[EdipisReks]

i picked up the XRCD version of this recently, mostly so i could hear the supposed "greatest jazz recording evar!11!!" i gotta say, it's not the most original jazz recording i've heard, but damn if it isn't just like sitting at a real performance at a little funky coffee shop. i thought Patricia Barber's Companion was very realistic (the first time i listened to it i kept turning my head trying to figure out where this weird noise was coming from in my room only to realize that it was the clack of silverware on the recording), but Jazz at the Pawnshop is in another league, in this regard. if only Eric Dolphy or Mingus had been recorded like this...

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks ....but Jazz at the Pawnshop is in another league, in this regard. if only Eric Dolphy or Mingus had been recorded like this...

You hit the nail on the head with that last sentence. While the recording quality of JATPS may be "in another league" the quality of the music is strictly minor league and in the end that counts for a whole lot more. Give me Louie Armstrong and his Hot Five recorded in poor fidelity mono anyday over some no name Swedes on the ""greatest jazz recording ever!". It's a no brainer. And let's not forget Dolphy, Mingus, Miles, Coltrane, Duke, Basie, Ella, Billie, Young, Webster, Sonny, Tatum, .......

 

[tonym]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks if only Eric Dolphy or Mingus had been recorded like this...

I dunno, I quite like Mal Waldron's out-of-tune piano on the Five Spot date

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks ...only to realize that it was the clack of silverware on the recording...

a live jazz recording that is not quite as well done, but is still rich enough to retain those gee-whiz moments of audience chatter and general ambience... and has some excellent music, to boot:


Jimmy Smith - Root Down


this album is a departure from Smith's 50s/60s bop and post-bop output. he really embraces the funk fusion of the 70s, and basically gives the organ pretenders out there a lesson in real, rootsified jazz.

the sound quality is just gravy. this is an album i never get tired of listening to.

 

[EdipisReks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax a live jazz recording that is not quite as well done, but is still rich enough to retain those gee-whiz moments of audience chatter and general ambience... and has some excellent music, to boot: Jimmy Smith - Root Down this album is a departure from Smith's 50s/60s bop and post-bop output. he really embraces the funk fusion of the 70s, and basically gives the organ pretenders out there a lesson in real, rootsified jazz. the sound quality is just gravy. this is an album i never get tired of listening to.

awesome! i'll check that album out.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks awesome! i'll check that album out.

cool... please let me know how you like it!

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax a live jazz recording that is not quite as well done, but is still rich enough to retain those gee-whiz moments of audience chatter and general ambience... and has some excellent music, to boot: Jimmy Smith - Root Down this album is a departure from Smith's 50s/60s bop and post-bop output. he really embraces the funk fusion of the 70s, and basically gives the organ pretenders out there a lesson in real, rootsified jazz. the sound quality is just gravy. this is an album i never get tired of listening to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks awesome! i'll check that album out.

Ditto and thanks for the tip!

Here's another great sounding live jazz recording with outstanding music:

Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble - Cape Town Shuffle: Live at Hot House Delmark CD 545, 2003 I believe that this is CD is still in print and readily available via any major retail or e-tail CD store.

Ernest Dawkins is a is Chicago based sax player and band leader and graduate of the AACM school of advanced musical mayham and good times. Along with the New Horizons Ensemble, Dawkins has been treating the good people of Chicago to some first rate jazz for well over ten years. Luckly for the rest of us Delmark managed to capture this fine working band in excellent sound on a typical night in the Windy City.

This live recording has that "you are there" feel to it, the bass snaps, the drums crack, the cymbals sparkle and the horns are out in front without being too overwhelming.

As an added bonus, so rare on your standard "audiophile" release, the quality of the music matches, if not exceeds, the quality of the recording. There are only four tunes on the 65 minute long disc and no tune is less than 14 minutes long. This is not music for the background, it demands to be heard and felt. While Dawkins and company are not "out there" squawkers and screamers, they are damn good shouters, as in their music is steeped in the blues tradition and they bring it on home with force and meaning but always manage to have a grand old time in the process. Well worth checking out.

 

[wolfB]

I don't know if this is available on CD, but if you like JATPS, you'd love Jazz Party In Stereo. Ellington's Band with 9 percussionists, and there's Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie and Jimmy Rushing on it.

 

[milkpowder]

If you liked Jazz at the Pawnshop, why don't you try Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 as well? The music is also extraordinarily recorded and wonderfully performed. I'm not sure if there's an XRCD version around though. I own a red book copy.

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder If you liked Jazz at the Pawnshop, why don't you try Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 as well? The music is also extraordinarily recorded and wonderfully performed. I'm not sure if there's an XRCD version around though. I own a red book copy.

except that, while he loves the sound, he doesn't really like the music on it.

personally, i get more depressed by great-sounding albums with mediocre music than by crappy sounding albums with great music.

 

[milkpowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicAjax except that, while he loves the sound, he doesn't really like the music on it. personally, i get more depressed by great-sounding albums with mediocre music than by crappy sounding albums with great music.

On the contrary, I really like it...

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder On the contrary, I really like it...

sorry... i didn't mean to insinuate that JATPS has mediocre music... i was speaking generally. JATPS simply isn't my cup o' stew.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdipisReks i picked up the XRCD version of this recently, mostly so i could hear the supposed "greatest jazz recording evar!11!!" i gotta say, it's not the most original jazz recording i've heard, but damn if it isn't just like sitting at a real performance at a little funky coffee shop. i thought Patricia Barber's Companion was very realistic (the first time i listened to it i kept turning my head trying to figure out where this weird noise was coming from in my room only to realize that it was the clack of silverware on the recording), but Jazz at the Pawnshop is in another league, in this regard. if only Eric Dolphy or Mingus had been recorded like this...

This has been one of the classic audiophile recordings used to judge equipment recreation/presentation of soundstage and ambience since it was first released on audiophile analog vinyl. Pretty neat.

 

[ralphp@optonline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee This has been one of the classic audiophile recordings used to judge equipment recreation/presentation of soundstage and ambience since it was first released on audiophile analog vinyl. Pretty neat.

Hi Peter and et al,

As you may remember I stated to you a while back that I also spend time over at the Stereophile forum under the name "Jazzfan" (please don't ask about my user name here at head-fi, I've asked to have it changed but no luck so far) and of course the subject of Jazz at the Pawn Shop has come up and been beaten to death on the Jazz section of that forum. Here is a link to one of the JATPS threads, it makes for an interesting read and is quite on topic to this discussion.

http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/s...age=1#Post1305

 

[VicAjax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline Hi Peter and et al, As you may remember I stated to you a while back that I also spend time over at the Stereophile forum under the name "Jazzfan" (please don't ask about my user name here at head-fi, I've asked to have it changed but no luck so far) and of course the subject of Jazz at the Pawn Shop has come up and been beaten to death on the Jazz section of that forum. Here is a link to one of the JATPS threads, it makes for an interesting read and is quite on topic to this discussion. http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/s...age=1#Post1305

that pretty much sums up my feelings about Pawn Shop, diplomacy be damned.