and English drummer Art Morgan (who was in town with the Ted Heath Band), and they cut the album.  Listening to The Ronnell Bright Trio, you are hard pressed to believe that it was recorded more than 60 years ago.  The sound is amazingly natural and the music swings like crazy.  Sam Records' press runs are fairly small and sell out very quickly.  In fact, The Ronnell Bright Trio was originally released on Sam Records in 2012 and has been impossible to find for years.  It was repressed in 2021, and at least as of this writing, is still available.  Stop reading now and go order a copy before it's too late.

Between his solo projects, his Trio, and his Big Band, Christian McBride is one of the hardest working men in jazz.  His most recent Big Band outing is the 2020 release called For Jimmy, Wes And Oliver -- a theme album dedicated to organist Jimmy Smith, guitarist Wes Montgomery, and saxophonist and arranger, Oliver Nelson.  The release is on Mack Avenue Records, a Detroit-based label which has been around since 1998, but only began releasing vinyl in 2005.  Since that time, they have turned out a string of consistently excellent and excellent sounding records, no fewer than eight of which are by Christian McBride.  McBride's bass playing is rock solid throughout the session, but organist Joey DeFrancesco and guitarist Mark Whitfield (recreating the chemistry between Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery) steal the show.  The whole package from Mack Avenue is superb from top to bottom, with a lacquer cut by Chris Muth at Taloowa Mastering in Yonkers and pressed on dead quiet vinyl by RTI.

Just to prove that I listen to other things besides jazz, next up is an excellent all-analog reissue of the stone cold classic blues LP, Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King.  This is a 2018 reissue from Speakers Corner Records, based in Germany.  Speakers Corner began releasing LPs in 1993, focusing heavily on classical reissues for several years before they began to add more jazz and popular titles.  Speakers Corner features "pure analog" prominently in their logo, and they claim that they "produce lacquers using only original master tapes and an entirely analogue cutting system."  Born Under A Bad Sign was originally recorded at Stax Records in Memphis in 1966 and '67, with the house band, Booker T and the MGs, playing backup, and the Memphis Horns joining in on some tracks.  Sadly, the original 1967 release is not a great recording.  The Speakers Corner version is punchier with more detail and separation than the original.  Kevin Gray cut the lacquer and probably got about all he could out of the original tapes.  The pressing, by Optimal in Germany, is flat and quiet.  This version is from the stereo master.  Gray also recut a mono version for a Craft Recordings reissue which came out in 2019.  I have not heard the Craft version because it was a limited edition Record Store Day release that sold out immediately.  Since used copies of the Craft reissue are going for upwards of $200, I am quite happy with the Speakers Corner version which is available for about $35.

Finally, I've been watching with some interest the introduction of two new ultra high-end reissue series: The Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step, which began in 2019 and now has 19 titles; and Analogue Productions' UHQR (Ultra High Quality Records), which also started in 2019 but to date only has produced four titles.  You can read online about the technical reasons why these are superior to normal pressings.  I will just note that all of the releases are limited editions and originally retailed for $100-125.  Some of them are now approaching $1,000 on the resale market.  Clearly they are an incredible investment, but are they worth it?  Well, the up side is that if you can afford them, you can feel confident that you own (probably) the ultimate vinyl expression of some truly great, classic records.  In my case, I already have nice original or reissue copies of 19 of the 23 discs in both series (the only ones I don't have are two Eagles LPs and two Stevie Ray Vaughn LPs).  Nearly all my normal copies sound fine, and some of them, like the original of Donald Fagen's The Nightfly, sound fantastic.  

However, when Analogue Productions announced they were giving the Ultra High Quality treatment to Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue (KOB), I decided to take the plunge.  I've never been able to snag a reasonably priced copy of an original or early repressing of KOB.  (About ten years ago in a thrift store in Lockhart, Texas I found an absolute first edition mono copy that looked like it had been used as a Frisbee, but that's as close as I've come.)  I have the 2010 Kevin Gray remastered stereo version, as well as the 2013 mono remaster by Ryan K. Smith.  They both sound very good to me.  But after reading numerous online comments about how great the new UHQR version sounds, I figured I'd see what the fuss is about.  The UHQR version cost $100 and comes in a massive presentation box.  It is pressed by hand (possibly by elves) on clear virgin vinyl.  Yes, it sounds fabulous.  It just might be the best-sounding record in my entire collection of 10,000 discs.  Is it worth $100?  Not really.  If I do a one-to-one comparison between my 2013 stereo disc and the new UHQR stereo disc, I can reliably tell them apart and hear that the UHQR is better and quieter.  But when I just play my 2013 copy, I never think: Wow, there is a touch less air and "space" around Miles' horn compared to the UHQR copy.  What I think is: Wow, wow, wow, this is amazing music.  Bottom line: The new super duper pressings sound terrific, but for the same price I would rather have four or five other records that I don't already have.

Enjoy the music!