Pure Pleasure - PPAN CL1098 - 180 gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue
Mono - Pure Analogue Mastering - Columbia CL 1098
Mastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering London
AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
The soundtrack version of the most perfect hour of jazz ever carried on national TV. 5/5 Audaud
Starring Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Henry "Red" Allen, The Jimmy Giuffre Trio, Jimmy Rushing, Mal Waldron & Featuring Many More!
In early December of 1957 the most perfect hour of jazz ever on TV was telecast. Four days before that, all the musicians (except Gerry Mulligan, who reneged because he wasn’t paid extra for it) assembled in Columbia’s 30th Street studios in NYC to record, in early stereo, the same selections that would be featured on the live TV show four days later. It was such an excellent hour of jazz TV because CBS had the good sense to leave everything to two jazz experts: Whitney Balliett and Nat Hentoff. They decided from the start to concentrate on the music and forget about the usual TV show trimmings. Everyone dressed casually, the cameras, mikes, lights and wires were visible. Media critic John Crosby was the relaxed host, who only introduced the hour and gave credits at the end of it. The way Billie looks at Lester Young during closeups in her tune is priceless; within two years both were gone.
The Sound of Jazz, originally aired Sunday, December 8, 1957, on CBS, has never been duplicated in capturing such a wide array of jazz musicians from various styles -- swing, cool, modern -- sometimes cross pollinating in a lively yet casual atmosphere. Jazz critics Whitney Balliett and Nat Hentoff selected the musicians, set them up in a studio in front of a live audience, and told the cameramen to simply follow them as they jammed, talked, and hung out. Performances include the Henry "Red" Allen All-Stars featuring Pee Wee Russell and Coleman Hawkins; Billie Holiday with the Mal Waldron All-Stars featuring Lester Young, Doc Cheatam, Ben Webster, and Hawkins; Count Basie's All-Stars featuring Jimmy Rushing; and the Jimmy Giuffre Trio. While the entire soundtrack is enjoyable, two pieces stand above the others for their unique and historic pairings: Traditional meets modern with the clarinet pairing of Pee Wee Russell and Jimmy Giuffre on "Blues," and "Fine and Mellow" finds Billie Holiday briefly reunited with friend Lester Young for the last time.
While this number steals the show, no matter how hard you look, you won't find it in the album notes, which is a shame. It would have been yet another reason to recommend this all-star session. What we'd call bop was considered modern, almost avant-garde, in 1957, "Blue Monk" and Mal Waldron's solo piece "Nervous" breaking up the swing- and Dixieland-dominated program. Billie Holiday twists and turns her way through "Fine and Mellow," for which she reunited with Lester Young. Both would be dead in less than two years. Rushing showed great presence on a percolating blues number, "I Left My Baby," backed by Basie, Young, Hawkins and Eldridge. There are stretches within the many Norman Granz Jam Session recordings during which it's apparent that the collection of musicians thrust together just doesn't gel. Even with the big-time talent and celebrity on display for "The Sound of Jazz," the session moves along briskly, not one number sounding labored or perfunctory.
If, as Michael Fremer recently divulged, Columbia Records switched to the RIAA curve in the mid-1950s, they did themselves no favor by not indicating this somewhere on the album jackets, as other labels did. And in this debate, there is also the generally thin and wiry sound of so many Columbia recordings made in the '50s, including this one, to consider. Even if the Columbia curve was not used here, the original pressing still sounds better played with it, and the reissue, which uses the RIAA curve, sounds both utterly different and better -- fuller, weightier in the bass and more balanced overall. As is always the case with Pure Pleasure LPs, which are pressed at Pallas in Germany, this one is as quiet as present-day vinyl gets.
