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Mobile Fidelity - UD1S 2002 -  UltraDisc -  180 Gram Virgin Vinyl   

AAA 100% Analogue - Ultradisc One Step Pressing UD1S 

3000 Numbered Limited Edition - 45RPM - Box Set

Half Speed Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity The Gain 2 Ultra Analog System

.AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

The Absolute Sound Super Disc List    TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List

The transparency and detail resolution here are absolutely spectacular. Astonishing, really, especially in terms of natural instrumental attack. This is after all a rhythmic power trio. No other version I've heard comes close to expressing the speed and precision of La Faro's playing—the clarity and finesse with which he attacks the strings. The same is true of how the mastering and one-step plating capture Evans'and Motian's playing.Assuming your system can do it, anyone who has been to the small basement venue that is The Village Vanguard will feel as if they are traveling through time and seeing into the space. I doubt Mobile Fidelity made a "killing" here, though they've produced a killer reissue!
Michael Fremer Sound 11/10 Music 11/10 www.analogplanet.com

The results are indisputable. From the moment the stylus touched down these were some of the quietest surfaces I’ve heard, and they permit low level cues and transients to emerge from the grooves with stunning clarity and focus. Piano timbre and textures are gorgeous yet unpretentious with a harmonic rightness that tickles and sweet-talks the ear. Cymbals and snare sparkle with light and warmth. There’s no better example of the musical mind-meld between players than Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now,” which has LaFaro’s acoustic bass lines darting and diving between Evans’ playful melodic invention and single-note digressions. Quieter sections during Miles Davis “Solar” succumb to chit-chat noise and dish clatter, but, as if on cue, LaFaro’s string-slapping bass solo silences the audience mid-chew. This is jazz as a collaborative exchange of equals, each serving the music, taking the lead and unselfishly releasing it back. Sunday has received the same white glove presentation as MoFi’s initial One-Step release, Santana’s Abraxas, which Wayne Garcia reviewed in Issue 269. Pressed at RTI and limited to 3000 numbered copies, the 180-gram, 45rpm, 2-LP box includes original notes and a pair of Steve Schapiro 8 x10 photos. A technical and artistic landmark for the ongoing analog revival. Sound 5/5 Music 5/5 TAS Neil Gader

I have several copies of the recording -- on CD, XRCD, SACD and LP -- but none of them has sounded like this. The speed and immediacy were immediately apparent, but what made Sunday at the Village Vanguard come eerily alive was the bass -- its pitch definition, density and dynamics. Each note was distinct, not running into the others, yet displayed newfound weight and power. A recording that had always sounded very good was much more forceful and vivid. After the cut finished and I was moving toward the door, a guy who was sitting behind me said, "Where did that bass come from?" Like me, he also knew the recording well and thought it had never sounded like what we had just heard. Rob LoVerde let me know that half of the 3000 copies of Sunday at the Village Vanguard were already pre-sold. Needless to say, if you want this record, buy now or be sorry later.The Audio Beat

Mastered from the Original Master Tapes With Mobile Fidelity's One-Step Process: Sunday at the Village Vanguard UD1S 45RPM Box Set the Ultimate Analog Version of Bill Evans' 1961 Jazz Staple

Deluxe Packaging Includes Opulent Box, Special Jackets and Unique Insert: No Expense Spared, Strictly Limited to 3000 Numbered Copies

Gorgeous Romanticism, Seamless Chemistry, Group Interplay, and Symbiotic Trio Performances Forever Changed Jazz: Evans' Live Masterwork Boasts Brilliant Sound, Lyrical Pianism, Magical Feel

The gorgeous romanticism of Bill Evans' Sunday at the Village Vanguard cannot be overstated. Neither can the iconic record's place in history – nor what it signifies to generations upon generations of listeners hypnotized by the consummate playing, resplendent compositions, and seamless chemistry. Originally released in1961, the live set remains the gold standard for symbiotic trio performance, empathy, and communication. Because of Orrin Keepnews' brilliant recording, it also survives as one of the best-sounding jazz albums extant – a fact confirmed by its appearance on multiple reissues over the past few decades. But it's never sounded better than this.

Evans' masterwork reaches three-dimensional sonic and emotional heights never before attained by analog recordings on this opulent Mobile Fidelity UD1S box set complete with special jackets and a unique insert. Strictly numbered to 3000 copies, this ultra-hi-fi audiophile edition literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music of this Riverside staple that, along with the complementary Waltz for Debby, transformed Evans into a legend and became a blueprint for how jazz trios should work together. You'll enjoy deep-black backgrounds, pointillistic details, and staggering dynamics. Experienced via UD1S, Sunday at the Village Vanguard places Evans and his esteemed colleagues in your listening room. Every note, breath, and movement captured by the microphones are reproduced with exquisite accuracy and wowing clarity.

