A Tale of Two CTI's (Part 2)

Yesterday I posted about Sony's upcoming four-CD box set of remastered CTI tracks and the 20 CTI albums from King (Japan) newly remastered by original producer Creed Taylor and engineer Rudy Van Gelder. As I noted yesterday, there's really no comparison between the two different efforts: The King releases are way more spectacular on every level. Creed and Rudy restored more information and sonic detail than existed on the original vinyl LPs. And the technology behind the CDs themselves is a cut above. More on this in a minute. Today I want to focus on my favorite CDs in the new King CTI series. [Photo of Rudy Van Gelder by Hank O'Neal]

First, a quick note about my office stereo: All of my music is stored in my iTunes library on an external hard drive. The music leaves my computer on a coaxial cable that is hooked up to the headphones port. The music passes along this cable into a Benchmark DAC1 digital to analog converter [pictured]. From the converter, the music is fed into an Arcam receiver, emerging through a pair of B&W monitor speakers.

In short, the DAC1 converter displays the maximum amount of digital information, creating an exciting listening experience. When I rip CDs to my computer, I use the Apple Lossless Encoder format to ensure that the data that appears in my iTunes library is equal sonically to the CD from which it came.

The series succeeds as well as it does because King's project producer Susumu Morikawa [pictured] had the good sense to enlist Creed and Rudy to bring CTI's two-track masters into the digital age without losing any of the warmth and roundness of the original recordings. And what a job all three have done. Along the way a greater amount of information was exposed.

Here are my 11 favorites in the series...

Red Clay (1970). What makes this release special is that you finally can hear the trio behind Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson as clearly at the trumpeter and saxophonist. Herbie Hancock's Fender Rhodes, Ron Carter's bass and Lenny White's drums are now equal members of this early jazz-rock fusion classic. The riffs on Red Clay, Suite Sioux and the Intrepid Fox acquire a newfound energy. Go here.

Sugar (1970). This Stanley Turrentine jazz-soul masterpiece has new texture in the horns that didn't exist as brightly on the LP or CD releases. Turrentine's sax now has a snap on the high end, as does Freddie Hubbard's trumpet. Lonnie Liston Smith's electric piano and organ pop through the horns along with the vivid ting of Billy Kaye's cymbal. There were only three bossy, funky tracks on the original album—Sugar, Sunshine Alley and Impressions—and each is a standout now. Go here.

Stone Flower (1970). Antonio Carlos Jobim recorded for Creed several times while Creed was at A&M. On Jobim's first release for the CTI stand-alone label, you hear the raindrop like tenderness of this mature bossa nova effort as well as Urbie Green's warm, inviting trombone. When Jobim's piano comes in along with flutes, acoustic guitar or strings, it feels like the surf rushing in. A case in point is the distinct instrumentation on Children's Game. And dig Jobim's Fender Rhodes on Andorhina backed by a whispering Afuche percussion instrument. Go here.

Montreux II (1970). Recorded live in Switzerland, this Bill Evans album has always excited me. Evans played so beautifully on this concert recording, and it marks one of the last recordings of his romantic period before moving on to a more percussive expressionism. The album includes heroic renditions of Alfie, How My Heart Sings and Peri's Scope. The big news here on the remaster is the detail in Eddie Gomez's bass and drummer Marty Morell's brushwork, particularly in the first half of Peri's Scope. You listen to this remastering and realize that this truly was one of Evans' great trios. Go here.

Gilberto with Turrentine (1971). Creed, of course, was the first to record Astrud Gilberto in 1963 on Getz/Gilberto, with the singer knocking The Girl From Ipanema out of the park. Here, Gilberto sings songs like Burt Bacharach's Wanting Things from Promises, Promises and For All We Know from the film Lovers and Other Strangers, which she sings in Portuguese. But what's special here is how Gilberto's tissue-soft voice now interacts with the strings, guitars and a massive array of instruments. Go here.

