Valerian Vinyl
 

There were a number of very interesting new releases on
vinyl last year. One of the most important of these
is the double album "Ray Sings, Basie Swings",which is
especially significant because it sounds like a genuine
collaboration, although it never actually took place.

The vocals were "peeled off" from tapes of some
Ray Charles' recorded concerts given in Germany
and in London during the 1970's. The overall mix and
the sound of the band was not good enough for release,
so the Count Basie Orchestra directed by Bill Hughes,
recorded new backing tracks for the Ray Charles vocals.
The result is quite staggering. It is very hard to believe
that the elements of this homogenous recording were
made thirty years apart!

The double album, which is a numbered limited edition, is
presented in a handsome gate-fold sleeve, with a detailed
booklet about the project, and colour reproductions of the
famous oil-paintings of Ray Charles and Bill Basie by Bruni.
It's a very tactile package!

There are 12 vocal titles, plus an additional instrumental track
(written by Ray Charles) "Them That Got". The titles include:
"Let the Good Times Roll", "Busted", "Crying Time". "I Can't
Stop Loving You", "The Long and Winding Road" and of course
"Georgia".

Ray Charles vocals are fresh and invigorating - even though he
must have sung every one of these titles many thousands of times.
The brass, saxes and rhythm section swing with precision. There
is a fine tenor saxophone solo by Doug Lawrence on track 9
(Side C band 2) "Feel So Bad"

No Ray Charles recording would be complete without the
vocal group The Raelettes. Patti Austin was contracted to write
the vocal arrangements and lead the singers. Magic!
Particularly good on Track 4 (Side B band 1)
"Every Saturday Night"

Don't expect any sparse tinkling single-line Basie-type piano
solos, pianist Tony Suggs plays in his own style, as does Joey
DeFrancesco on Hammond B3 (both play excellent solos on
"I Can't Stop Loving You"

The pressings are on 180 gr vinyl, with a total running time of
52 mins. The disc was mastered half-speed by Stan Ricker. The
surface is excellent, and due to the course groove pitch, the peak
levels are some 3-4dB higher than normal on vinyl, which also
enhances an already good SNR.

My local dealer had twenty copies of this double album.
He sold them all in a day!

Anyone interested in direct mail order, can buy from
Elusive Discs in the USA. They have a most interesting selection
of recent vinyl releases.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo....mber=PALP012BK


--
Iain

Valerian Vinyl
 

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
i.fi...

There were a number of very interesting new releases on
vinyl last year. One of the most important of these
is the double album "Ray Sings, Basie Swings",which is
especially significant because it sounds like a genuine
collaboration, although it never actually took place.


Reminds me that nearly 50 years ago my grandfather once told me 'Don't
believe half of what you see or anything of what you hear!'

- And that was long before 'digital anything'...!!!

Valerian Vinyl
 

Iain Churches wrote:
There were a number of very interesting new releases on
vinyl last year. One of the most important of these
is the double album "Ray Sings, Basie Swings",which is
especially significant because it sounds like a genuine
collaboration, although it never actually took place.

The vocals were "peeled off" from tapes of some
Ray Charles' recorded concerts given in Germany
and in London during the 1970's. The overall mix and
the sound of the band was not good enough for release,
so the Count Basie Orchestra directed by Bill Hughes,
recorded new backing tracks for the Ray Charles vocals.
The result is quite staggering. It is very hard to believe
that the elements of this homogenous recording were
made thirty years apart!

The double album, which is a numbered limited edition, is
presented in a handsome gate-fold sleeve, with a detailed
booklet about the project, and colour reproductions of the
famous oil-paintings of Ray Charles and Bill Basie by Bruni.
It's a very tactile package!

There are 12 vocal titles, plus an additional instrumental track
(written by Ray Charles) "Them That Got". The titles include:
"Let the Good Times Roll", "Busted", "Crying Time". "I Can't
Stop Loving You", "The Long and Winding Road" and of course
"Georgia".

