George Russell, "Ezz-thetics" (Keepnews Collection)

[Bol]

I just bought this remaster, and found the remaster so shrill and artificial that I decided to go back to the OJC remaster. Did anyone else have this experience? I don't think I've had such a visceral dislike of a remaster since the RVG remaster of Jackie McLean's "Fickle Sonance".

[colinmce]

I only have the OJC. I was lucky to pick up many titles in the Keepnews/Prestige RVG series (including this one) as discounted OJCs at the local record store when they came out. But I had a similar reaction to the remaster of Ron Carter - Where?. Way too in-your-face and cavernous for what I consider to be a very non-aggressive album. I'm going to replace it by and by.

Of the Keepnews, I have Cannonball in NYC and Evans' Portrait In Jazz. Both are good enough sound-wise, but the packaging is ugly as sin.

[king ubu]

more like keepnews-y, rather than ugly, isn't it?

[jazzbo]

I don't have any problems with the remaster. . . I like it.

[AndrewHill]

I don't have any problems with the remaster. . . I like it.

I like it too, although I never had the OJC to compare it with.

[Claude]

I haven´t heard the Keepnews edition (Joe Tarantino's masterings are usually ok, but not great).

The best CD version I know is the japanese K2 remaster (VICJ-41530). But the OJC is very good too and doesn't require an upgrade.

[J.A.W.]

Joe Tarantino's masterings are usually ok, but not great.

I agree. I find some of his masterings good and some not so good, but to my ears he did a terrific job on the American version of Bill Evans' Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Sessions 3CD-set.

Edited August 18, 2009 by J.A.W.

[Bol]

I haven´t heard the Keepnews edition (Joe Tarantino's masterings are usually ok, but not great).

The best CD version I know is the japanese K2 remaster (VICJ-41530). But the OJC is very good too and doesn't require an upgrade.

I wish that Fantasy/Concord had kept their 20-bit K2 line. Those were the best remasters to my ears. I have many of the Japanese K2's, but not this one. Concord's decision to scratch the K2's and to opt for RVG and Keepnews remasters always seemed to me a cynical marketing move.

[jazzbo]

I remember reading that the "agreement/deal" with JVC for K2 releases by OJC fell through or was not renewed or carried over when Concord bought the company. That may be the real thing or not. What is clear is that at one point they ceased to produce domestic K2 versions.

This is all so system dependent I find. I really don't prefer the K2 to a lot of other releases. I've become a fan of Tarantino's 24 bit work, and find that I prefer Kirk Felton transfers to some K2 versions, I like the RVGs, etc. Others clearly hear things differently through their systems. It's nice to have options, which we do/did for a lot of the material.

[Bol]

Obviously, Lon, you have a much more nuanced understanding of these matters than I do. I've just noticed that the K2 remasters sound very full and natural-sounding to my ears, whereas many of the RVGs and other remasters strike me as quite artificial and super aggressive so that I feel a bit worn out by the end of an album. In any case, I have a pretty modest stereo system, so perhaps I am not the best judge of these matters.

Edited August 20, 2009 by Bol