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

Impex - IMP6042 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl -  AAA  

5000 Limited Edition - Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman

Pressed at RTI. Highly recommended for music and sound! 9/10 Michael Fremer

Another masterpiece from Impex Records, Matador is a real sleeper The sound stage is deep and wide with extensive air and density. Top to bottom dynamics are off the chart. Instruments are presented with a lifelike pitch, timbre and tone that puts them right there in your listening room. I even love the art work on the LP cover! Congrats to Abey Fonn and the entire Impex team on another winner! - Positive Feedack

Numbered, Limited Edition - 5000 Copies!
Available On All-Analog HQ-180 For The First Time Ever!
Mastered by Chris Bellman From The Original Analog Master Tapes!
Pressed at RTI!

Sometimes in the course of our exploration of potential titles to reissue, we come across a true gem that somehow escaped mainstream popularity. Our new LP of Matador by trumpeter Kenny Dorham and his quintet is the latest and perhaps most crystalline example of this.  When you hear it, you'll scratch your head raw that this under-appreciated gem has been missing for so long.

Working with a soulful Jackie McLean on alto, a loose and swinging Bobby Timmons on piano, and the locked-in rhythm section of Teddy Smith on bass and J.C. Moses on drums, the playing is spontaneous, energetic and expressive. Check out the frenetic interplay between Timmons and Moses during the long trailing section of "Melanie".

"Dorham and McLean, two of jazz' most passionate and lyrical players, are in very good form here. Helped by a varied set of material and an energized Timmons, they have fashioned an album of surpassing interest." - Ira Gitler, Downbeat Magazine, April 1963

Recorded in a single day in 1962, Matador contains the sprawling epic McLean-penned "Melanie" (a suite in three parts), as well as Dorham's smoldering "El Matador" and a stirring take on "Beautiful Love". Throughout the session, Timmons, Smith, and Moses provide sublime support while Dorham and McLean trade sinewy solos. Emotional musical exploration ties to readily approachable post-bop structure that make for a snappy, yet heady, mix of tunes that put a tap in your foot while engaging your head and heart.

Chris Bellman cut Matador from the original analog master tape (one of the few that survived the Universal warehouse fire of 2008, lucky for us) and the sound is revelatory! Tight acoustics of the Soundmaker Studios provide tightened bass, crystal-clear drums and beautifully rounded tones from Dorham's and McLean's horns. This is another fine example of Impex Records cutting through the fat of modern music-making to reveal the very essence of the music and the giant talents who created it. We are elated to bring this sadly-neglected classic back for true believers to add to their collection and (maybe more importantly) to a whole new generation to discover for the first time.

"Kenny Dorham's Matador can safely claim the all too common distinction of being a classic among jazz connoisseurs while virtually unknown to the casual listener... A fantastic session by any standard."- Brandon Burke, AllMusic 

Musicians

 

 

Impex Records is the exciting audiophile label from the team that brought you Cisco Music. With more than 20 years experience and 150 titles released, Cisco Music developed many of the techniques used by other labels to make higher quality 180-gram LPs, SACDs and Gold and aluminum CDs.

We brought definitive editions Jennifer Warnes' The Well, The Hunter and Famous Blue Raincoat in multiple formats, including a 45 rpm box set that Absolute Sound magazine declared "defines the state-of-the--art in vinyl playback." Other classic reissues we nurtured to fantastic rebirths include the jazz-rock perfection of Steely Dan's Aja, Joan Baez' Farewell Angelina, NathanMilstein's poetic interpretation of Dvorak's Violin Concerto and four exquisite 45-rpm Three Blind Mice LPs.

Even in our humbler origins we were trusted with the distribution and production of The Super Analogue Disc, the original audiophile 180-gram LPs. King Records recognized, from the very beginning, that Cisco Music brought unflinching passion to the music and unflailing dedication to the process of bringing that music to the most discerning listeners in the world.

Now as Impex Records some of the original Cisco staff (Abey Fonn, Robert Pincus and Robert Sliger), along with Robert Donnelly, will follow and expand our own high standards for a new generation of audiophile products. Analog products will always be cut using analog tapes and analog mastering at the finest mastering facilities like Sterling, Cohearent and Bernie Grundman--just as it should be. Gold CD's will always be cut with high-definition digital or analog tape transfers from original sources. We will introduce America to Sony's revolutionary Blu-Spec CD, which redefines production excellence in 16-bit digital playback.

With a singular vision for making the best records anywhere, Impex Records is poised to expand Cisco Music's peerless legacy well into the 21st century. It's going to be quite a journey and we look forward to your joining us. We have committed ourselves, with every new release, to your complete satisfaction.

RTI HQ-180 Vinyl

Record Technology is a world class record pressing plant located in Camarillo, California. We have been operating since 1974, pressing for most audiophile record labels and for many quality minded independent and major record labels from around the world.