JAZZ RECORDS FOR THE HI-FI VOODOO LISTENING RITUAL (Pt III)

I talk about the records I use to review high fidelity components.

[@Zeitdehner]

Hi Ken, thank you for this insight to your record collection... just one little correction : Melanie de Biasio is not French but Belgian, she was born in Charleroi, a city in Belgium with a strong history of mining and as such a very strong Italian community descending from Italian migrants who came to the region (nicknamed the Black Country) to work in the mines...check out her 12 inch titled Blackened cities, which is inspired by that mining history of the region (the cover picture is quite explicit....). Also Jacques Brel is Belgian and not French... To top it off in this vein...French fries are not French, but a Belgian invention, but I agree Frech fries sounds better than Belgian fries, right ... You now can probably tell I am Belgian as well, and kind of proud... :-) Cheers !

[@musiclassica]

Thanks for rectifying, compatriot. Meilleures salutations, beste groeten! MC

[@markeslick1680]

Great video, Ken. I ALWAYS learn something. Hope your dealing okay with Covid. Sending good wishes and best regards.

[@alansenzaki4148]

Thanks Ken. Learned alot on this installment!

[@andysmusicden]

Great to see Melanie De Biasio on the list.

[@inthebassclef7830]

Great info and suggestions ken. As always contemporary (roy) was a masterpiece in how to sound engineer a recording

[@alansenzaki4148]

The best!!

[@TripleE76]

Haha, loved it, especially the ending

[@fredericmorris2931]

Great as usual Ken. Chico Hamilton: almost always great; fine Impulse records, with e.g., Charles Lloyd, Larry Coryell somewhat overlooked. He was an amazing talent scout. Alway discovering new Duke Ellington, glad to learn about Daydream in the previous video. Under the radar?: compilations of early 40s recordings - At His Very Best, In a Mellotone, Jumpin’ Pumpkins. Probably the best Eliington band of all time.

[@jazzbumsmike]

Nice. Just yesterday I was eyeing those SteepleChase Chet Baker releases, really would like to grab one, but I am ordering so much that I need to cool it for a bit, plus I'm running out of space. Also, love Wee Small Hours. I have a gray label second press, I think it's from the Scranton plant, and it sounds outstanding -- I got obsessed with Frank for a couple years and now have over 80 of his records -- he's actually how I got into Jazz, through his work with Basie.

[@alansenzaki4148]

Love that wee small hours. My favorite! Sold my mint (totally dead quiet) grey label years ago. Trying to find another mint copy!...so expensive now.

[@Fatdogrecords]

Great video I almost spat my tea out, with your Ella Berlin impression 😃 Really glad you mentioned the non fill situation. As you have mentioned with the OG blue notes etc you can get away with pops and clicks, especially if you have a mono switch. But this non fill, it sounds like the audio is getting digitally ripped apart. Never had any issues with the Tone Poet’s But had 3 copies of Sonny Clark - cool struttin & kenny Burrell - midnight blue on the classic series. I’m not really one for moanin, but I just ended up returning and I’m not buying any more. It’s a complete lottery. Yes they are cheap. And sound great but both these releases had non fill all over. Think I will just stick to the TP’s and go for other versions of the classics

[@Sleevemonger]

Another excellent overview no matter what shirt you're wearing.

[@dirtharris]

Thanks for that Ken, really enjoyed these choices. Love your use of fat (or is it PHAT! these days..... ) big, natural sounding, resonant, TONALITY, in your descriptions. You're singin' my tune Ken. The other things that you mention that you listen for are truly important, agreed... but recordings, cartridges, turntables, amplifiers, cables...when they sing together, it's all about the 'body' and the 'flesh on the bones'. The sound has got to have 'chunk'. Whenever I hear a saxophone with all of the upper bass and mids shaved off so it cuts through a mix....it's so wrong... a live sax in a room sound MASSIVE. Fat, big, natural sounding, resonant, TONALITY! It's everything.... nearly. Cheers!

[@jazzkatt7083]

OMG, I just picked up that Michael Brecker record at a steal! 👍💯

[@alansenzaki4148]

Art Peppers Smack Up is killer also with great Jack Sheldon on trumpet. Intensity is also good!!

[@mymixture965]

I just ordered the Art Pepper album 2 minutes ago, no joke man!

[@Sleevemonger]

Ken, you changed your shirt from one LP to the next! Sacrilege!!!

[@NotedArchived]

pollwinners, pepper meets the rhythm section, pepper + eleven and some other contemporary classics will be reissued AAA by craft pretty soon ... or so they say.

