In June 1982, Brother Jack McDuff was in Seattle to play a week-long run at Parnell's, the city's major jazz club. Joining the organist was an alto saxophone, a guitarist and drummer whose names are unknown. McDuff even brought along his own Hammond B3 organ for the date. Fortunately, the club's resident sound engineer, Scott Hawthorn, who was friends with McDuff, recorded the quartet. Now we can hear what this monster combo sounded like with the release of the previously unissued and digitally restored Jack McDuff: Live at Parnell's (Soul Bank). [Photo above of Jack McDuff in 1982 courtesy of Richard Davenport and the McDuff Family]
But releasing the music wasn't a smooth ride. As the liner notes relate:
Recorded [by Scott Hawthorne] on C60 cassettes through the venue's fairly basic sound desk, there were obvious shortcomings with the condition of the recordings themselves, tape degradation, flutter and the fact they were converted to MP3 in the very earliest days of that technology. Another serious problem was the organ's Leslie speaker, as Scott explains: “The Leslie 147 speaker cabinet had a rip in the bass woofer. The thing sounded fine until Jack would step on a B-flat or A bass pedal, and then a very loud buzz ensued."
Enter Soul Bank Music and the label's A&R chief, Greg Boraman, who played some of Hawthorne's original tapes for a friend, Claudio Passavanti, of audio production company Dr Mix. As Boraman notes, Passavanti explained how new audio technology might upgrade the recordings. Boraman made detailed notes on the location and severity of each audio issue. Then Passavanti followed those notes, moving through the recordings second by second to remove noise and faults, one at a time. Passavanti also consulted with Christoph Hartwig and the development team at iZotope, the maker of the technology used for the restoration process, on particularly knotty issues.
Since the original source of the live music was old analogue tapes, care was needed to gingerly remove some of the background hiss and other ambient sounds. Finally, after four or five passes, the most balanced sonics were achieved. Then Passavanti mastered the result for digital formats. As for the vinyl, Boraman writes, he approached Frank Merritt at The
Carvery in London and explained the back story. Merritt further tweaked Passavanti’s work so the new master could be used to cut the lacquers for the vinyl format.
As the liner notes rightly point out:
Listeners on all formats of this album will still hear, in places, remnants of the original tapes' imperfections and occasional touches of the buzz of Jack's torn Leslie speaker. But all things considered, especially when compared to the recordings as they were, only the most cynical critic would say the end results were not worth the considerable effort.
Congrats to Soul Bank. The 15 tracks on this album sound fantastic and natural: Make It Good, Untitled D Minor, Deja Vu, Fly Away, Another Real Goodun', Blues in the Night, Satin Doll, A Night in Tunisia, Killer Joe, Greensleeves, Take the A Train, Wives and Lovers, Walkin' the Dog, Lover Man and Blues 1 & 8.
Best of all, McDuff is in top form, as are the backing musicians. What has always set McDuff apart is his deep groove and his in-the-pocket arrangements on songs. I'm sure he could swing the Star Spangled Banner if he chose to take it on—and you'd look forward to hearing it. Each song on the album has a different musical personality, and all of the sidemen are given a chance to shine on solos. McDuff doesn't disappoint, nor does the album's sterling fidelity. The crew that worked on this recording saved a superb slice of jazz that took place 40 years ago. Others who come across tapes of important jazz dates might want to consider the same technology.
Brother Jack McDuff died in 2001.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jack McDuff: Live at Parnell's (Soul Bank) on digital formats here and vinyl here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Déjà Vu...
Here's Fly Away...
And here's Blues in the Night...
