Sunday Wax Bits

The U.S. record industry isn't a sound business. I'm not talking about profits. I'm talking about the fidelity of their product. There no longer seems to be any desire or urgency on the part of companies to take the sonic quality of what's offered to a new level. Sure, many U.S. record companies remaster classic recordings all the time. But the sound quality of many remasters by U.S. companies is lacking. [Photo: Street Scene: Woman in Blonde Wig and Tight Dress, New York City, 1960s, by Leon Levinstine]

Is it me—or haven't we all slipped on a newly "remastered" CD only to be left disappointed and wondering whether the process actually took place? As Fred Goodman notes in Fortune's Fool, there is a missed opportunity here, that by offering better-sounding CDs, the American record industry would have a chance to survive going forward. 

As you read in my CTI posts last week, Japan is way ahead of the U.S. market when it comes to the sound quality of CDs. For starters, Japanese companies care passionately about music from the top down, which is half the game. But this isn't news. Much of Japan's CD product has always been superior (just the words "Japanese import" makes most jazz music buyers salivate). The higher quality is the result of robust R&D departments, highly trained producers, and a company-wide commitment to make great recordings sound more exciting.

In the U.S., there seems to be so little interest on the part of companies to take the sonic quality of recordings to the next level. Either out of corporate stupidity or because bean counters wag the creative tail, jazz and many forms of American music are being compromised. Many companies have simply thrown in the towel and seem to be saying, "Don't bother spending to make things better—they're good enough. Consumers are emailing each other files or downloading music for free. Just do something that qualifies as remastering and we'll put it out there."

Sound familiar? Like the auto industry of the 1980s or financial services business of the 2000s. But why be in business if you don't see a future in it? If record companies here were to introduce a terrific new technology that exposed much more information on a CD, they would create a more exciting listening experience and renew buyer appetities. Sound quality has always been a record-industry selling point. "High-fidelity," "living stereo" and "quad sound" all were terms describing new and improved displays of music.

What would happen if a better-sound product were introduced? Consumers would likely replace many of their CDs to upgrade, provided the price was right. The industry has to find a way to love consumers again. But they'll have to move fast. Already, an entire generation no longer cares much about fidelity, thanks to the rapid disappearance of the album as a concept, the lack of downloadable liner notes, and other factors that used to engage and hold.

Tony Curtis (1925-2010). Tony Curtis died on September 29 at his home near Las Vegas. He was 85. I can't think of a better way to pay tribute to the late actor than to view this clip. New York's Times Square of 1957 looked and felt like this into the 1970s and early 1980s, before it became a tourist tailgate party. That's Elmer Bernstein's score at the start. Be sure to hang in there for the Chico Hamilton Quintet:

Don Sebesky. Arranger Don Sebesky will be Jason Crane's guest on The Jazz Session on October 11. They will be talking about Sony's new boxed set of CTI recordings. The podcast is free. For those unfamiliar with the Jazz Session, Jason interviews legendary musicians and posts the audio. Go here.

CD discoveries of the week. Dig salsa? You're going to love the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's Viva la Tradicion, an album that reaches back authentically for the hot Latin sounds of the 1970s. SHO has been around for 10 years, and this marks the band's fourth CD. Every track packs an enormous rhythmic and brassy punch, with plenty of hooks and riffs. Dig the cha-cha-chas Como Baila Mi Mulata and Regalo De Dios, or the percussive power of Mi Herencia Latina and La Fiesta Empezo. No two tracks are alike, and you won't be able to sit still. This album takes you back to days of Hector Lavoe and Willie Colon.

The Spanish Harlem Orchestra's Viva la Tradicion (Concord) can be sampled at iTunes and here.

Alto saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky has just released Down With It, featuring Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Jeb Patton on piano, David Wong on bass and Jason Brown on drums. The best  parts of this album are the offbeat song selections. For example, there's a walking LaRue (Clifford Brown), a lightly Latin Shabozz (Gigi Gryce), a strutting Decision (Sonny Rollins) and a breakneck Webb City (Bud Powell). All are constructed neatly and smartly played.

