Mobile Fidelity UDSACD 2086 - SACD Hybrid Stereo 

Numbered Limited  Edition - Plays On All CD Players

Half Speed Mastered by Kreig Wunderlich from the Original Master Tape at MFSL

Mastered on the Mobile Fidelity GAIN 2 Mastering Technology for Ultradisc UHR™  SACD   

The virtues of transferring an original master tape to DSD without added noise reduction, compression or EQ are apparent on this new SACD. It has none of the harshness that made earlier digital issues all but unlistenable, especially at higher playback levels. The trumpet image is solid and Miles’ bends, smears and quarter-tones can be heard in fine detail; brass and woodwinds are distributed in a left/right/center configuration that presents a surprisingly deep soundstage (Columbia’s 30th Street Studio was a former church with a 100 foot high ceiling). Percussion instruments sound distinct but not overbearing, and Paul Chambers’ supple bass has excellent low extension. Credit to Mobile Fidelity’s senior engineer Shawn R. Britton for his outstanding mastering work."Sketches of Spain" belongs in any core collection of American art music. The Mobile Fidelity release is highly recommended. Sound 5/5 HRAudio

 

Miles Davis and Gil Evans bridged styles and collaborated on high-concept projects a total of three times during their celebrated career. For their final act, they created Sketches of Spain, a peak moment in each luminary’s career and a transformative album that weds Spanish themes, lush orchestrations, romantic timbres, and Davis’ increasingly lyrical methods in a tender ceremony that continues to resonate more than five decades after its original release. Part of Mobile Fidelity’s Miles Davis catalog restoration series, the genre-defying 1960 classic has been given the ultimate white-gloves treatment. Mastered from the original master tapes  this exquisite SACD significantly expands the soundstage that frames the orchestra and digs deep to eradicate a dryness that many critics have found as an anathema to its overall enjoyment. Here, at last, is the full-figured perspective long deserved by the woodwinds, strings, and percussion, all of which come alive with previously unheard definition and detail. Indeed, in its three-decade-plus history,

 

Mobile Fidelity has never been prouder to have the honor of handling efforts as important as Davis’ key recordings. It’s why the label’s engineers have taken every available measure to insert listeners into the space occupied by Davis, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb, percussionist Elvin Jones, and the 18-piece orchestra. With both Evans and Davis attracted to the blues undercurrents permanently entrenched in the Spanish flamenco strains, listeners can finally wholly detect the myriad microdynamic tonalities, brooding ostinato devices, and minor pedal points that stamp the compositions with divine sensibility and goffered effect. Multi-note motifs, brief improvisational solos, fanfare sweeps, and contrapuntal exchanges inform the flamenco-spiced pieces, but so do unconventionally voiced instruments that come into full relief on this reissue. Davis’ Harmon-muted trumpet is abetted by an assortment of bassoons and French horns that create pleasing contrasts and sounds (pp, mf, ppp) that get to the heart of Sketches of Spain: splashes of color. Seldom, if ever, did Davis ever so expressively and liberally paint with color. And in Evans, he has a likewise-minded partner to help draw out variegated shades, adamantine layers, and striated distinctions. Whether it’s the somber mood piece of the standout “Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio),” renowned forDavis’ flugelhorn performance, or the folktale-based “Solea,” Mobile Fidelity’s enhanced Sketches of Spain transfixes with playing, ideas, and innovations that remain exclusive to this incomparable record.

 

 

Musicians: 

Miles Davis, trumpet, flugelhorn

Johnny Coles, trumpet

Paul Chambers, bass

Jimmy Cobb, drums

Elvin Jones, percussion

Gil Evans, arranger, conductor

Danny Bank, bass clarinet

Bill Barber, tuba

John Barrows, French horn

Albert Block, flute

James Buffington, French horn

Eddie Caine, flute, flugelhorn

Earl Chapin, French horn

Harold Feldman, clarinet, flute, oboe

Bernie Glow, trumpet

Dick Hixon, trombone

Taft Jordan, trumpet

Jack Knitzer, bassoon

Jose Mangual, percussion

Jimmy McAllister, tuba

Tony Miranda, French horn

Louis Mucci, trumpet

Romeo Penque, oboe

Janet Putnam, harp

Frank Rehak, trombone

Ernie Royal, trumpet

Joe Singer, French horn 

 

Selections: 

1. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)

2. Will O’ the Wisp

3. The Pan Piper

4. Saeta

5. Solea