#michael fremer

When I watched the Michael Fremer video on his system I noted the crazy amplifiers he had and dug into those. They are made in Switzerland by a company called DarTZeel. If you have to ask how much they cost.....

In two earlier YouTube videos MF visited the DarTZeel factory(s) for a tour. It is a long watch to sit through. Almost the entire time of each video is on the excruciating effort and detail that goes into CNCing the cases from aluminum billet. Then they are anodized and laser etched. Very detailed process to get the labels on.

The cases are gold anodized and the amplifiers are gold and red. One comment is they were designed by Iron Man or the Iron man designers have a set of those amps. Gold and red are the favorite colors for export to China. Gold means wealth and Red means prosperity. Probably nothing to do with the color choice right?

I swear of the hours long tour maybe five minutes he discussed the circuit design and in only glancing detail. Three stages no global feed back etc. MF commented that the PC boards looked just like the stuff Schitt makes. No mention on where they are made. No part of the factory appeared to have any electronic fabricating stations or wave solder machines or anything like that. So the real working parts of the really expensive device are from where? I bet I know where.

The DarTZeel amps are praised by many. That MF owns some is very heavy praise indeed. Yet it appears that 90% of the cost of these things is the box they come in. Certainly that is where the effort is put.

The other thing I found interesting if not strange is they use Klipsch speakers to test the units as they are completed. The owner and genius behind the company has a set of Klipsch Horns ( the old classic ones) in his man cave. Those things are loud with 10 Watts! A class A triode would work fine. I have heard Klipsch Horns a couple times. They are impressive, but I think they are very colored and phase incorrect.

The Beatles ‘Singles Collection’ – First Unboxing Video and Review

Once again* every other reviewer and music writer has been beaten to the draw by US critic Michael Fremer of Analog Planet website fame.

Fremer has not only the first review of The Beatles new The Singles Collectionbox set, but also the first unboxing video showing in detail what the contents of the 23 seven-inch singles and booklet look like. This box set is not officially released until this…

Generally on this blog, the spotlight is on reviews of jazz albums, new releases and some reissues.  I try not to refer to myself in reviews, shine my ego, make it about “me”, because my friend and mentor for a time, the incredible John Kelman at AllAboutJazz taught me that you have to let the words chosen say everything about the music.  Too often I've seen reviewers turn a discussion about an album into something less about music and more about them... so compared to my usual offerings, this post is a bit different, as it will explore the love of my favorite jazz record label of all time, and my love of sound.

Ever since I could remember when jazz captured my imagination as a small child, Blue Note has been a part of my life.  I recall being 3 4 or 5 and handling my first records as best I could, among them Jimmy Smith's The Sermon (Blue Note, 1958) and Midnight Special (Blue Note, 1960) the impeccable sounds captured by Rudy Van Gelder filled my ears.  I was also born with a natural aptitude for being an audiophile having grown up around stereo equipment, and my father and uncle (on my mom's side) being audiophiles.  I would be what you say an audiophile on a budget, the type that Steve Guttenberg, The Audiophiliac has called some of his favorite people.  In terms of “high end” audio, my system is not that, it's quite modest.  My main tools for listening are an Onkyo TX SR 304 receiver, Technics SB-A36 floor standing speakers, and my decade old Sony PS 3 I use as a CD player, aside from backing up my 700+ CD collection mostly in WAV format to my laptop and external hard drive.  What is the closest to being in an audiophile realm are the headphones I use, a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pros which are my main form of listening.  Prior to that I've owned Grado SR 60's and two pairs of Audio Technica M40FS studio monitor headphones.  Like the Audio Technica's, the Beyerdynamics are a relatively flat frequency headphone, which is what I prefer, they are quite a bit heavier on bass than the M40's, but it's not like Beats heavy, and the Beats headphones to my ear are atrocious.  I once tested them at Best Buy to see what the hoopla was, and the completely throbbing, unmusical, bass was a massive turn off  which comes as no surprise.  The DT 770's also possess a solid mid range that enhances trumpets, saxophones and does a good job with the percussive thwack of drums... all things that relate to and benefit these Audiowave Blue Note reissues.  The DT 770's are revealing, and tell the truth about a recording, and compared to the M40's have a much wider soundstage, the M40's are almost mono, not a lot of separation. The Grado's were incredible, but they had a high frequency bump I found too overpowering.