You'll find Dmitry Baevsky's Down With It (Sharp Nine) at iTunes or here.

Georg Breinschmid's new double CD Brein's World is proof that you can't tell an album by its cover. Outside, a rather loopy illustration is featured superimposed on the artist. Inside, the Austrian bassist and group have created a seriously compelling mix of jazz, Viennese waltzes and gypsy music. While on the surface it sounds Euro-cafe, there's a strong swing undertow tugging away at your ear. Ultimately, what you have is a recording with enormous passion and jazz musicianship. Give this one a chance. There's humor here, but it's really all taken quite seriously. Life is a cabaret, my friend.

You can sample Georg Breinschmid's Brein's World (Baumann) at iTunes or here.

Oddball album cover of the week. Talk about the ideas barrel being bone dry! On the cover, the type says, "No more shaggy dog stories! I'd much rather listen to Herbie Harper" Huh? Recorded in 1955, this one for Bethlehem shows what you can do with a photo of a dog and a bottle of blue ink.

Comments

[Bill Kirchner]

You're right, of course, about the Japanese, but no surprise: mp3s and downloads have led American consumers to accept inferior sound technology as a norm.

[Ed Leimbacher]

Even covers master Burt Goldblatt designed a few dogs. I just hope he wasn't a blue dog Demo too.

[David]

The popularity of "hi-fi" recording was a natural outgrowth of those old scratchy mono 78s. When I was growing up it was a point of pride to have a formidable stereo system (for males.) One college roommate had four unmatched pairs of speakers connected to his. This didn't improve the sound, but it sure looked impressive. Nowadays everyone listens to mp3s through cheap earbuds, and live music is so loud that you can't hear it. Hi-fi will come back into fashion when everyone has a multi-megabyte connection and stores their music on a cloud.

[Rab Hines]

It has become a commonplace observation that this generation is the first to make popular and pay for a sonically degraded product - the mp3. Mp3s have the 'virtue' of taking up less hard drive (and iPod) space than a wav file which replicates a CD quality.

Then it becomes a cycle. Many remasters, like the RVG series, merely amplify and boost the signal - they are louder, and folk take this as a better sounding product, but as many audiophiles note (and bewail) the ranges are flat and clipped.

Compare any TOCJ release with any Van Gelder remaster - they are worlds apart. There is - somewhere in blogland - a great article by Barry Diament about this trend; a Google search will probably bring it up.

[John P. Cooper]

I love Tony Curtis' minimalistic tenor solo on RUNNIN' WILD in SOME LIKE IT HOT.

[John P. Cooper]

Bad sound on reissues -

It would always amaze me when a major company like RCA would reissued big band sides from the 30s and 40s using half-baked transfers done in the 1950s. Poor condition copies where they would try and hide the scratches by killing off the high end....and they did this with major artists like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.

BUT when the reissued obscure artists that had not been reissued before, the sound quality was fantastic b/c they had no poor transfers to draw upon and had to start from 'scratch'.

jOhn Cooper

[David]

Rab comments, "Many remasters...merely amplify and boost the signal - they are louder, and folk take this as a better sounding product." The main way they make these sound louder is by compressing the dynamic range. The rock group "Metalica" actually got some criticism for reducing the dynamic range on their latest release to essentially zero. When you're trying to maintain a reputation as the world's loudest band, this is what it ultimately leads to.

[Phil kelly]

Marc:

Since the record "industry " is far more interested in selling sonically inferior mp3
"downloads" ( never mind the musical quality of the actual content being offered ), Those of us who insist on better audio quality are increasingly out of luck . The over compressed
electropop material bought by teenagers ( who comprised the vast majority of music consumers
these days ) and delivered thru earbuds and iPods further make audio quality a moot point.

On another note, I obviously find nothing odd about using cute dogs on ones CD covers ( as is evidenced by my latest Origin release -Baallet of the Bouncing Beagles )

www.philkellymusic.com