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Daria Toffali "Caminhos Cruzados - Antonio Carlos Jobim Song Book" Venus cd

New to me Jobim songbook.Despite the pumped up Venus sound, and the language barrier, I like these stark interpretations.



Bass – Nicola Barbon
Drums – Roberto Facchinetti
Lead Vocals – Daria Toffali
Piano – Massimo Faraò

In from cdjapan.co.jp

Stockholm Swing All Stars "In the Spirit of Duke Ellington"

Interesting interpretations with a different feel than the Ellington band's.



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From the shelves

Wow. I haven't revisited this recording in some time.

This dance remix disc will challenge your system. It's a good tool . . . if you get distortion-free clarity and a huge dynamic punch from this recording, your system can handle almost anything!

Monday Michiru "Alter Ego: Nexus Remixed"

The SEWE300B is bringing it.



From the shelves

Tom Lellis & Tohino "Tonight" Adventure Music cd

Great early morning music.



From the shelves

Revisiting this new SHM-SACD from Japan. . . wow, this sounds good.

It's the "over-dubbed" version and is probably the best I've ever heard this. Beautiful lp facsimile gatefold packaging as well. Part of the Acoustic Sound SACD series.



In from cdjapan.co.jp

Jason Palmer "Songbook"

Jason Palmer: trumpet; Greg Osby: alto saxophone; Ravi Coltrane: tenor saxophone; Warren Wolf: vibes; Leo Genovese: Fender Rhodes, piano; Matt Brewer: bass; Tommy Crane: drums.







From the shelves

Awesome!  Great find.

A worthy pursuit. I think I have all of them but the very latest. .. just a matter of time.

Right now
Miles Davis "E.S.P." Sony SRCS 9709 lp facsimile DSD remastered cd



From the shelves

Paul Desmond "Pure Desmond" CTI cd 2003

Desmond considered this an Ed Bickert album more than his; Bickert is well presented and featured. (Bickert is on guitar, and Ron Carter on bass, and Connie Kay on drums).

I didn't realize until today how different the cd versions are from the original LP, and how the two cd versions differed. Chronicled here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Desmond



From the shelves

Tom Varner “Second Communion,” Omnitone cd, full of Don Cherry compositions.

"Bobby Gordon Plays Bing" Arbors Jazz cd



From the shelves

Weather Report "8:30" Sony SRCS 9147~8 lp facsimile 2 cd set, disc 1



I saw Weather Report for the second time the year this was released. In the late 'seventies and early 'eighties I loved this band!

From the shelves
'

Antonio Carlos Jobim "Passarim" Verve cd



This is a beautiful album. I certainly wish Universal would remaster and remix this one, it would really shine.

From the shelves

Alex Koo "Appleblueseagreen" Clever Tree Records cd



Composed By, Piano, Keyboards, Drums – Alex Koo
Tenor Saxophone – Mark Turner
Trumpet – Ralph Alessi

in from eBay

I just received this one from an eBay seller today.

Antonio Carlos Jobim, Wave  UHQCD / MQA - 24bit Remaster
Obviously, I couldn't get it spinning fast enough at first. Plastic!
I have six more coming soon.

Yes, Lon, you've influenced me to gather more for my collection after many hours of streaming and wishing.

I see a lot of older albums offered as "Blu-spec" versions.

Has anyone had experience with this format?
I honestly do not see the point. Possibly better resolution, but no increase in content "size" over Redbook?  Seems like a BS marketing ploy.

What am I missing?

I have not bought any, BTW. I am just interested and often this type of format is the only version available for certain items.

Blu-Spec CD and it's successor Blu-Spec CD2 are Sony proprietary processes for mastering and pressing cds, adapted from the way that Blu-ray discs are mastered and pressed. From an article: "Instead of a traditional infra-red laser, a blue laser is used for recording the pits on the CD master that is needed for disc replication. The blue laser purportedly creates more precise pits, which Sony claims reduces distortion in the optical read-out process."

I've been collecting these. I didn't want to but honestly. . . I hear improvements with the process and when I have been able to compare the same mastering in regular redbook and those made with this process. . .sometimes there is a really strong difference in favor of the Blu-Spec, especially on my best transports or players.

