180g 200g 45rpm Box Sets.

Sonny Stitt - Stitt Plays Bird - 180g LP

Product no.: SD1418

In stock

Sonny Stitt - Stitt Plays Bird - 180g LP

£39.99

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Available delivery methods: UK Tracked with Signature, UK Express, Airmail Tracked with Signature, UK Standard, Heavy Item

Description

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

Speakers Corner / Atlantic - SD-1418 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl -

AAA 100% Analogue - Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearant Audio

Limited Edition - Audiophile Mastering - Pressed at Pallas

Speakers Corner 30 Years Pure Analogue This LP is an Entirely Analogue Production

Awesome job by Kevin Gray - Sound 9.5/10 HIFI +

Deliciously remastered by the German label Speakers Corner Records to bring out the full dynamics and sonic delight of the stereo recording, you are treated to Sonny Stitt and his be-bop cohorts - Audiophile Audition

Sonny Stitt forged his own approach to playing bebop out of the sound and style of Charlie Parker, so this tribute album was a very logical project. With fine support from guitarist Jim Hall, pianist John Lewis, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Connie Kay, Stitt performs ten Parker compositions, plus Jay McShann's "Hootie Blues"; these renditions of "Now's the Time" and "Yardbird Suite" were previously unreleased. Stitt, who mastered bebop and could play hot licks in his sleep, is in top form on such numbers as "Constellation," "Confirmation," and "Ko-Ko," making this an essential item for straight-ahead jazz fans (although the prolific altoist would record eight other albums in 1963 alone).

It is widely known that Sonny Stitt didn’t want to be taken for Charlie 'Bird' Parker and changed from playing the alto to the tenor saxophone. Although false rumours pop up every now and then, the truth is that at the beginning of the 1940s Stitt independently developed the same be-bop licks as Parker without ever having heard him.
For "Stitt Plays Bird" Sonny had to unearth his old instrument and insert a new mouthpiece because Atlantic Records and their entrepreneurial president Ahmet Ertegun hoped for big sales figures. Which actually proved true.

One half of the modern jazz quartet provided the melodic and rhythmic basis for improvisations on eight 'hits' by Charlie Parker and one composition by his first employer Jay McShann. Added to this are the subtle, sensitive scatterings from Jim Hall and the emphatic beat from Richard Davis, both of which lend delicacy and pulse to the numbers. It’s hard to recommend a special track, but "Scrapple From The Apple" is just awesome! All the numbers are based on standards – just which they are can be found in the informative liner notes by the be-bop expert Ira Gitler. Atlantic’s logo “Full Dynamic Frequency Spectrum” is no longer a swindle in this new pressing and at last one can enjoy all nine titles in all their sonic glory.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head. All royalties and mechanical rights have been paid.

Recording: January 1963 at Atlantic Studios, New York City, by Tom Dowd
Production: Nesuhi Ertegun

Musicians:
Sonny Stitt, alto saxophone
John Lewis, piano
Jim Hall, guitar
Richard Davis, bass
Connie Kay, drums

1. Ornithology
   2. Scrapple From The Apple
   3. My Little Suede Shoes
   4. Parker's Mood
   5. Au Privave
   6. Ko-Ko
   7. Confirmation
   8. Hootie Blues
   9. Constellation

25 Years pure Analogue

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head

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.

60 Years 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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