Rite of Spring (1971). I never listened carefully to this one when the album came out—but now, Hubert Laws' jazz-classical work sounds so woody and warm. From Pavane, Rite of Spring and Syrinx to the first and second movements of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Laws floats feather-like among Bob James' electric piano, Airto's shimmering percussion, Ron Carter's pulsating bass and other instrumentalists. To me, this remastering was a revelation and a happy re-discovery. Go here.

Prelude (1972). Eumir Deodato's first album for CTI as a leader was a massive hit for the label. Dig the congas and horns now on the swelling Also Sprach Zarathustra. Or Deodato's firm Fender Rhodes on tender gems like Spirit of Summer and Carly & Carole. The strings now sound warm and sweeping while the electric piano and Hubert Laws' flute on Deodato's lightly Latin tribute to Carly Simon and Carole King reverberates. Go here.

Deodato 2 (1973). I never liked The Moody Blues' Nights in White Satin, but the instrumental rendition on this album changes the song's original intent for the better. There also are early pre-disco dance numbers here like Skyscrapers and Super Strut that are alive. Again, Rudy's remastering teases out the electronic texture of Deodato's Fender Rhodes and Billy Cobham's drums, capturing all of the nuances. For a child of the 1970s, it's terrific to hear the electric piano this way again. Go here.

Baltimore (1978). Nina Simone is backed by more than 30 musicians and eight background singers. Despite the orchestra's size, you hear Simone front and center with her coffee-rich voice. But instead of the instrumentation sounding faint, as on previous CD releases, Simone is surrounded by them but is never buried. My Father, Hall and Oates' Rich Girl and If You Pray Right are all electrifying and uplifting. Go here.

Big Blues (1978). Art Farmer and Jim Hall recorded together frequently during their careers. On this remastering, you get to hear every instrument on the session. Particularly exciting are drummer Steve Gadd and vibist Mike Mainieri. You also get to hear the precious top of Farmer's horn without losing any detail in the other instruments. Go here.

Fuse One (1980). This post-disco funk album was led by bassist Stanley Clarke, who puts on quite a show here. You can hear every snap of his bass and tenor bass. There's also great tenor sax work by Joe Farrell. This is a sleeper album that all but kicked off the 1980s adult-contemporary sound. Go here.

JazzWax note: The other nine CTI albums in the new King series are Milt Jackson's Sunflower, Jim Hall's Concierto, Ron Carter's All Blues and Spanish Blue, Hubert Laws' Chicago Theme, Lalo Schifrin's Towering Tacata, Airto's Fingers, Patti Austin's End of a Rainbow and George Benson's In Concert at Carnegie Hall.

And here's promotional material from Amazon describing the technology that went into these remastered King CDs:

"Japanese-only SHM pressings. Features Rudy Van Gelder remastering. The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing, SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc, allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players."

JazzWax tracks: The King CTI releases remastered by Creed Taylor and Rudy Van Gelder aren't cheap. Each costs between  $43 and $48 in the U.S. You'll find these releases at Amazon and other online retailers. Just type in the name of the artist + the name of the CD + King. For example, "Stanley Turrentine + Sugar + King."

Comments

[Gary L. Gray]

Damn! I just bought the Sony remastering of Red Clay last week on CD. :-(

On the other hand, I don't know that I can wrap my head around paying $43 for the CTI remastering. I look forward to hearing your review of the Sony remastering.

[David]

Marc's description of the "Montreaux II" album was somewhat puzzling as this impressed me as one of Bill's more manic recordings due mainly to the frequent rushing of the tempos. His attack also gets fairly "percussive" at times, at least compared to some of his more gentle, introverted recordings. Of course any Bill Evans album is worth owning and this one has much to recommend it.

[Doug Zielke]

I found the business story of CTI far more interesting than the bland anti-jazz they turned out.