The Journey into Blue Note XRCD

I had been familiar with the JVC XRCD series of CD's for quite a while, particularly since I owned a copy of Workin With The Miles Davis Quintet on a Japanese imported version mastered by Alan Yoshida which sounded quite nice.  I gave it to a friend who was building a jazz collection after I obtained The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions box set mastered by Joe Tarantino utilizing the K2 process.  The JVC K-2 process is a fancy schmancy system developed by JVC to enhance the transfer of an analog source at high resolution and maintain the quality of the transfer despite being down sampled to the 16 bit, 44.1 kHz red book CD standard.  I also really like the sound of Tarantino's mastering, and the Miles set sounds so smooth. The XRCD process is full of technical jargon, but in a nut shell is a highly controlled one that ensures the best sound can be achieved on the CD medium, the caveat is that although it is marketed to sound as if it's a specialized format, it really is just a CD, and especially as the days of compact disc as a mainstream format are fading in the sunset, through the care of the mastering by Alan Yoshida, what a CD it is.

I knew of this series of issues way back in 2009 when they were released and always intended on picking up a few, but this past December was when I took the plunge.  My friend, who recently bought his first high end system, which I've had the pleasure of hearing, told me the XRCD's were on sale at elusive disc for $15 a pop instead of the standard $30.  He had recently purchased A Night In Tunisia by Art Blakey based on my album recommendation and was blown away.  I decided to order 17 titles, all priced at $15.  Rather than just order a few, I went all in, buying up favorite titles like the Blakey, Cool Struttin by Sonny Clark, True Blue and Back To the Tracks by Tina Brooks, but also many titles I never owned in any previous incarnation.  From all the reviews I read from people at the Steve Hoffman forums, even the usually vinyl centric Michael Fremer at Analog Planet, I knew these might be well worth it and they were.

Point of Departure

Like most serious Blue Note fans, my point of departure (pun intended) has been the original Ron McMaster mastered Blue Note CD's from their first wave of reissues in the mid 80's, early 90's, the TOCJ's (the acronym for Toshiba Classic Jazz) aka the Japanese Blue Note Works series, regarded by many to be some of the finest sounding CD reissues.  There also has been the limited edition Connoisseur series which began in 1994 featuring many titles mastered by Larry Walsh in the initial batches and the much derided RVG series, begun in 1998 and mastered by Rudy Van Gelder himself.  More on those in a minute, particularly how the XRCD's stack up vs the RVG's of some titles.  I also have a few of the superb 75th Anniversary reissues on SHM CD from Japan, and a 24/96 hi res version of Mosaic by Art Blakey, which is from Bernie Grundman's transfers.  There are also various vinyl reissues such as those done by Music Matters, which for some, outside of original Blue Note LP's, some United Artist era pressings and Japanese King pressings are considered to be the cream of the crop of Blue Note reissues on vinyl.  I do not do vinyl mainly because, having cerebral palsy, a physical disability that allows me the use of primarily one hand, handling vinyl is just not practical, and from the way I play music these LP's would probably be worn out!  Interestingly more knowledgeable folk than myself have indicated as good as the Music Matters 33 and 1/3 and the 45 RPM issues are they are nothing like a Blue Note original mastered by RVG. As a kid I owned plenty of original CTI LP's that Van Gelder mastered, and at WHRW my college alma mater's radio station I was able to hear a lot of Blue Note albums bearing the RVG stamp in dead wax.  Though each of the labels RVG made albums for had a distinct sound, whether it be Blue Note, Verve, Prestige, CTI, Impulse!,  Milestone, or Muse a unifying factor across all is that they had a very forward, exciting quality with a particular vividness to the horns and a punchy drum sound.  Some years ago at the website of London Jazz Collector, there was a post of a track from an original deep groove copy of trombonist Bennie Green's Soul Stirrin (Blue Note, 1958) and I was struck at how similar it sounded to an RVG mastered CD: the in your face quality, with a relatively flat 2 dimensional sound stage, with emphasis on a more “you are there” quality in the horns which has been described by Ohio based audiophile and long time  Blue Note and Organissimo forum member Lon Armstrong as reflecting a live jazz club experience.  

XRCD vs. Mc Master and RVG Blue Note CD's, etc.

The initial batches of RVG editions on Blue Note begun in 1998 initially were considered to be limited editions, but when the series gained momentum, his remasterings of Blue Note classics and some rarer titles gradually replaced the earlier McMaster CD's.  At the time, quite a few people were not content with the Ron McMaster renditions, and were eager to replace the then 10-15 year old masterings with the RVG's.  The first RVG I purchased and heard was Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue (Blue Note, 1963) which I originally owned as mid 80's DMM Blue Note reissue LP when I was 6 or 7 years old. To my then 17 year old self I was struck by the clarity and the detail in the instruments, but at the same time, it was quite a bit louder and there was quite a treble and bass boost, not to mention a collapsed stereo spread that was more mono then stereo.  The early RVG's released in the US through 1999 had a near mono sound stage which was due to the anecdote that apparently Alfred Lion himself did not like the wider stereo spread, and also to the fact that Van Gelder monitored sessions in mono. Apparently Van Gelder wished to capture the original feel of how sessions sounded at playback, but according to message board posts by mastering engineers such as Steve Hoffman, and producer of the Audiowave Blue Note XRCD's,  and Music Matters LP reissues Joe Harley, this was not the sound on the master tapes.  The initial RVG batches had separate masterings for the US and Japan, and due to consumer complaints, Michael Cuscuna had the engineer restore a wider stereo spread to future releases.  There were also titles such as Wayne Shorter's Juju, The Soothsayer, and Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles that had to be redone entirely due to post production issues that added digital distortion.  The distortion on the horns on The Soothsayer RVG is so bad on the CD I have that I replaced it with a hi res 24/96 download from HDTracks.  The RVG is not bad otherwise, being from a much later batch from around 2007, but for whatever reason when Universal Italy put out Shorter's entire classic Blue Note run in a budget 11 CD set, The Blue Note Recordings they did not use the corrected RVG or mid 90's Ron McMaster version, which also had the error but was corrected.

I had gotten the A Night In Tunisia, and Sonny Clark Cool Struttin XRCD's to replace the RVG's and the Blakey title I had also owned in it's mid 80's Ron McMaster incarnation.  The MFSL gold CD was very out of print and far too rich for my blood to track down.  The difference between the RVG and Alan Yoshida mastered XRCD  was stunning.  The XRCD of the Clark title beat out the RVG no contest and has become my preferred version.  Here is why: the XRCD is just so natural. All these XRCD’s are so transparent. By comparison, the RVG (which was issued in 1998) is detailed, but has a narrow near mono sound stage, and over accentuated treble that makes Philly Joe Jones beautiful K Zildjian cymbals, splat rather than have a defined tonality with the attack of the stick definition, the bright initial tones that bring a sweet, dark wash that the XRCD brings out.  The horns sound incredibly realistic and vivid, Art Farmer's  fat, burnished middle register, and Jackie McLean's alto is rendered in all it's tart, acerbic glory. Paul Chambers' bass is nice and tight, round, and the infamous boxy Van Gelder piano sound? Somehow Yoshida's mastering breaks it out of the din, and the upper register sparkles.  And there is a fabulous depth of the sound stage where the sound of the famous living room of Van Gelder's parents' house is heard, bringing a 3 dimensional depth and bloom the RVG does not have.  Not to mention with all the Blue Note XRCD titles I have, the sound is breathtakingly transparent.  Even on my mid fi consumer grade Technics speakers, they virtually disappear, that's how well crafted these masterings are.  In Michael Fremer's Analog Planet review, he gives the edge to the Music Matters LP, but remarked on the “woodiness” regarding Philly Joe's sticks on drums.  What he really meant was hearing the attack of the sticks on the drum head, and cross stick patterns on the rim, and the XRCD really brings out this aspect.

Another big winner was Hank Mobley's iconic Soul Station (Blue Note, 1960) with the incredible supporting cast of Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and the ubiquitous Art Blakey on drums. Mobley recorded a grand slam of Blue Note titles that year with Roll Call, and Workout, the latter featuring Philly Joe Jones on skins instead of Blakey.  Soul Station might be akin to the Blue Note version of Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1959) in that it's a title that pops up in the collections of even those who aren't big on jazz. The relaxed, easy going vibe finds Mobley spinning inventive improvisations on standards like “Remember”, and his classic “Dis I Dig Of You” with superb accompaniment from the A list rhythm section.  The RVG edition of this title was underwhelming, again having the narrow mono like sound stage, and the bumped treble.  The XRCD version is revelatory to my ear.  Mobley has never sounded fuller, his tone is creamy and commands full attention.  Blakey's famous press rolls dynamically stunted on the RVG flow out like crashing waves with impact of the sound of sticks on the drum head.  I could go on about each reissue, but for the sake of brevity just a few were highlighted here.

Realism, 3-D Sound stage and the sense of space

In the final section of this article I would like to discuss the sense of space in these reissues.  Rudy Van Gelder recordings on many labels as I alluded to earlier possess a very specific type of sound stage where horns and drums in particular are very up front.  There isn't a huge depth in the sound stage, even on a fairly recent title like Joey DeFrancesco's Wonderful! Wonderful! (HighNote, 2010) the sound stage true to classic RVG form is very close, yet fairly monochromatic in depth.   While drums on classic Blue Note, Prestige and Impulse! recordings don't have microphones on every drum like many recordings of the past 35 years, the drum sound is very “in front” of the listener and alive.  On Jackie McLean's Bluesnik (1962) the late drummer Pete La Roca Sims' A. Zildjian ride cymbal is rendered with  stunning realistic clarity.  The A. Zildjian line is a much brighter cymbal than the K's, although they too can have a nice warm wash,  don't have the distinct shimmery metallic brightness that is a characteristic of Paiste's cymbals.  La Roca Sims' ride has a sunny attack and it's richness lies in the many rivets heard in the cymbal that create sustain.   Audiowave XRCD's positively shine in that it sounds like you are hearing an actual cymbal as opposed to a simulation.   The mid 80's and early 90's Blue Note CD's have this odd effect where the cymbals (particularly with Art Blakey) have a inarticulate white noise sputter to them.

On the mid 90's Connoiseur CD's and early 2000's entries that make use of Sony's Super Bit Mapping (SBM) process, the high end is almost hard and harsh, as an example, listen to Tina Brooks' The Waiting Game (Blue Note, 1961) for evidence, also the mids can appear a bit sand papery on quite a few of these SBM efforts.  Curiously, many Columbia/Legacy titles of Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis done by Mark Wilder use the same technology  sound wonderful and don't have this harshness to my ear.  The Blue Note Works TOCJ series is much more pleasing tonally than some of the earlier US Blue Notes.  Though mostly no mastering credits are given, it has been thought by some that these Japanese CD's are also mastered by Ron McMaster, although there has never been any confirmation to solidify this assumption.  On an early stereo session such as Jimmy Smith Plays Pretty Just For You (1957) issued only on CD in Japan, even with it's atypical sound stage of drums on the left, organ in the center and guitar on the right, there is  a depth quite similar to the Audiowave XRCD's. Another Organissimo and Steve Hoffman regular, Kevin Bresnahan has remarked that in his eyes the XRCD's are quite similar to the Japanese Blue Note reissues, and to my ear he is correct.  So for those that have both the XRCD and TOCJ versions of some of the titles, mileage may vary.  If you only have the XRCD, as far as standard CD the experience is a revelation.

The Rudy Van Gelder studio is an amazing sounding place, and A Night In Tunisia and Swing Swang Swinging by Jackie McLean capture this greatly. While on the original McMaster and the RVG of the Blakey title you could get a sense of this on the title track, on the XRCD the sound of the room naturally reveals itself beautifully.  The drums have body during the famous solo section with hand percussion and the cavernous tom drum hits with plate reverb linger at the end in a way not apparent on  other editions.  Perhaps it's a credit to Alan Yoshida's retention of dynamics that makes this quite noticeable, but the listener gets such a sense of the natural ceiling reverb combined with a bit of plate reverb on these reissues that is a characteristic of early 60's Blue Notes. You can bask in the space on Kenny Drew's Undercurrent and on Swing Swang Swinging, McLean's alto has the after trail of the ceiling reverb behind him, and on Horace Parlan's Speakin' My Piece Stanley Turrentine's big bold tenor is in the right channel with plate reverb going towards the center and left.  The realism of the horns is palpable on every title I've heard from this series but Tommy Turrentine, Lee Morgan, and Dexter Gordon are most impressive.  Al Harewood's fat, deep snare is captured to perfection on Doin' Alright by Dexter Gordon as well  as the Parlan titles.

Does the 3-D sound stage appear on other Blue Note CD's besides this Audiowave series? Yes.  On Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch reissued in Japan for Blue Note's 75th anniversary in 2013, it comes very close to capturing that depth. Although a bit louder and brighter than the XRCD series, this 2013 reissue is the best CD version of the Dolphy I've ever heard.  The Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock titles from this series are outstanding as well.

Final words

In closing, I find that this Audiowave XRCD Blue Note series remastered by Alan Yoshida to be the best digital Blue Note I've heard.  I would have loved to hear titles such as Unity by Larry Young, Blue And Sentimental by Ike Quebec, Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock and Happenings by Bobby Hutcherson  and A Blowin' Session by Johnny Griffin in this series, but it appears it has come to an end. The mono titles like Lee Morgan's Candy are terrific and a massive improvement over it's inclusion in Mosaic's The Complete Blue Note Lee Morgan Fifties Sessions box set released in 1995.  Although that set's version uses a stereo tape, it is marred by a severe wow and flutter effect that's very noticeable on tracks like “Personality”.  While Hancock's Takin' Off, Lou Donaldson's Lou Takes Off, Look Out!, That's Where It's At by Stanley Turrentine and Grant Green's Talkin' About are listed as pre order, they have remained so for 4 or 5 years and it appears they are not coming out.  There is only one XRCD plant in Japan and that could be a possible reason.  I would also want to see more titles from the avant garde era of Blue Note  as the albums produced between 1964-66 are some of the best in the label's history, but perhaps the Audiowave series reflects the tastes of  the series producers and consumer base.  To be fair,  though outstanding, a lot of the titles are a bit musically conservative, falling on the hard bop spectrum and a bit more adventure would be great.  “Audiophile” selections in my experience tend to be a little safe musically. Overall, the series is recommended and should be purchased while they are still around.  Thanks for reading!  Peace, love, groove and keep swinging.