[@brucevair-turnbull8082]

If you think your neighbourhood is noisy, Ken, you should try my district of London: juggernauts rolling past, sirens blaring out, boy racers screeching along. And I don't believe the couple above me are just doing vigorous exercise. Give me strength! What do you make of Jim Hall's 'Concierto' on CTI? My UK press sounds great.

[@oscarporteroazcona7585]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ThxK 🐚📌

[@nosub77]

Nikon F shirt is quite legit. Your stock just went up again.

[@jamesjackson9098]

@Ken Micallef Jazz Vinyl Audiophile : can you add links to Parts I & II?

[@cezarvasile1635]

👌

[@SubTroppo]

Council houses in the UK, ...Ghetto. that cracked me up. Now I'm am waiting for the ghost of Elvis to release "On the council estate" . Reminds me of the great Kirsty Macoll song: There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis. nb Kirsty Macoll and the Pogues: Fairy Tale of New York .

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

Am I wrong? The building was a mess chipping paint in the hallways peeling wallpaper in the apartments.

[@SubTroppo]

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 I laughed because the "G" word is loaded with religious and racial exclusion reverberations, rather than the accompanying execrable housing conditions. ps If you get to Venice, check out the original 16th century ghetto (former foundry) to which the city's Jews had to return to at nightfall.

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

@@SubTroppo I hear what you’re saying. I guess the basis for all this is poverty.:(

[@SubTroppo]

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 We are really getting into the weeds: some light relief that some regard as documentary: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5apkKJniNhkhLM

[@seansrecords]

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 some council estates are worse than others , if they were in a rough part of town i can imagine what you are saying , most "council" esates are just social housing , some are very nice , depends if there is much work nearby... it is where the poorest in uk live , i grew up in a fairly big home with a large garden on a council estate , i could hardly call it a ghetto but we had neighbours who had lived like it was one for sure ,.. anyway, alot of great music came out of Manchester and other UK city estates in the late 70s through early 90s .

[@edwardsalkin9478]

I’m awaiting the time that Contemporary Records finally get their due. I won’t be able to afford them anymore, but Roy DuNaan was a genius. Musically Mike’s first record is amazing, but sound wise it sounds early digital to me, threadbare

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

get their due? Beloved by jazz collectors the world over. Theadbare? Hilarious.

[@matzeflamingos]

Great video - maybe you can show two or three records for „soundstage“, „bass“, „high resolution“ etc etc

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

1. ella on verve late 50 early 60s, 2. kraftwerk tour de france, 3. high rexz comes from the system not the record

[@matzeflamingos]

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 wow That was fast - what for records for naturally and which for clarity?

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

@@matzeflamingos Those are qualities I look for in hi fi gear. Once you know a record well, each component plays them differently. Some components are more natural sounding and clear than others.

[@markeslick1680]

Oh..another thing Ken…., I AM the odd man out..I know it’s a personal choice…but I always grab the stereo version for any thing after ‘58-‘59. I like the depth and larger apparent stage. I remember you saying mono has more ‘slam’…I agree with that. But, I guess I prefer the depth to ‘slam’. BTW… you don’t listen to mono on one speaker right? Regards.

[@williamschaefer7399]

I’d say that Rudy didn’t really “get” stereo until the mid 60’s, so I stick with the mono. The monos are also FAR more forgiving wrt vinyl condition.

[@nathanforman839]

Sweet Smell of Success is one of my all-time favs - so excited to see the soundtrack on here!!! & Chico Hamilton is a plus! Great lines include: “Maybe I left my sense of humor in my other suit”, “How many drinks does it take to put you on that tropical island” & “I’d hate to take a bite out of you, you’re like a cookie full of arsenic”!

[@markeslick1680]

And the winner for 2021Best Jazz Sound Description is Ken Micallef:: ‘It sounds like it’s coming through a cheese grater.’ Still laughing…..

[@UberPilot]

I’m pretty sure theres only one “The great I AM” and it’s not Frank Sinatra.

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

absolutely freaking lutely. I meant in regard to jazz singers, Frank is kind of the alpha and omega.

[@Maki-zf5wm]

Melanie de Biasio is belgian, not french. Same language, different country ;)

[@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455]

Thanks

[@Maki-zf5wm]

@@kenmicallefjazzvinylaudiop6455 Saw her at a jazz festival in Brussels 20 years ago and fell in love with her voice. She was performing her "stomach is burning" album. The record you're showing here was recorded in her bedroom with budget equipment and mic. She explains that studio microphones are so sensitive and detailed that it's nearly pornographic. In this one, she was going for someting more personnal and intimate. This album feels more trip-hop than jazz to me but I really enjoy it too.