This isn't a particularly collectible mono jazz title -- originals are easy to find for a few dollars. The session was also recorded in stereo, and that version is slightly more difficult to find and has better-than-average two-channel sound for 1957 -- music actually happens in between the right and left speakers. I'm not one to carp about mono -- I listen nearly as often in 1.0 as 2.0 -- but the choice of mono here is curious, unless the stereo tapes are no longer available or not in usable condition. No matter -- this is still an important set from one of jazz's early days in the sun
Musicians:
Ben Webster, tenor sax (Mal Waldron All-Star)
Billie Holiday, vocals
Coleman Hawkins, tenor sax (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star), (Mal Waldron All-Star), (Count Basie All-Star)
Count Basie, piano (Count Basie All-Star)
Danny Barker, guitar (Mal Waldron All-Star)
Dickie Wells, trombone (Count Basie All-Star)
Doc Cheatham, trumpet (Mal Waldron All-Star), (Count Basie All-Star)
Earl Warren, saxophone (Count Basie All-Star)
Eddie Jones, bass (Count Basie All-Star)
Emmet Berry, trumpet (Count Basie All-Star)
Frank Rehak, trombone (Count Basie All-Star)
Freddy Green, guitar (Count Basie All-Star)
Harry Carney, saxophone (Count Basie All-Star)
Henry "Red" Allen, vocals, trumpet
Jim Atlas, bass (Mal Waldron All-Star), (Mal Waldron All-Star), (Jimmy Giuffre Trio)
Jim Hall, guitar (Jimmy Giuffre Trio)
Jimmy Giuffre, baritone, clarinet, tenor sax
Jimmy Rushing, vocals (Count Basie All-Star)
Jo Jones, drums (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star), (Mal Waldron All-Star), (Count Basie All-Star)
Joe Newman, trumpet (Count Basie All-Star)
Lester Young, tenor sax (Mal Waldron All-Star)
Mal Waldron, piano, piano soloist
Milt Hinton, bass (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star)
Nat Pierce, piano, piano soloist (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star)
Pee Wee Russell, clarinet (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star)
Rex Stewart, trumpet (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star)
Roy Eldridge, trumpet (Count Basie All-Star)
Vic Dickenson, trombone (Henry "Red" Allen All-Star), (Mal Waldron All-Star), (Count Basie All-Star)
Selections:
Side I:
1. Wild Man Blues - Henry "Red" Allen All-Stars
2. Rosetta - Henry "Red" Allen All-Stars
3. Fine and mellow - Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron All-Stars
4. Blues - Pee Wee Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, Danny Barker, Jo Jones
Side II:
1. I Left My Baby - Count Basie All-Stars
2. The Train and The River – The Jimmy Giuffre Trio
3. Nervous - Mal Waldron
4. Dickie’s Dream - Count Basie All-Stars
Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources
At the beginning of the 90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the situation was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and, of course, Pure Pleasure all maintained a mutual, unwritten ethical code: we would only use analogue tapes to manufacture records. During the course of the present vinyl hype, many others have jumped 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 to master from: CDs, LPs, digital files, MP3s – or employed existent tools from the 80s and 90s for manufacturing.
A digital delay is gladly used when cutting a lacquer disc because tape machines with an analogue delay have become quite rare and are therefore expensive. When cutting the lacquer, the audio signal is delayed by one LP revolution against the signal, which controls the cutter head, and for this a digital delay is very often employed. Of course, the resultant sound signal is completely digital and thus only as good as this delay.
We should like to emphasize that Pure Pleasure Records on principle only uses the original master tape as the basis for the entirely analogue cutting of lacquer discs. In addition, the pressing tool is newly manufactured as a matter of principle. We only employ existing tools for manufacturing if an improved result is not forthcoming, e.g. the title Elvis Is Back, which was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, or several titles from our Philips Classics series, which in any case Willem Makkee cut from the original masters at the Emil Berliner Studios in the 90s. It goes without saying that we only used the mother and that new tools were made for our production. To put it in a nutshell: we can ensure you that our releases are free from any kind of digital effects and that the lacquer discs are newly cut.
There really is nothing quite like it. It’s the touch, the feel, you have to stop and stare, the cover, the real thing, even the smell.
Its tangible, you can feel it, see it, study it, muse/dream over it, it’s real, someone has spent hours and hours over its construction and presentation. Pure Pleasure Records is just that, Pure Pleasure and that is what it has set out to be.
The music and the physical record. Something to keep, treasure, admire and above all enjoy.Of course with vinyl it’s not just a record, it’s the cover, the sleeve notes, you are holding a unique package, produced by craftsmen.
Pure Pleasure Records bring you vinyl albums of quality Jazz - Blues - R+B - Soul - Funk, remastered by some of the best engineers in the world and pressed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl at what is probably the best pressing plant in Europe
Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering
Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 Gram Virgin Vnyl
Released in Limited Quantities
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!
