| Author |
Topic: Maplewood |
Glenn Suchan
From:
Austin, Texas
|
Posted 8 Sep 2008 10:02 am |
|
Just a heads-up for a great CD:
Recently, my wife suprised me with a CD I'd been wanting to buy: Maplewood Avenue, by my favorite jazz guitarist, Jimmy Bruno. The recording: an intimate setting in Bruno's basement recording studio. Just Bruno and two close friends, Tony Miceli on vibes, and Jeff Pedras on string bass. The concept: Recreate the sound of the Rudy Van Gelder, Blue Note recordings. All songs except one, "Bach Sonata Trio", were written by the players and were recorded in one take. The music is great. The performances are superb with all three encouraging the most from each other without "hogging" any performance. The quality of the recording is so good, it's sounds as though the listener is sitting among the performers. Every nuance of fingers upon strings, and subtleties of the mallet strikes on the vibes can be heard. The recording is just breathtaking. Musically, the performances are very reminiscent of the great jazz of the 50's and 60's. If you like great traditional jazz, this is a recording you need to check out. Think Joe Pass, meets Milt Jackson, meets Ray Brown. 
Link: http://secure.jimmybrunomusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=2&products_id=15&zenid=c6cea0562edb429fde22eac3d284857a
Keep on pickin'!
Glenn |
|
|
|
Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
|
Posted 8 Sep 2008 10:49 am
|
|
Bruno is a great guitarist, and the playing on the recording is probably great, but to "recreate" Van Gelders' engineering skill/sounds......wishful thinking at best.
I listened to the audio samples. Nice but no Van Gelder. Very slippery slope to use Van Gelders' name in association with your project. Does it really say this in the CD notes?? |
|
|
|
Glenn Suchan
From:
Austin, Texas
|
Posted 8 Sep 2008 12:06 pm
|
|
| Quote: |
| I listened to the audio samples. Nice but no Van Gelder. Very slippery slope to use Van Gelders' name in association with your project. Does it really say this in the CD notes?? |
Yes, liner notes indicate the intent was to recreate, as closely as possible, the Van Gelder "sound". You're right, in today's world of ultra-compressed, and "Pro-tooled" recording, to go for the Van Gelder sound is an elusive task, and very bold to invoke comparison to Van Gelder. If you're familiar with Jimmy Bruno, you know he's prone to making bold statements. However, I think Maplewood Avenue comes very close to achieving that goal.
The samples on Bruno's web page give you an idea of what the tracks sound like, but not the quality of the recording. It really does sound natural. Uncompressed. Airy, if you will. When I said you can hear every nuance of the performance, imagine sitting two feet away from this trio as they play. This is what you hear on the recording. Keep in mind, this is an acoustic-level performance, only Bruno's guitar is amplified. And then, only an amount as dictated by the vibes and string bass.
The bottom line is, regardless of opinions on how successful the recreation of the Van Gelder sound is, or isn't, the album is very enjoyable for anyone who likes well performed, well recorded jazz music.
Keep on pickin'!
Glenn |
|
|
|
Glenn Suchan
From:
Austin, Texas
|
Posted 9 Sep 2008 4:09 am
|
|
Bill Hatcher asked:
| Quote: |
| Very slippery slope to use Van Gelders' name in association with your project. Does it really say this in the CD notes?? |
To quote from the liner notes;
"This is a live recording, done in complete takes with no edits. Jimmy was
trying to capture the intimacy of friends getting together to make music
for themselves... As an engineer, Jimmy was aiming for the intimacy of an
early Rudy Van Gelder recording - no processing, acoustically mic'ed.
Jimmy said 'I want the listener to be right there in the room with us, with
the live musicians. You hear us breathing, the mallets hitting the vibes and
the pedals, the slapping of the strings, the creaks of the bass as it
turns.'...."
To that extent, I think the album succeeds. As I send before, if you like very listenable jazz music. You owe it to yourself to check this one out.
b0b, as a vibes owner/player I think you'd enjoy listening to Tony Miceli.
Keep on pickin'!
Glenn |
|
|
|
