Art Blakey - The Jazz Messengers - 180g 2LP Mono

Product no.: PPANCL897

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Art Blakey - The Jazz Messengers - 180g 2LP Mono
£42.99
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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

Pure Pleasure / Columbia PPAN CL897 - 180 Gram Virin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Pure Analogue Mastering  -  Pressed at Pallas Germany - Limited Edition

Mastered by Ray Staff at Air London - Five Bonus Tracks - CL 897 Columbia

 
Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers is a vital part of jazz history. The sound has the rawness of the mono recordings of this period. Liner notes by George Avakian (1956) and Kenny Washington (1997) are informative and precise. Audiophiles and jazz enthusiasts should welcome this album to their collection.  4.5/5 AudiophileAudition
 
Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the October 2011 Issue  Stereophile! 
 
What makes the most vital recordings from jazz's golden era so rewarding -- the spectacle of a bunch of masters working out their collective answer to an assortment of musical questions -- is represented here. The Jazz Messengers were an important part of jazz history, and this was among the group's finest recorded hours. 4.5/5   Music 4/5 Sound theAudiobeat 
 
The first composition by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, unfortunately, was only granted a short life and so excellent they were also common, as the foundation for a constant coming and going was so but placed in the group. Art Blakey at the time did not know that he would take it to the master is to turn promising talents adult jazz stars. He started with this band, which consisted of the Detroit trumpeter Donald Byrd, tenor saxophonist Hank the East Coast Mobley and pianist Horace Silver, the latter of which was from that time to the jazz legend. It was clear that, although there were close ties within the group, the star of Byrd would rise fastest and he should go shortly afterwards, for a short time replaced by Clifford Brown, then by Kenny Dorham. 
 
remarkable about this first recording of the band is the fact that many pieces of classic and ambassador of hard-Bops were highly respected and played a lot over the years by thousands of bands. "Nica's Dream" is the most famous, typical of the Calypso beats that Blakey especially appreciated at this time, with a catchy melody played by Byrd to hum along, pure and incarnate soul, drenched in unrequited blues. The recording of "The End Of A Love Affair" is one of those arrangements that are hard to beat, fully skillful rhythms change and a significant, generated by Mobley, Byrd tandem, typical for the group sound. "Ecaroh" (Horace spelled backwards) maintains the Latino beat, but puts him in a meaner context, a melody from a simple beauty, as they only had the pianist and Blakey at that time conceive and can call their own. "Infra Rae" is an inevitable exercise in hard bop and "Hank's Symphony" is, though no classic, innovative by the Asian-inspired introduction, Afro-Cuban bass and the wild force of a hurricane means of Blakey's faster, inspired and unleashed drum work. 
 
This 2LP version is an enhanced with five additional tracks output. There are two versions of the Calypso Shuffle-to-bop "Carol's Interlude", another version of the Originalboppers "Weird-O", the classic "Ill Wind" and "The Late Show" and a previously available studio version of Mobley's "Deciphering The Message "- with an erratic scattered melody. In retrospect, one could the Jazz Messengers easily as the eighth wonder of the world call, starting with this fine gearbeiteteten first work that has definitely passed their sample through time.
 
from the first bars of "Infra-Rae," the opening cut on this Columbia recording, you'll wonder if the wrong LP is in the sleeve. The tense swinging, the urgency and abandon, these are the elements of any one of dozens of Blue Note records from the middle 1950s. Peruse the lineup and it will all make sense. Art Blakey leads the first roster of the Jazz Messengers, jazz's original super group, which includes Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hank Mobley on sax, and Horace Silver on piano, Blue Note royalty all. This trio would lead several dozen Blue Note sessions throughout the '50s and '60s and help build the label's hard-bop foundation.
 
Eight of the tunes here are Mobley originals and two are from Silver, including the brilliantly probing "Nica's Dream," written for Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, the great patron of the New York City jazz scene in whose honor many numbers were written. Byrd and Mobley show tight interplay, foreshadowing what would come on various Blue Note dates they would share. Yet, it was Blakey's powerful drumming that held the center together. Kenny Washington, a drummer himself, wrote of Blakey, "The man could hear around the corner," a tribute to his nearly telepathic comping. He also possessed sticks of fire. You'll want to buckle up before the hard-charging "Hank's Symphony," which provides a crashing conclusion to the album.
 
There is a second LP populated with tracks recorded during the same sessions but not used. Only "Ill Wind," a jaunty interlude, caused me to wonder why it wasn't included. These tracks are from a different tape than those that were part of the original release. They sound slightly dryer, less visceral and less extended in the treble. The eight original tracks are examples of exceptional mono sound, displaying tonal purity and a soundstage that expands upon its one-channel origins in all dimensions. Original pressings of this album were mastered with Columbia's house EQ curve, which accounts for their midrange thinness and sharp treble. That's not the case here. The well-balanced sonics are all the better realized because of the velvety-black backgrounds of the Pallas pressing. The Jazz Messengers were an important part of jazz history, and this was among the group's finest recorded hours. 4.5/5   Music 4/5 Sound theAudiobeat 
 
Musicians:
Donald Byrd, trumpet
Hank Mobley, tenor sax
Horace Silver, piano
Doug Watkins, bass
Art Blakey, drums
 
Selections:
LP1 - Side 1: 
1. Infra-Rae
2. Nica's Dream
3. It's You Or No One
LP1 - Side 2: 
1. Ecaroh
2. Carol's Interlude
3. The End Of A Love Affair
4. Hank's Symphony
LP2 - Side 3: 
1. Weird-O*
2. Ill Wind*
3. Late Show*
LP2 - Side 4: 
1. Deciphering The Message*
2. Carol's Interlude (alt take)*
 
*Bonus Tracks Not On Original LP
 
Recording: April and May 1956 by Tony Janick at the Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City 
production George Avakian
 
Art Blakey - The Jazz Messengers - 180g 2LP
 
 
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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.

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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

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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