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Fantasy, Inc. owns many of the most important labels in jazz history, including Prestige, Riverside, Contemporary, Fantasy and Pablo. What makes these imprints the best is the collective legendary roster of musicians. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk and on and on. These are the kings of jazz, and Fantasy owns the throne. Acoustic Sounds' own label, Analogue Productions, licensed what they considered to be the 25 most-classic titles from this vast catalog. There's no disputing the validity of their selections. This limited-edition series does in fact contain several of the best jazz albums ever. Combining their selection of titles with their means of production ‹ that being the use of top-flight facilities like AcousTech Mastering and the Record Technology, Inc. pressing plant -- Analogue Productions has created the series of the century.
Prestige is represented with two seminal Miles Davis Quintet albums (Cookin', Relaxin') plus the trumpeter's all-star conclave Bags' Groove; definitive performances by tenor sax giants Sonny Rollins (Saxophone Colossus) and John Coltrane (Soultrane), as well as the pair's only meeting on record (Tenor Madness); more immortal saxophony by Gene Ammons (Boss Tenor) and Coleman Hawkins with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (Night Hawk); and a pair of collaborative gems from the label's Bluesville subsidiary by Lightnin' Hopkins/Sonny Terry (Last Night Blues) and Willie Dixon/Memphis Slim (Willie's Blues).
Another New York powerhouse, Riverside Records, contributes three eloquent collections by the Bill Evans trio (Waltz for Debby, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Moon Beams), plus Evans' encounter with Cannonball Adderley (Know What I Mean?); masterpieces by Thelonious Monk with Rollins (Brilliant Corners) and Coltrane (Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane); and some of the most inspired works of legendary trumpeter Chet Baker (Chet) and guitarist Wes Montgomery (Full House).
From Los Angeles comes three saxophone gems on Contemporary by Rollins (Way Out West), Art Pepper (Meets the Rhythm Section) and Ben Webster (At the Renaissance), and three of Pablo's best piano sessions featuring Count Basie twice (with his legendary big band on 88 Basie Street, and communing with Oscar Peterson on The Time Keepers) and Duke Ellington in his final recording (Duke's Big 4).
Fantasy's own classics are represented by the Vince Guaraldi hit that helpe popularize bossa nova in the U.S. (Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus). A true array of classic and modern jazz masters, sounding better than ever.
Blumenthal has been a jazz critic since 1969, contributing to publications such as Rolling Stone, Down Beat, JazzTimes and The Boston Globe. In 1999 and 2000, Blumenthal won Grammy awards for best album notes.
-- Bob Blumenthal
"I think you will find that this new series is going to be the most pure and dynamic re-creations of the original master tapes we have ever heard."
-- Steve Hoffman
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Here's How It Was Done:
Using only the original analog master tapes, the renowned team of Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray remastered and cut all of the titles at AcousTech Mastering, which features a pure Class-A disc-cutting system. AcousTech is located at Record Technology, Inc., the plant where the vinyl was pressed. It is a tremendous sonic advantage to have the pressing plant, plating department and mastering room in the same facility as Steve and Kevin could cut a lacquer and have it plated immediately. This prevents the degradation of the grooves in the lacquer, which is very fragile and prone to quick deterioration. And of course cutting at 45 RPM is the audiophile choice for highest quality. A 45-RPM record is sonically superior to a 33 1/3 variety because of a 35 percent reduction of groove curvature compared to a 33 1/3 cut. It means that while you can't fit as much music onto a 45, the undulations of the groove that your cartridge has to track are stretched over a longer distance. For these reissues, the music was displaced onto four record sides, meaning that each side contains about ten minutes of music. This is the ultimate reissue series. The only way you'll get closer to this classic music is to listen to the master tapes. |