[Keith Hedger]

Marc,

Why would (is) the signal coming out of the headphone port on your mac digital? I plug headphones into mine and I know they don't have DACs in them.....I don't understand how your setup works. As far as I know the signal coming out of a Mac's headphone port is an analog audio signal....enlighten me, please...

keith

[David]

Keith, Tech jargon is so confusing. The headphone output on the front is usually called a "jack," while the audio I/O on the back is a "port." On mine it's an "optical" port, but Marc's is probably "coaxial." As with RCA jacks, TRS jacks, mini jacks, etc., the manufacturers either can't make up their minds which type is better or, as I suspect, they use consumer profiling to determine which type of connection will be least compatible with your other equipment so that you have to buy additional adapters. (Similarly with I/O levels, impedances, etc.)

[Keith Hedger]

Marc said he's using a Mac -- I've got four of 'em, two laptops and two iMacs (the new ones). The only audio out on a Mac that I know of (and is on mine) is the 'headphone' jack. If one wants to do high-end audio, then one usually gets a Firewire-based external audio interface which may or may not (depending on the price and sophistication of the product) have digital interfaces out (SPDIF, etc.) My guess is that maybe Marc's using one of these interfaces, but I'd really like to know.....I'm always curious about these things.....

keith

[Keith Hedger]

...and now I have to correct myself -- I saw iTunes and my mind made the jump to 'Mac'. I just reviewed the article and see that I'm mistaken -- Marc never says he uses a Mac, just that he uses iTunes....so he's probably got a Windows box with a sound card that has a coaxial digital out. Mea Culpa.

keith

[David]

Keith, I have an older Mac G5 tower. In addition to the headphone output on the front, there are both line level analog audio out, and digital audio in and out on the back.

[Keith Hedger]

Thanks David,

Did some research (based on your comment) and lo and behold -- the headphone and mic ports on my iMacs double as digital audio too...and I didn't even know that! =:-) Thanks!

keith

[Greg Lee]

DEODATO II, now there's a guilty pleasure. I had it in my milk crates alongside MACHINE HEAD and THE WHO LIVE AT LEEDS, but I'd never let on to my high school friends that I also dug "Super Strut"....the answer to three-chord rock? Three-chord jazz! I used to bang that riff all day long on my own piano (alas, not a Rhodes). And that hyper guitar solo by John Tropea: fuzz-crossed w/McLaughlin homage, hey, the guy is unabashed. Eumir is okay in my book.

[Tim T.]

I know this is an older post and discussion, but I can't really find anywhere else where these CTI-RVG releases are/were discussed. I own 6 of the releases,
Jim Hall Concierto,
Surgar by Stanley Turrentine,
Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard
Prelude by Deodato
Fingers by Airto
Stone Flower by Antonio Carlos Jobim
I found really good deals on most of them.

However I wanted to point out some concerns about these releases. Are they really worth it? Well Yes and No.
First. Some of these releases lack the extra and bonus tracks of the US and EU releases. Concierto especially is missing 5 tracks, 2 of which are not just alternates but new previously unreleased tracks. Considering the price differences between the JP and US/EU releases, that's a factor to consider. Sugar, Red Clay and Stone Flower are also missing music.
The second factor is the sound quality. I'm not going to disagree with the JazzWax's comments, but I will say I expected more. This hype about SHM-CDs and then being mastered by RVG may be more hype than substance. They sound great, but none of them sound phenomenal. Red Clay and Stone Flower do not need to be upgraded from their 2002 release for sure. And I question Concierto and Prelude. RVG isn't exactly in good standings with all audiophiles is worth mentioning.
My main concern I have is that most of these seem to lack bass and low end. I don't have originals to compare them to, but they all sound like they could have benefited from more bass, especially Fingers. With all that percussion it lacks a lot warmth. I figured they are supposed to be mixed with a neutral sound, but something just feels wrong.
And lastly It would have been nice if the releases came with bi-lingual liner notes...I know they are Japanese releases but they contain American musician. I would really like to read them.