Steely Dan UHQR Series

Music Reviews: Vinyl

January 30th, 2023

"Hackensack West"'s First Published Recording Fulfills Kevin Gray's Sonic Quest

25 Prospect Avenue re-imagined for the 21st century

By: Michael Fremer

Cohearent Recording, Kevin Gray's new living room studio, which he jokingly calls "Hackensack West" was the venue for this, the first record released on Cohearent Records. The all-analog all-vacuum tube recording chain used to produce sound every RVG fan will swoon from was outlined in a video Gray recently posted on YouTube we've embedded here. So-Cal based jazz saxophonist/educator Kirsten Edkins, who's played in Bill Holman's Big Band,... Read More

genre Jazz format Vinyl

January 27th, 2023

Inept Remix and Dynamic Smashing Takes "Soul On Top" to the Bottom of the Reissue Heap

take the remixers to squash court

By: Michael Fremer

What's unusual here is not the big band. James Brown toured and recorded with one throughout his career. "Soul On Top" is an outlier in the Brown catalog because he's backed by a jazz band— Louie Bellson's 18 piece orchestra—with arrangements by Oliver Nelson, who tried to conduct. Only saxophonist Maceo Parker, Jr. from Brown's band The J.B.s came along for the ride.Brown's 28th album, released in 1970 on King Records (KS1100) was... Read More

genre Funk Vocal Jazz format Vinyl

January 23rd, 2023

Frank Kimbrough's Turning Point

A revealing remix of the jazz pianist-composer's pivotal albums

By: Fred Kaplan

Frank Kimbrough, who died in December 2020 at the age of 64, was one of the great undersung jazz pianists of our time and an only-belatedly-appreciated composer of much talent as well. (Soon after his death, Newvelle Records assembled 67 musicians, in various ensembles, to play 58 of his pieces, many of which had the ring of standards. The resulting download-only album, "Kimbrough," was one of the best jazz albums of 2021.) Now Palmetto Records, his main... Read More

genre Jazz format Vinyl

January 20th, 2023

The Mysterious Film World of Bernard Herrmann Conjures Musical Magic and Sonic Spectacle

Looking for something a little different to put your system through its paces? Then look no further than this orchestral spectacular from one of the greatest of all film composers.

By: Mark Ward

And as a recent perusal of the usual audiophile retail sites reveals, the latest limited edition reissue from ORG (Original Recordings Group) of this unique and spectacular record is very much in stock (even in some cases discounted), and so I felt it was the perfect time, indeed essential, to introduce Tracking Angle readers to this magical record.First, some background.The Mysterious World of Bernard Herrmann was just one of a series of records Bernard Herrmann... Read More

January 17th, 2023

Marta Sanchez's Spanish American Triumph

The pianist-composer's jazz quintet wonder work

By: Fred Kaplan

The pianist-composer Marta Sanchez has lived and actively worked in New York since moving here from Madrid in 2011; but, despite four albums as a leader and wide respect from fellow artists, she’s not nearly as well-known as she should be.Her latest album, SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum), on Whirlwind Recordings, available as a CD and as three sides of vinyl (2 LPs, one of them blank on one side), is a stellar display of her talents. She leads a standard jazz... Read More

genre Jazz format Vinyl

January 13th, 2023

Hilary Hahn Returns to the Stage with "Eclipse"

Hahn's first recording after nearly two years away features two war horses and a challenging hidden gem

By: Michael Johnson

In 2019, Hilary Hahn, one of the world’s leading violin virtuosos, announced she would be taking a one-year performing sabbatical. Little did she know, that period of time would see a prolongment of several months due to factors outside of her control. Her triumphant return to the concert hall in the spring of 2021 was an emotional experience for her, and from those first few concert programs back, we now have a new double LP set of recordings, her latest release on... Read More

genre Classical format Vinyl