[Karlosak]

I'm reposting this great news from AA and HFR:

Some big news from David Chesky, owner of Chesky Records, this week.

He says the label plans to not only start their new New York Sessions Jazz SACD releases on August 15th - but they now plan to release all Chesky Albums as Single Inventory SACDs a year from now in August 2007.

Chesky Announces Plans to Move to An All Super Audio CD Release Schedule in 2007

 

[Oliver :)]

Excellent, and just logical from the economical perspective.

 

[bizkid]

Sorry if this is too offtopic, but what is all the hype about chesky? I bought Rebecca Pidgeons "retrospective" on that label yesterday and honestly i dont like the recording quality on more than half the tracks, its average by best. There's too much use of reverb (or real room ambience) and everything sounds a little muddy. Ambience is nice but i've heard better and with more transparency at the same time.

 

[FalconP]

If the cost of manufacturing a hybrid SACD is not much more than that of a CD, then Chesky's move indeed makes financial sense.

And let's see whether labels that record in DSD (e.g. Linn and Telarc) will follow suit.

 

[tom hankins]

This is great news!

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP And let's see whether labels that record in DSD (e.g. Linn and Telarc) will follow suit.

Telarc recently released a Randy Brecker SACD that's single-inventory. However, Telarc's other upcoming SACD releases all have separate CD and SACD versions.

 

[LFF]

That's awesome news!

 

[Uncle Erik]

I hadn't heard of Chesky before, and just checked out their website. I'm familiar with the classical works, but not so much with the rest of their catalog. Any recommendations? I'd like to try out some new music.

Also, it's wonderful that SACD is getting a little more support. I'm becoming more of a convert with each SACD I pick up. And that CE595 was a complete bargain.

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik I hadn't heard of Chesky before, and just checked out their website. I'm familiar with the classical works, but not so much with the rest of their catalog. Any recommendations? I'd like to try out some new music.

Click on this link, then click on the titles with stars for reviews from owners of these SACDs.

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik I'm familiar with the classical works, but not so much with the rest of their catalog. Any recommendations?

Oh yeah, if you're into jazz. Check out McCoy Tyner's New York Reunion; Clark Terry's Live at the Village Gate, The Second Set, and One on One; and Rosa Passos & Ron Carter's Entre Amigos, if you're interested in Bossa Nova.

Being an audiophile record label, I'm sure they have their share of dogs, too, but these are all excellent performances and sonics.

 

[Karlosak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bizkid Sorry if this is too offtopic, but what is all the hype about chesky? I bought Rebecca Pidgeons "retrospective" on that label yesterday and honestly i dont like the recording quality on more than half the tracks, its average by best. There's too much use of reverb (or real room ambience) and everything sounds a little muddy. Ambience is nice but i've heard better and with more transparency at the same time.

bizkid,
at first listen long time ago, Chesky records sounded strange to me. It was in direct contrast to what I was used to. But after a while I realized how natural they were and how much EQ and other tricks the others were using. I don't own Retrospective which is a compilation of Rebecca's best. But Raven, which I have, sounds great.
I suggest you give Cheskys more time. There is definitely no artificial reverb, it's only the room acoustics what you hear. Since Chesky uses only minimum mics and far-miking (is that the correct term?), their records are great for headphones, with great soundstage and no unnatural stereo effect. I care much less for other respected audiophile label, TELARC. Many of their recordings suffer from close-miking and hard stereo (quite unpleasant with headphones). Yes, the details might be out of this world, but it's unnatural and gets fatiguing really quickly.
IMHO, Chesky makes the best non-classical recordings out there.

Though their repertoire is another thing...