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PREAMBLE

Welcome to my series Treasures from the Vinyl Vault. In it, I will feature select gems from my approximately 12,000 ever-growing vinyl collection, accumulated over a 45-year period and counting*. This will not be your typical “Greatest Of All Time” list, but more of a guided tour, occasionally accompanied by an anecdote or two, of the singles and albums in my collection that are most precious to me, both for their historical value and the impact they’ve had on my musical journey. In order to cover the greatest number of them, I will not go into much detail about the record’s history or its sound quality—for those aspects I invite you to visit my Top 500 SuperSonic List at https://soundevaluations.blogspot.ca/.

Records will be presented in chronological order based either on their recording date or original release date, and not reissue date—which means, for example, that Miles Davis’ iconic Kind of Blue album will be featured only once, in 1959, despite its many remasterings and repressings over the years. Also, all pressings are US ones unless specified otherwise. If ‘mono’ is not indicated, then consider it stereo or that the stereo version of it is my de facto choice of the two. Let’s continue, shall we?

37- Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners. Riverside Records – RLP 12-226  (1957, Apr.), Analogue Productions – AJAZ 12-226 (mono) (2003), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: jazz, hard bop.

You would have to be a monk not to realize what Monk represents to the jazz universe. He’s been called undisciplined, dissonant, an iconoclast, icon, master, mentor; Monk was all these things and more. Along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Monk was part of the musical trifecta behind the birth of bebop. Brilliant Corners is, in fact, a brilliant album whose music offers an introspective peek into a brilliant composer’s creative process. Recorded by engineer Jack Higgins in October and December 1956, and first released on Riverside in mono in April, 1957, the pianist shares the stage with the crème de la crème of the then busy jazz scene—Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, (lesser known) Ernie Henry on alto, Clark Terry on trumpet, Oscar Pettiford and Paul Chambers on bass, and a mesmerizing Max Roach on drums. The album contains five tracks, including the Titanesque title track that opens the album with angular and discordant intervals and strident brass, whereas on “Pannonica”, Monk trades in the piano for the delicate-sounding celesta. I don’t have an original pressing, so my copy is the wonderful 2003 Analogue Productions double-45 rpm done by studio engineers Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, which boasts solid instrumental presence and impactful drums. A stereo version [RLP 1174], which I haven’t heard, was released a year later.

38- Charles Mingus – The Clown. Atlantic – 1260 (mono) (1957, Sept.), Analogue Productions – APA 060-45, Atlantic 75 Audiophile series, (mono) (2024, June), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: jazz, hard bop, avant-garde and free jazz leanings.

Part of Analogue Productions’ “Audiophile Series” celebrating Atlantic Records’ 75th anniversary, Charles Mingus’s The Clown is no laughing matter, both because it contains seriously good music and because, as Mingus envisioned it, the clown character on the cover kills himself. Being a big Mingus fan, I already owned several of his records but, oddly enough, not this particular and important one, and I got it in just last weekend. Comprising four long tracks, of which the grisly title track is narrated by American storyteller Jean Shepherd, the music’s style is hard-edged bop sprinkled with avant-garde dissonant tension throughout. The album follows what is regarded as Mingus’s first masterpiece, 1956’s Pithecanthropus Erectus. “Haitian Fight Song” opens the album with a commanding double bass solo by Mingus. Recorded in mono in February and March 1957 at New York’s Atlantic Studios by engineers Larry Hiller and Tom Dowd, this double-45 rpm edition, superbly mastered by Gray, is an absolute sonic stunner. The tonal texture of Mingus’s instrument offers one of the best-sounding reproductions of double bass I’ve encountered on record, with just the right mixture of solidity, articulation, and roundness. The saxes, cymbals, and percussion deliver great dynamics and realism, with only the trombone showing signs of mild distortion due to mic or tape saturation during musical crests. A must for Mingus fans!

39- Sonny Rollins – Way Out West. Contemporary Records – C3530 (mono) (1957, July?), Stereo Records – S7017 (1958), Analogue Productions – AJAZ 7530 (2003), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: jazz, bop.

