Music with a view

[johnrtd]

I know that "looking" at music is not everyones favorite way of enjoying his music. Some say it distracts from the emotional and musical experience. And then there's the compression, be it by Dolby or DTS.
Having said all that I must confess that I like some music recordings with a view. Here it goes.



This is one of these old (analogue!) recordings made at the Montreux festival in the seventies. Now it's available on DVD with DTS sound.

This record let you enjoy the good old big band swing. And it shows the copper section using various types of dampers. Nowadays this habit seems to be forbidden. It simply has to be loud (louder, loudest).
Funny thing when looking at this recording is the age of the drummer. This guy surely is the youngest in the band, almost all others are over 50! So I think that drummer was a replacement. But the boy shows enthousiasm and attack!



Again a recording from Montreux. Oscar Petersen playing like no one else can. The interesting thing though is that Oscar is accompanied by two bass players, Ray Brown and Niels Henning Pedersen. Both battling with each other and with the fast rythm from Oscar. One of the fascinating things is Niels playing chords on his bass. I never heard this before!

The sound quality is very, very good even when compared with Petersen on CD. It's DTS again.

More to come ....
John

[johnrtd]

This one was recorded somewhere around 1971 with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
This is not a DVD. It's a Laser Disc with an analogue sound track. And man is this beautiful! The sound quality is at the least as good as on any LP or even better. It's also simple stereo, no Dolby whatsoever.
Nice to see this "general" commanding his "army". The players all in tuxedo's and sitting straight in rows. This surely is one of the highlights in my collection.
I once protested at Philips against the switch to "digital encoding" on LD. And IMHO they went the wrong way. I've got some analogue LD's, even a Stephen Spielberg film, with analogue sound. All giving lots of pleasure when listening.

John

[johnrtd]

It occurs this guy, Til Brönner, is rather popular in the States. It's a German trumpet player a bit kinda trying his thing in the footsteps of the late Miles Davis. So he blows his trumpet, but uses any kind of keyboard or other electronics as well.
This DVD was recorded in a studio in Berlin in a very relaxed atmosphere. The other musicians also seem to enjoy themselves.
The record is registered in some kind of "surround ambiance", but (!) sound quality is rather good.
If you're interested in modern (experimental!) jazz you surely should listen to it.

John