The deluxe packaging and gorgeous presentation of this Sunday at the Village Vanguard pressing befit its extremely select status. Housed in an opulent box, this UD1S edition contains special jackets and a unique insert that further illuminate the splendor of the recording. No expense has been spared. Aurally and visually, this Sunday at the Village Vanguard is a curatorial artifact meant to be preserved, poured over, touched, and examined. It is made for discerning listeners that prize sound and creativity, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in the music – and everything involved with the album, from the graphics to the textures.

Recorded just ten days before bassist Scott LaFaro perished in a car accident, Sunday at the Village Vanguard changed the way jazz trios were perceived by audiences and musicians alike. Up until Evans, LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian proved otherwise, a trio configuration meant two sidemen served as rhythmic support to spotlight the virtuosity of a headline performer or primary soloist. Here, the three instrumentalists operate in complete unison and achieve supreme democratic balance. Expressing their intent via shared conversations, they alight on sublime pieces flush with thematic discovery, improvisational dialog, and raw feeling.

A quest for discovery informs the music as well as the playing. Evans' lyrical pianism met at every turn by LaFaro's chorded responses and harmonic counterpoints. Indeed, Sunday at the Village Vanguard remains LaFaro's standout moment, his soloing helping shape the melodies and striking a keen equilibrium between modality and traditionalism. Joining poignant renditions of Miles Davis, Cole Porter, and Gershwin numbers, two LaFaro originals – "Jade Visions" and the opening "Gloria's Step" – further demonstrate his genius. They furnish the album a supernatural aura that matches the jovial mood of the musicians. It's impossible to think this album could be improved in any way. Particularly now that this UD1S pressing brings the Village Vanguard into your room. Prepare to witness history. Again and again.

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More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior 
Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the UHQR (Ultra High-Quality Record) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts" are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. The exclusive nature of these very limited pressings guarantees that every UD1S pressing serves as an immaculate replica of the lacquer sourced directly from the original master tape. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.

f you had a time machine with the ability to project you into the past, how would you use it? Forget about going back and changing history. Anyone knows that such meddling would disrupt the time-space continuum and create more havoc than good.

Let’s say you can only travel backwards and watch history unfold. One of the dates I would likely set the time machine for is June 25, 1961. The place would be New York’s Village Vanguard jazz club, and the purpose would be to hear this historic performance by Bill Evans on piano with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Originally released as Riverside 376 (mono) and 9376 (stereo) and followed by its companion album from the same sessions, Waltz For Debby [Riverside 399/9399], Sunday at the Village Vanguard came to define jazz-trio playing. It’s difficult to think of many jazz LPs where the players seemed to anticipate each other’s direction with such telepathic suasion. It was never to be re-created with the same trio, because LaFaro died in an auto accident days after the sessions. Most people change the LPs on their desert-island list from one day to the next, as mood changes, but it’s hard for me to think that Sunday at the Village Vanguard would ever drop off my list. How could I replace perfection?

The Audio Beat Sound 5/5 - I’ve owned many copies of the original mono and stereo LPs, as well as the later Orpheum Productions reissue. As with Kind of Blue, originals have always been like catnip to collectors, with prices reaching into four figures for truly minty copies. The sad truth is that there were few such copies, because Riverside seemed to churn out more than its share of off-center spindle holes and noisy pressings. Most collectors knew the music from the Original Jazz Classics reissue, which is still in print and allows for an inexpensive way to enjoy great music with a healthy dose of audiophile-grade sound. Analogue Productions’ 45rpm two-LP reissue, which is out of print. was far and away the best way to hear this music for those who also demand great sound. When that version was first released, I doubted that its sound could ever be improved upon.

I was wrong. This second release in Mobile Fidelity’s One-Step series takes an incredible-sounding LP up several notches. There is nothing "hi-fi" about the new two-LP 45rpm set: MoFi simply unearths more body and air from the tapes, resulting in a vivid and truly musical re-creation. If the tapes have degraded, I can’t hear any evidence of it on this release. These LPs sound like the best analog recording chain was set up and used to record the performance yesterday.

This box set is not inexpensive, but that really doesn't matter, because you can no longer buy it for that price. All 3000 copies sold out in advance of the album's actual release, and many of them went to speculators who are now trying to fetch multiples of the list price on eBay. So now you’ll have to use your time machine to take you back six months, when Sunday at the Village Vanguard was available as a pre-order. Lacking that bit of magic, you'll have to pay dearly for a copy. But you can still keep your ear to the ground and not miss the next One-Step pre-order announcement.

Limit two copies per customer.

L E S S I S M O R E . THE ULTIMATE ANALOG EXPERIENCE