Among audiophiles, Way Out West is probably the best known title in the Contemporary catalogue, thanks in no small part to Analogue Productions Doug Sax-remastered “APJ 008” released way back in 1992. Since then, numerous reissues by other labels and engineers have appeared at all price points, including around the $400 mark set by The Electric Recording Company [ERC053S] who released only 300 copies of it, with each now fetching up to $800 on the second-hand market. I must confess that the first time I saw this LP cover advertised in a magazine or flyer with the dude sporting that hat and holster, I assumed this must be a country and western album. Even though I was already quite into jazz, shamefully I still hadn’t discovered that Sonny Rollins was one of, if not the, greatest tenor saxophonist of all time. Culled from jazz’s “Golden Age”, Roy DuNann recorded the album in stereo and mono, as was his habit, in March 1957. So why, after all these years, is this album still in such high demand within audio circles? Well, it’s like I said in my preceding installment: “Contemporary and its subsidiary Stereo Records, released reference sound-quality records rivaling anything produced ever since. Plus, the musical artistry is up there with the very best.” And amid this illustrious group of records, Way Out West is arguably the best-sounding of the lot, and maybe even the best-sounding jazz recording, period! I know that is a bold and polarizing statement but as finicky as I can be about sound, try as I might, I cannot find fault with this recording. All the timbres are spot on, and the musicians materialize right freakin’ there in your room! I first bought that excellent 1992 remaster, but later got the superior-sounding 2003 double-45 rpm edition done by Gray and Hoffman [AJAZ 7530], which had added warmth and presence. That album, too, from it’s original retail price of US$ 50, is now out of print and fetching multiple times its original price on Discogs. For those who don’t want to fork out that kind of dough, Craft Recordings reissued the album in 2023 in a 3-LP box set [CR00434], cut by Bernie Grundman, which is excellent as well, though, for my tastes, not up to the level of the Gray-Hoffman 45 rpm release.

40- The Poll Winners – The Poll Winners. Contemporary Records – C3535 (mono) (1957, July?), Stereo Records – S7010 (1958), Analogue Productions – AJAZ 7535 (2008?), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: West Coast jazz, bop.

The Poll Winners’ releases are always big winners in music and sound, and their self-titled debut—which would be followed by four more LPs—is probably your best bet if you want to settle for only one album by this telepathic trio. Guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown, and maven drummer Shelly Manne are at the top of their game in this March 1957 recording done by Roy DuNann and which gave us nine engaging tracks. From the opening note to the final coda, the band plays in lockstep like a squad of Borgs on expresso. Not owning an original pressing, my number one choice as far as editions goes is the outstanding Analogue Productions double-45 rpm done by Gray and Hoffman. A close second in my collection is the much more affordable 1984 Original Jazz Classic [OJC-156] which, in quick comparison with the Analogue Productions edition, sacrifices only a sliver of warmth.

For more from Claude Lemaire visit…

http://soundevaluations.blogspot.ca/

_{*I would be remiss not to mention that some of those 12,000 records I share with a fellow vinyl hunter, co-conspirator, and lifelong friend.}

*

Reference List (Singles, albums, and labels):

Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners
Riverside Records – RLP 12-226  (1957, Apr.), Analogue Productions – AJAZ 12-226 (mono) (2003), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: jazz, hard bop.

Charles Mingus – The Clown
Atlantic – 1260 (mono) (1957, Sep.), Analogue Productions – APA 060-45, Atlantic 75 Audiophile series, (mono) (2024, June), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: jazz, hard bop, avant-garde and free jazz leanings.

Sonny Rollins – Way out West
Contemporary Records – C3530 (mono) (1957, July?), Stereo Records – S7017 (1958), Analogue Productions – AJAZ 7530 (2003), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: jazz, bop.

The Poll Winners – The Poll Winners
Contemporary Records – C3535 (mono) (1957, July?), Stereo Records – S7010 (1958), Analogue Productions – AJAZ 7535 (2008?), (2×45 rpm), 180g. Genre: West Coast jazz, bop.