Damn it. Because I have bought a lot and will continue. I have bought every Miles Davis they have released.* The most difference I have heard is comparing a disc of the US edition of the first Miles Davis Bootleg Series volume with the Sony Japanese Blu-Spec version. Wow. Frequencies were both wider and deeper and smoother. I have also bought all the Blu-Spec CD2 releases of Bob Dylan that were not available as Mobile Fidelity SACDs and comparing them even to the US SACDs Columbia put out they sounded better to me in my main system.

So. . . what you are missing is possibly the very best digital versions of a title. Now I'll confess that playing them in my audio/visual system through the Oppo UDP-205 and CSP3 with the mods and either the Taboo Mk IV with the mods or the very very nice DALAUDIO amp. . .the differences are not as pronounced. But I rarely listen to cds via that system, it's either higher res music or video/TV content.

I reluctantly say that they are worth exploring if you have a favorite album you want to hear in really good Redbook cd sound.

*And they are releasing a few dozen in November, mostly the same titles, again (I don't know if they will be using the same masters or remastering them) and a few with the Blu-Spec process for the first time, and a few that have only had Blu-Spec treatment in a box set (Bootleg Series or Complete Mono Album Collection sets) are now being released separately.

Gary Peacock "Tales of Another" ECM Japan cd

With Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette. The Trio from a different angle so to speak.



From the shelves

Thanks, Lon, for your comments regarding Blu-spec recordings.
The CDJapan listing of November releases looks enticing. For now, I intend to stick to titles I do not yet own.
An exception might be the Miles At Fillmore releases.

An analogy of your description comes to mind, but in reverse.

I do not golf, but, possibly due to an over stoked "Y" chromosome or two  in need of a hobble, I do follow some.
In an interview (can't recall which golf pro) a question was asked as to why this top golfer did not use the latest $45K super tech club sets.
His response was about how those specialty sets can help the novice trying to improve their game, but none of that club technology really affects his game. But in the hands of a novice, great improvements can be had exploring the new tech.

In reverse, this new-ish disc format will help those with top lever gear, but those of us still using entry level equipment, maybe not so much.

Before I had asked the question here, I kind of got the same gist from reading elsewhere. Some typical comments did not pass the snake oil sniff test for me.

The only ones I plan order that I have on standard Redbook are the Fillmore selections.
I'll fill the box a bit more to offset the overall shipping costs a bit.

But, YEAH!  I'm looking forward to November releases so I can give them a try on my own.
Thanks, again!

NO interest in the Springsteen releases. I never liked his noise when he was popular.

One of my sentimental favorites, this copy my newest, a Mono. I cleaned some records today that I haven't cleaned since I bought them and this one really shines now in several ways.

Jack Teagarden "Mis'ry and the Blues" Verve mono LP



From the shelves

Oscar Peterson "Plays Duke Ellington" Pablo cd

A compilation of Oscar playing Duke compositions from Pablo sessions. Really showcases Oscar's immense talent.



from the shelves

Yes, Airto is Brazilian, and his wife is the singer Flora Purim.

Airto made his US break as a part of Miles Davis' group for the sessions after "Bitches Brew" and the records "Miles Davis at Fillmore" etc. And then he went on to be the first percussionist for Weather Report, being on the first album of theirs. And joined up with Chick Corea for the first albums of "Return to Forever," along with his wife Flora.

I saw him with Flora shortly thereafter. I fell in love with Flora through her singing. I still get warm and fuzzy listening to her.

"Free" was his first leader date I believe, on CTI. Enjoy!

Yes, I agree about the language differences. I find that the emotion comes through, and the voice is more like an instrument, which has made me in the past consider a voice singing in English as more like an instrument as well.

That Deodata/Airto is okay. I think they printed a LOT of them because Deodata was enjoying a surge of popularity at the time. Airto albums to consider are "Identity" and "Fingers"--I really like those.

I would say, "OK,"  is pushing it. The Deodato pairing is decent music, but it did not fit most of my crooks.

Thanks for the heads up!
I have "Fingers" in the vac right now. "Identity" and "The Other Side Of This"  are also in the stack. Seems someone agreed with you. I am curious as to why the cover of "Fingers" is so creepy, so I'm going to give it a shot.

Correction from earlier: make it three albums featuring the loving couple as a dual headline, "The Magicians,"  "Humble People"  and "Colours Of Life"

Skipping those duets for now and moving on to some Jack DeJohnette in a bit.
I have never heard "Cosmic Chicken" for instance. A small stack from him includes three from this century, all live. One has Bobby McFerrin on it. I'm not sure how deep I'll go here.
I won't be playing McFerrin.