I scooped up a Denon cd changer at Goodwill for my second hand sound system today and when I got home my wife had emptied a drawer containing a large pile of my CDs I thought were long gone. Many perfect albums from the 90s.
Kind of Blue is the instrumental Jazz Thriller, followed by this, then either A Love Supreme or Blue Train, then the Ahmad Jamal album, after that I’m not sure but they all deserve it.
My CDs and vinyl sound better in part because I have them connected to real speakers with a subwoofer and everything. Whereas when I stream, I just use the phone speakers or maybe a tiny crappy BT thing. (I assume some folks use nice speakers when they stream, but I suspect it's rare)
Jazz reissues were absolutely a top-tier CD-age accomplishment. Something like that album from 1959 had never sounded clearer. In the case of Kind of Blue, it was even brought into the right key for the first time. Plus the bonus tracks and liner notes. I learned so much from those CDs.
Still love my vinyl Brubeck (from my grandparents' albums) scratches and all.
I got to interview Brubeck once. He was a really super guy. It was the early 90s and he had just recorded an album with his sons. He told me that each year on Paul Desmond's birthday he raised a (very dry) martini toast.
yeah, this is definitely the case. can't tell if it's the compression, or if it's a slightly different mix. have you listened to any of the jazz records available in spatial audio on Apple Music, though? cause wow, with some of them it's like you're there in the club.
I thought CDs were supposed to be less than great in that regard. I've never been that fussed about music but I'd think you could get a better digital recording than a CD as a download.
Streaming may well be another matter though.
Better-than-CD downloads exist. But 44.1kHz is good enough for anyone who’s not a dog, so if you can hear a difference it’s another factor (usually, that they’re not as aggressively mastered.) This is also why vinyl sounds great; aggressive CD mastering techniques don’t work well for it.
Jazz and classical are especially noticeable as the emphasis on dynamic range muddies the mid tones that our ears have clear points of reference to compare. To me, something like Time Out sounds like it’s being smushed into my ears when I listen on a streaming service vs. CD or vinyl
That is the exact same CD player i just bought to replace the one that finally broke down after 20 years of service. And the CD that I got autographed for my dad's 50th birthday.
It is a bit of a different vibe, but see if you can find Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano." It is happy jazz. My CD of it is filed next to "Time Out" in my collection.
Bit of a shadow of what it once was in the 90s and early 00s. They used to be in another location across the street that was more than twice its current size, including a basement floor
Time Out + Plan 9 = teenage me’s musical awakening era. Heard a lot of jazz on WVST, and driving up to Plan 9 from P’burg felt exciting in a way that may be peculiar to folks from small(ish) towns.
I saw Dave Brubeck live in 1976. Except Paul Desmond didn’t play that day. A classmate who worked backstage discovered that Desmond had found the cocaine - and done all of it. Completely indisposed, and lucky to be alive.
Not surprisingly, he died less than a year later at the age of 52.
May I ask where you got your set up? I am looking for something to go on our library shelves. And am sure the Victrola all-in-one I keep seeing at Best Buy is more looks than performance.
Dude! My elderly player is dying and this looks like a great replacement. Looked up CD players and there'a a TON of them out there. Physical media is not dead!
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But, I do believe it is The Jazz Song. Even someone who doesn't know jazz, this is the song they have in their head if someone says "jazz" at them.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Rifugium/best-selling-jazz-albums-of-all-time-riaa-or-theres-no-money-in-jazz/
(Or do you still own on college loans for a music performance degree, or something of the like?)
"Dave Brubeck guilty of 5/4 counts."
I got to interview Brubeck once. He was a really super guy. It was the early 90s and he had just recorded an album with his sons. He told me that each year on Paul Desmond's birthday he raised a (very dry) martini toast.
Streaming may well be another matter though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OktMw3eXyU
What a deal.
Love that disc.
Great album btw
I'm eternally grateful
Amazing!
Time Out + Plan 9 = teenage me’s musical awakening era. Heard a lot of jazz on WVST, and driving up to Plan 9 from P’burg felt exciting in a way that may be peculiar to folks from small(ish) towns.
Not surprisingly, he died less than a year later at the age of 52.
Thank you so much (: