Speakers Corner / Columbia CS 8072 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl
AAA 100% Analogue - Limited Edition - Columbia CS 8072
Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Pressed at Pallas Germany
Duke Ellington’s Newport 1958 it’s from Speakers Corner, but like the Ray Charles and Better Carter and the We Get Requests albums above, it’s a must have - Positive Feedback
Roksan Xerxes’ ability to make sense of the data presented just makes you hungry for more.
This detail retrieval touches almost every aspect of the musical performance. It means that playing the 1958 Duke Ellington concert at Newport (Speakers Corner, 180g) both the size (as in imagery) and scale (as in dynamics) of the band was fully realised. It also has that sense of microdynamic subtlety often overlooked when things get loud. It might sound strange, but alongside piano and vocals, the sound of applause is often a fine arbiter of performance, especially as the applause decays. If it sounds like pink noise slowly breaking down into crackle, then something’s amiss, but here it sounded like an audience, then a handful of appreciative listeners, putting their hands together. HIFI +
The appearance of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival was such a tremendous success that it was quite natural that organizer George Wein invited the band to take part again in 1958. All the soloists were still around, and in addition Gerry Mulligan was invited to perform a duet with Harry Carney ("Prima Bara Dubla"). What an event to look forward to!
But this time the old diehards were disappointed: the Duke had had some new tunes written for him, which of course didn’t trigger any memories: "El Gato", with Cat Anderson playing with the rest of the trumpet section, a new composition ("Happy Reunion") for Paul Gonsalves on the tenor saxophone, and then some compositions which were reminiscent of Debussy, and arrangements by Billy Strayhorn. Also there was a fantastic flugelhorn solo by Clark Terry in "Juniflip". The highlight of the concert, though, was when the kings of the baritone sax, Gerry Mulligan and Harry Carney, stood in the limelight, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra could celebrate a similar triumph to that of 1956.
More than 50 years later, these recordings made at the Newport Jazz Festival will have you sitting on the edge of your seat!
Two years after his major success at the Newport Jazz Festival, Duke Ellington returned for another excellent if somewhat overlooked performance. The set is highlighted by an exciting trumpet feature ("El Gato"), "Jazz Festival Jazz" (which has cool and hot sections with impressions of both modern and New Orleans jazz), "Mr. Gentle and Mr. Cool," and a showcase for Clark Terry on flugelhorn ("Juniflip"). A special treat is baritonist Gerry Mulligan's only recording with Ellington, "Prima Bara Dubla," in which he duets with the other great master of the baritone sax, Harry Carney.
Roksan Xerxes’ ability to make sense of the data presented just makes you hungry for more.
This detail retrieval touches almost every aspect of the musical performance. It means that playing the 1958 Duke Ellington concert at Newport (Speakers Corner, 180g) both the size (as in imagery) and scale (as in dynamics) of the band was fully realised. It also has that sense of microdynamic subtlety often overlooked when things get loud. It might sound strange, but alongside piano and vocals, the sound of applause is often a fine arbiter of performance, especially as the applause decays. If it sounds like pink noise slowly breaking down into crackle, then something’s amiss, but here it sounded like an audience, then a handful of appreciative listeners, putting their hands together. HIFI +
Musicians:
- Duke Ellington (arranger, conductor, piano)
- Johnny Hodges (saxophone)
- Russell Procope (saxophone)
- Gerry Mulligan (bassoon)
- Ray Nance (trumpet)
- Britt Woodman (trombone)
- Jimmy Wood (bass)
- Sam Woodyard (drums)
Recording: July 1958 live at the Newport Jazz Festival
Production: Irving Townsend
Track Listing:
1. Just Scratchin' The Surface
2. El Gato
3. Happy Reunion
4. Multicolored Blue
5. Princess Blue
6. Jazz Festival Jazz
7. Mr. Gentle And Mr. Cool
8. Juniflip
9. Prima Bara Dubla
10. Hi Fi Fo Fum
20 Years pure Analogue
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.
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!