Ray Charles vocals are fresh and invigorating - even though he
must have sung every one of these titles many thousands of times.
The brass, saxes and rhythm section swing with precision. There
is a fine tenor saxophone solo by Doug Lawrence on track 9
(Side C band 2) "Feel So Bad"

No Ray Charles recording would be complete without the
vocal group The Raelettes. Patti Austin was contracted to write
the vocal arrangements and lead the singers. Magic!
Particularly good on Track 4 (Side B band 1)
"Every Saturday Night"

Don't expect any sparse tinkling single-line Basie-type piano
solos, pianist Tony Suggs plays in his own style, as does Joey
DeFrancesco on Hammond B3 (both play excellent solos on
"I Can't Stop Loving You"

The pressings are on 180 gr vinyl, with a total running time of
52 mins. The disc was mastered half-speed by Stan Ricker. The
surface is excellent, and due to the course groove pitch, the peak
levels are some 3-4dB higher than normal on vinyl, which also
enhances an already good SNR.

My local dealer had twenty copies of this double album.
He sold them all in a day!

Anyone interested in direct mail order, can buy from
Elusive Discs in the USA. They have a most interesting selection
of recent vinyl releases.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo....mber=PALP012BK


--
Iain

Mmm, interesting. I have some Ellington, and maybe some Basie too,
from masters made when they toured the Eastern Seaboard colleges, and
issued decades later on CD. The recording quality is less wretched
than you might expect but the authentic quality of the music makes up
for the technical downside; in any event, I'm not an audiophile, I'm
more interested in the music than the pure sound. With those old
recordings the authority of the performers is stamped on the
performance quite beyond even the grimmest of recording circumstances.

Andre Jute
Substance before presentation

Valerian Vinyl
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
i.fi...

There were a number of very interesting new releases on
vinyl last year. One of the most important of these
is the double album "Ray Sings, Basie Swings",which is
especially significant because it sounds like a genuine
collaboration, although it never actually took place.


Reminds me that nearly 50 years ago my grandfather once told me 'Don't
believe half of what you see or anything of what you hear!'

- And that was long before 'digital anything'...!!!

This has long been so in film television and now the ability to
produce silk purses from sows' ears in digital recording makes
this old adage even more relevant to music.

A large format digital workstation may have an infinite
number of virtual tracks, which means than one can
record a vocal or a guitar solo over and over, for days
on end, and then if none of them is totally satisfactory,
one can build a composite track, with cut and paste
(just like a word processor:-) to make a complete, but
usually not homogenous, take.

The most common problem that singers have is intonation,
particularly in recording when wearing headphones. Their
sense of pitch is greatly affected by the balance between
the backing track and the vocal, and many need to be able
to hear their own voice "naturel" (Remember the famous
record sleeve of folk singer Ewan McColl with one hand
cupped around his ear?)

One can tune a piano, a guitar, a saxophone, but
tuning a voice is not so easy:-) I am currently involved
in a project where one of my colleagues has the unenviable
task of "re-pitching" parts of a composite vocal track to
get them in tune. In digital, it is possible to pitch shift
without affecting tempo. This will take him about a week!

But the Ray Charles/Count Basie project does not fall into this
category at all. The vocals, brilliant performances from the 70s
when Ray Charles was at his peak, are an entity in themselves, and
the band has been added to turn this into one of the best albums I
have ever heard.

Iain

Valerian Vinyl
 

In article i,
Iain Churches wrote:
But the Ray Charles/Count Basie project does not fall into this
category at all. The vocals, brilliant performances from the 70s
when Ray Charles was at his peak, are an entity in themselves, and
the band has been added to turn this into one of the best albums I
have ever heard.

Dunno if you heard the recent R4 prog about Bing Crosby, but he refused
to be placed in a vocal booth or work with a pre-recorded track which
ruled out over-dubbing. He insisted on being 'in there' with the orchestra
despite some recording engineers later in his career telling him it
wouldn't work. His reply was 'it always used to'...

I've long been a lover of the recorded 'all in one' warts and all - when
it works well it usually has far more of a sense of occasion than the
sanitized multi-track studio stuff. Indeed sometimes a genuine live
performance in front of an audience. Although these are more rare. And
tend to be restricted to some artists that actually enjoy performing to an
audience.

--
*Toilet stolen from police station. Cops have nothing to go on.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Valerian Vinyl
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

Dunno if you heard the recent R4 prog about Bing Crosby, but he refused
to be placed in a vocal booth or work with a pre-recorded track which
ruled out over-dubbing. He insisted on being 'in there' with the orchestra
despite some recording engineers later in his career telling him it
wouldn't work. His reply was 'it always used to'...

