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

Pure Pleasure / Atlantic - PPAN SD 1609- 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering - Limited Edition - Atlantic SD 1609  

Mastered by Ray Staff at Air Mastering London  - Pressed  at Pallas Germany 

hi-fi + Dennis Davis, February 2016  Recording 90/100   Music 90/100

This is a fine sonic upgrade from PurePleasure, and the aural pleasures provided by Weston and company hold up well over fifty years later. - AudiophileAudition

Those who know Randy Weston, know him for a handful of Riverside titles stashed away in their collections, or perhaps from his well received 2013 The Roots Of The Blues CD, with Billie Harper. But Weston has released dozens of albums over a long career as a recording artist stretching back to 1954, and is part responsible for the incorporation of any African rhythm and melody into bob jazz. One of his earliest achievements in this regard was this set recorded in 1964, which was picked up by Atlantic Records in 1972 and released in the form here reproduced by Pure Pleasure.  Among his sidemen are arranger Ray Copeland on trumpet and Booker Ervin on tenor sax, both of whom are given plenty of space to solo. The first three songs are so catchy and any one could have been a `hit' by jazz standards. Three Afro-Caribbean slow burners follow, with one complete side. This is an excellent session and should lead those relatively new to Western to seek out more of his catalogue. Weston recorded at Nola Recording Studios in Manhattan near Carnegie hall: almost famous for being the studio where 13-year-old Barbra Streisand pad to have her own private label first record cut

 When this set was recorded in 1964, pianist Randy Weston had no luck interesting any label to release the music, so he came out with it independently on his tiny Bakton company & then in 1972 Atlantic released the performances. It is surprising that no company in the mid-1960s signed Weston up because "Willie's Tune" from the set had the potential to catch on, "Berkshire Blues" is somewhat known and the mixture of accessible bop with African rhythms overall is appealing. Trumpeter Ray Copeland was responsible for the arrangements while Weston contributed all but one of the songs. Copeland and the great tenor Booker Ervin have their share of solo space, bassist Vishnu Wood and drummer Lenny McBrowne are fine in support, and on three numbers the percussion of Big Black and Sir Harold Murray are added; Big Black also sings on "Congolese Children".

Randy Weston has long been an important and highly original pianist and composer within musicians' circles. This album, which Randy produced and released himself in limited edition, is among his finest works and has become a valuable collectors' item among those of us who have known of its existence.1972 Michael Cuscuna
 
Africa, the cradle of civilization, is my ancestral home, the home of my spirit and my soul. Africa has always been part of me, and I knew I'd have to go there sooner or later. In 1961 I finally did and again in 1963, both times to Nigeria. Then my sextet and I toured fourteen countries in West and North Africa in 1967, and in 1968 I went back to stay; I’ve been living in Tangier, Morocco ever since.

For me, the most compelling aspect of African culture, North, South, East and West, is its music, magnificent in its diversity, with the "true drums" - African rhythms - always at heart. The music of no other civilization can rival that of Africa in the complexity and subtlety of its rhythms. All modern music, no matter what it's called - jazz, gospel, Latin, rock, bossa nova, calypso, samba, soul, the blues, even the "freedom" music of the avant-garde - is in debt to Africa rhythms

The album, especially the composition African Cookbook, is in very heavy debt; to Africa. The melody evokes North Africa and the rhythms come from all over Africa. I knew the rhythms were African, of course, but I didn't realize how universally African they were until the 1967 tour when Africans in nearly every I country we visited claimed the rhythms in Cookbook as their own, as typical of Ghana or Gabon or Upper Volta or Morocco or wherever. That's pretty heavy!

An excellent outing, infectiously listenable!!

Musicians:

Randy Weston, piano
Ray Copeland, trumpet
Booker Ervin, tenor saxophone
Vishnu Wood, bass
Lenny McBrowne, drums
Big Black, congas
Sir Harold Murray, percussion

Selections:
1. Berkshire Blues
2. Portrait of Vivian
3. Willie's Tune
4. Niger Mambo
5. African Cookbook
6. Congolese Children
7. Blues for Five Reasons

Recorded October 1964 at Nola Penthouse Studios, New York.

Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources

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 

Pre Analogue Audiophile Mastering
 
Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 Gram Virgin Vnyl
 
Released in Limited Quantities

"Based upon the diversity of music, quality of product and their extraordinary rate of progress, Pure Pleasure Records is our re-issue record company of the year."  - hi-fi+