Thread: Wait for Monk SACD's?

Posts: 7

Post by Trojka October 13, 2008 (1 of 7)
Hi, I'm new here...

Phew, I only bought my SACD player a few months ago and I already have about 30 SACD's. :-) That went a lot faster than I could imagine. I tried going the iTunes/mp3 thing for a while, but it just doesn't work for me. Apparently I just like playing cd's, reading booklets, and great sound quality. Anyway...

I recently bought all (currently available I think) Monk SACD's (Straight No Chaser, With Coltrane, 5 By Monk By 5, Solo Monk, With Mulligan, Live at Olympia, Brilliant Corners and Monk's Music) and since I'm really digging Monk at the moment I'm thinking about getting some more titles. Are there more SACD's of Monk or could I expect some more titles?

I don't really mind buying the regular cd's, but it would be a shame if the SACD version would appear a couple of months later.

Thanks...

Post by azure October 13, 2008 (2 of 7)
I 'm surprised that Sony has not released all of the Thelonious Monk Columbia catalog on hybrid SA-CD with original cover art.

my favourite would be Monk's Dream

Post by Claude October 13, 2008 (3 of 7)
Trojka said:

I don't really mind buying the regular cd's, but it would be a shame if the SACD version would appear a couple of months later.

For some of the albums you listed, the SACD is IMHO not the best digital version available. The Fantasy SACDs are poorly mastered.

With "vintage" jazz recordings, the mastering is much more important for the end result than the format.

Concerning your question, I don't see any significant jazz SACD reissues on the horizon, except for the Analogue Productions series of Blue Note albums which just started.

Post by Trojka October 13, 2008 (4 of 7)
Claude said:

For some of the albums you listed, the SACD is IMHO not the best digital version available. The Fantasy SACDs are poorly mastered.

With "vintage" jazz recordings, the mastering is much more important for the end result than the format.

Yeah, I noticed. But I'm switching from quite old Monk (Emusic and iTunes) mp3 downloads in 128kbps (!), so I'm happy even with the poorly mastered Fantasy SACD's. To be able to hear something like bass is refreshing, hee hee.

Still, Monk With Coltrane sounds really bad compared to - for instance -Straight No Chaser. I also did notice the surprising differences between a well mastered normal cd, like the MFSL version of Mingus Plays Piano, and the Fantasy Monk cd's. But I have a feeling the Fantasy recordings are bad recordings to begin with. You probably can't fix every recording mistake during mastering.

In the end it's about the music to me, and in this month's batch was also Mingus Presents Mingus, which is a very, véry, poor recording (normal cd, booklet badly scanned and printed, with even some personnel mistakes). But the music is terrific.

Post by Claude October 13, 2008 (5 of 7)
I can assure you that those Riverside recordings sound very good.

The best sounding version I have of "Monk's Music", "Monk & Mulligan" and "Brilliant corners" is on the 45rpm 2LP sets by Analogue Productions.

Concerning digital versions, I'd say that the XRCD reissues (mastered by Alan Yoshida) sound best, but even the regular OJC CDs come closer to the sound of the 45rpm LPs than those muddy sounding SACDs.

If you want a good sounding version of "Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus" (Candid label), you must find one using the mono tapes, which have state of the art sound for 1960, except that they are only mono. The stereo tapes sound extremely muffled (probably defective). The Mosaic CD reissue of the Candid recordings (long OOP) used the mono tapes, just as the more recent LP reissue by the Pure Pleasure label. It's a night and day improvement over the regular CD which is made from the stereo tapes.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=16452

Post by stvnharr October 13, 2008 (6 of 7)
Claude said:

Concerning your question, I don't see any significant jazz SACD reissues on the horizon, except for the Analogue Productions series of Blue Note albums which just started.

Claude,
I spoke in person to Chad Kassem yesterday at the RMAF audio show in Denver and he said he hoped they would have the first of the new Blue Notes out by the end of the year. As always, it's taking longer than originally hoped.

Steve

Post by Trojka October 13, 2008 (7 of 7)
Thanks Claude. Not sure whether I'm ready for vinyl yet, though.

I'm curious as hell about that Mingus album on vinyl though...

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