{"product_id":"peppesmack_2602_6x__","title":"Pepper, Art Quintet - Smack Up - Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a mark that plays 9 times lightly about 1\/2 way into track 2 on side 2, \"Maybe Next Year.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the always wonderful Jack Sheldon on trumpet, this is a great date from the Golden Age of Jazz Recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vintage Contemporary pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records cannot even BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to \"see\" the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It's what vintage all analog recordings are known for -- this sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it -- not often, and certainly not always -- but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Smack Up Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe most Tubey Magic, without which you have \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221960%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1960\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTransparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. \u003ci\u003ePlaying the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above,\u003c\/i\u003e and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCopies with \u003cstrong\u003erich lower mids and nice extension up top\u003c\/strong\u003e did the best in our shootout, assuming they weren't veiled or smeary of course. So many things can go wrong on a record. We know, we've heard them all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTop end extension\u003c\/strong\u003e is critical to the sound of the best copies. Lots of old records (and new ones) have no real top end; consequently, the studio or stage will be missing much of its natural air and space, and instruments will lack their full complement of harmonic information.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTube smear\u003c\/strong\u003e is common to most vintage pressings. The copies that tend to do the best in a shootout will have the least (or none), yet are full-bodied, tubey and rich.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eContemporary Jazz\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe love the sound of Contemporary Records -- it's our favorite jazz label by a long shot. \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22roy-dunann%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoy DuNann\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e always seems to get \"the real sound\" out of the sessions he recorded -- amazingly realistic drum sound; full-bodied, breathy horns; lots of top-end extension; deep, note-like bass; weighty piano and so on. RVG and Columbia make great recordings too, but none are as consistently natural as those on Contemporary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Smack Up\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEnergy\u003c\/strong\u003e for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Big Sound\u003c\/strong\u003e comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen \u003cstrong\u003etransient information\u003c\/strong\u003e -- fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTight, full-bodied bass\u003c\/strong\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext: \u003cstrong\u003etransparency\u003c\/strong\u003e -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eExtend the top and bottom\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003ci\u003evoila\u003c\/i\u003e, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Players and Personnel\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBass – Jimmy Bond\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDrums –  \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22Frank-Butler%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrank Butler\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePiano – \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22Pete-Jolly%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePete Jolly\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSaxophone – \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22Art-Pepper%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArt Pepper\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTrumpet – \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22jack-sheldon%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJack Sheldon\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProducer – \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22lester-koenig%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLester Koenig\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePepper on Sax\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeonard Feather's sleeve notes include two quotes by Pepper which throw light on his approach to playing jazz:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eKnowing the relationships of chords to one another, how they fit into sequences and how you build on them, all reminds you that there's an important relationship between mathematics and music.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003eThe way a man walks, the way he talks, the timbre of his voice, the cadences of his speech, his little variations in phrasing a thought — all have so much to do with individuality. The same thing is true of a man's playing in jazz... his tone, the way his sound moves, his feeling for time. That's why jazz is consistently fascinating. You could ask six guys to play an identical solo, but when you heard the results, you'd hear six different solos.\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album consists of compositions written by saxophonists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus and maybe a bit better is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pepper, Art","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51446422372648,"sku":"peppesmack","price":74.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/R-2927183-1307688401_7d2a78f7-8013-405b-80cd-a9cddbf63fc4.jpg?v=1763400744","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/peppesmack_2602_6x__","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}