About 20 years ago there was a TV documentary about the making of the DG
album of West Side Story with opera starts such as Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose
Carreras and conducted by Bernstein himself. I still have my off-air
recording of the documentary.

What surprised me was that although it was a multi-track recording using
many microphones, and in short takes subsequently edited together, it was
recorded with all the musicians, including the singers, in the same space
and performing at the same time.

I've long been a lover of the recorded 'all in one' warts and all - when
it works well it usually has far more of a sense of occasion than the
sanitized multi-track studio stuff.

Agreed.

David.

Valerian Vinyl
 

On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:48:31 -0000, "David Looser"
wrote:

About 20 years ago there was a TV documentary about the making of the DG
album of West Side Story with opera starts such as Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose
Carreras and conducted by Bernstein himself. I still have my off-air
recording of the documentary.

What surprised me was that although it was a multi-track recording using
many microphones, and in short takes subsequently edited together, it was
recorded with all the musicians, including the singers, in the same space
and performing at the same time.

That's how you do opera.

A most peculiar project, wasn't it? Opera singers who couldn't cope
with the rhythms and a Tony who sounded more Hispanic than any of the
Sharks! The only number that survives is "Krupke" to my mind.

Valerian Vinyl
 

"Laurence Payne" NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:48:31 -0000, "David Looser"
wrote:

About 20 years ago there was a TV documentary about the making of the DG
album of West Side Story with opera starts such as Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose
Carreras and conducted by Bernstein himself. I still have my off-air
recording of the documentary.

What surprised me was that although it was a multi-track recording using
many microphones, and in short takes subsequently edited together, it was
recorded with all the musicians, including the singers, in the same space
and performing at the same time.

That's how you do opera.

I'll take your word for it.

A most peculiar project, wasn't it? Opera singers who couldn't cope
with the rhythms and a Tony who sounded more Hispanic than any of the
Sharks! The only number that survives is "Krupke" to my mind.

I agree. ISTM that Te Kanawa and Carreras were both hired because they were
big names rather than because they were suitable for the roles. IMO neither
sounded right. I thought "America" also survived quite well though.

I was also amused by Bernstein's enthusiastic praise for the score. A
certain lack of modesty there I thought. :-)

David.


David.

Valerian Vinyl
 

On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:33:17 -0000, "David Looser"
wrote:

That's how you do opera.

I'll take your word for it.

A most peculiar project, wasn't it? Opera singers who couldn't cope
with the rhythms and a Tony who sounded more Hispanic than any of the
Sharks! The only number that survives is "Krupke" to my mind.

I agree. ISTM that Te Kanawa and Carreras were both hired because they were
big names rather than because they were suitable for the roles.

Again - that's how you do opera :-)
I'm not entirely tongue-in-cheek when I suggest the Broadway Musical
is the higher art-form. It's an opera where words, character and
acting matter.

IMO neither
sounded right. I thought "America" also survived quite well though.

I was also amused by Bernstein's enthusiastic praise for the score. A
certain lack of modesty there I thought. :-)

He may have had faults, but modesty was never one of them.

Valerian Vinyl
 

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article i,
Iain Churches wrote:
But the Ray Charles/Count Basie project does not fall into this
category at all. The vocals, brilliant performances from the 70s
when Ray Charles was at his peak, are an entity in themselves, and
the band has been added to turn this into one of the best albums I
have ever heard.

Dunno if you heard the recent R4 prog about Bing Crosby, but he refused
to be placed in a vocal booth or work with a pre-recorded track which
ruled out over-dubbing. He insisted on being 'in there' with the orchestra
despite some recording engineers later in his career telling him it
wouldn't work. His reply was 'it always used to'...

I've long been a lover of the recorded 'all in one' warts and all - when
it works well it usually has far more of a sense of occasion than the
sanitized multi-track studio stuff. Indeed sometimes a genuine live
performance in front of an audience. Although these are more rare. And
tend to be restricted to some artists that actually enjoy performing to an
audience.


I've bought a fair few albums off the back of a Jools Holland 'Later'
performance and been pretty disappointed with the CD version, or LP come
to that. The sound often seems 'unbalanced' compared to the live version.

Rob