Les McCann Ltd. - But Not Really - 180g LP

Product no.: LS86016

Les McCann Ltd. - But Not Really - 180g LP
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AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Speakers Corner / Limelight  - LS 86016 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl

AAA 100% Analogue - Mastered By Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound    

Limited Edition - Pressed  at Pallas Germany

This Speakers Corner 25 Years pure Analogue
 
The mastering at sterling sound improves on the original Music 8/10 Sound 8/10 HIFI Plus
 
One man comes to mind when the words 'funk' and 'fun' are connected with a jazz musician: Les McCann. The man from Kentucky, self-taught and a true heavyweight on the delicate piano stool, dedicated his whole life on the road to performing funk. He was highly successful – whether playing with his trio or with Eddie Harris, as a pianist or as a singer, in a club or on a big stage – and he always succeeded in captivating his audience.
 
 On "But Not Really", the first of seven LPs on the Limelight label, he plays in a trio with Victor Gaskin on the bass and Paul Humphrey on drums. The three musicians were carefully guided by their producer, Jack Tracy and the liner notes describes their close collaboration. "A Little Three-Four" is highly recommended listening, as is "Yours Is My Heart Alone" which fans of Lehar’s operettas will enjoy singing along to while others will appreciate the fantastic improvisations in this popular piece which Les McCann performs less showily than Oscar Peterson in his version but with more humour and emotion.
 
This Limelight album offers piano trio jazz that is free from intellectual encumbrance – it is jazz for the soul. Recorded in December 1964, the LP is now available once again after almost 60 years with the original outstanding and lavish cover artwork!
 
But Not Really is a solid, straight-ahead swinging soul-jazz session from Les McCann Ltd., his trio with bassist Victor Gaskin and drummer Paul Humphrey. Released in 1965, the eight-track date was recorded over two evenings. McCann wrote all but two of the tunes here, including the burning "We're on the Move Now" and the groove-drenched "Little Freak" (the latter is a tune Ramsey Lewis would kill to have composed at the time). While two chords in its vamp come from "The 'In' Crowd," a tune made famous by Lewis, it's the rest, beginning with a dark deft turn on the second voicing, that takes it deeper into the blues and makes it such a stunner. Another highlight is the spirited reading of Tadd Dameron's "Our Delight," with a fine solo by McCann and some very funky swing drumming by Humphrey. For fans of McCann's piano work, there are few recordings that showcase it better -- in the studio at least -- than But Not Really.
 
 December 1964  Radio Recorders, Hollywood
Production: Jack Tracy
 
Musicians:
Les McCann, piano
Victor Gaskin, bass
Paul Humphrey, drums
 
Selections:
Side 1:
1. But Not Really
2. A Little Three-Four
3. Out Delight
4. Sweetie
Side 2:
1. We're On The Move Now
2. Jack V. Schwartz
3. Little Freak
4. Yours Is My Heart Alone
 
Les McCann- But Not Really - 180g LP
 
                               
25 Years pure Analogue
This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head
 
Are your records completely analogue?
Yes! This we guarantee!
As a matter of principle, only analogue masters are used, and the necessary cutting delay is also analogue. All our cutting engineers use only Neumann cutting consoles, and these too are analogue. The only exception is where a recording has been made – either partly or entirely – using digital technology, but we do not have such items in our catalogue at the present time
 
Are your records cut from the original masters?
In our re-releases it is our aim to faithfully reproduce the original intentions of the musicians and recording engineers which, however, could not be realised at the time due to technical limitations. Faithfulness to the original is our top priority, not the interpretation of the original: there is no such thing as a “Speakers Corner Sound”. Naturally, the best results are obtained when the original master is used. Therefore we always try to locate these and use them for cutting. Should this not be possible, – because the original tape is defective or has disappeared, for example – we do accept a first-generation copy. But this remains an absolute exception for us.
 
Who cuts the records?
In order to obtain the most faithful reproduction of the original, we have the lacquers cut on the spot, by engineers who, on the whole, have been dealing with such tapes for many years. Some are even cut by the very same engineer who cut the original lacquers of the first release. Over the years the following engineers have been and still are working for us: Tony Hawkins, Willem Makkee, Kevin Gray, Maarten de Boer, Scott Hull, and Ray Staff, to name but a few.
At the beginning of the ‘90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the reissue policy was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC Compact Classics, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and others, including of course Speakers Corner, all maintained a mutual, unwritten code of ethics: we would manufacture records sourced only from analogue tapes. 
 
Vinyl’s newfound popularity has led many other companies to jump on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source from which to master: CDs, LPs, digital files and even MP3s. 
 
Even some who do use an analogue tape source employ a digital delay line, a misguided ’80s and ‘90s digital technology that replaces the analogue preview head originally used to “tell” the cutter head in advance what was about to happen musically, so it could adjust the groove “pitch” (the distance between the grooves) to make room for wide dynamic swings and large low frequency excursions. Over time analogue preview heads became more rare and thus expensive. 
 
So while the low bit rate (less resolution than a 16 bit CD) digital delay line is less expensive and easier to use than an analogue “preview head”, its use, ironically, results in lacquers cut from the low bit rate digital signal instead of from the analogue source! 
 
Speakers Corner wishes to make clear that it produces lacquers using only original master tapes and an entirely analogue cutting system. New metal stampers used to press records are produced from that lacquer. The only exceptions are when existing metal parts are superior to new ones that might be cut, which includes our release of “Elvis is Back”, which was cut by Stan Ricker or several titles from our Philips Classics series, where were cut in the 1990s using original master tapes by Willem Makkee at the Emil Berliner Studios. In those cases we used only the original “mother” to produce new stampers. 
 
In addition, we admit to having one digital recording in our catalogue: Alan Parsons’ “Eye in the Sky”, which was recorded digitally but mixed to analogue tape that we used to cut lacquers. 
 
In closing, we want to insure our loyal customers that, with but a few exceptions as noted, our releases are “AAA”— analogue tape, an all analogue cutting system, and newly cut lacquers.
 
60 Years Pallas
 
Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany  For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade! 

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