Roy DuNann: Move Over Rudy.

[Brad]

The engineer behind the sound at Contemporary Records. 

The Search for Roy DuNann

(from Jazz Profiles)

[JSngry]

He did damn good work. Consistently.

[T.D.]

Thanks. Big fan of DuNann's work. The article seemed strangely familiar...on review I realized that I had read the original article in Stereophile!

[Brad]

Thanks. I thought it was a great article, especially since I had not known of him. 

Edited June 29, 2018 by Brad

[paul secor]

Like TD, I read it years ago in Stereophile, but it was good to revisit it.

[Bluesnik]

Good article. I knew him from his Contemporary fame.

[Bill Nelson]

When I'm in 'purge mode' in my record library, the saving grace for any Contemporary LP is 'sound by Roy DuNann'.  As if it said, "Cool the impulse, bud. Give me a full listen and appreciate the superior quality of recording."    

[Larry Kart]

No need for Rudy to move over. There's room for both. Rudy, for one, gave us the reality of how drums sound in a hard bop rhythm section. DuNann was lovely across the board --the clarity, especially with bassists -- but things could get a tad restricted on some sessions, if only because IIRC most Contemporary albums were recorded in a smallish space  (that article probably speaks of that). Also I don't recall many, if any,  DuNann recordings with larger ensembles, while Rudy (if you liked his approach) was Rudy all the way up to whatever size there was. Not saying that DuNann couldn't have done a fine job with a large ensemble, just don't recall hearing that.

[paul secor]

Art Pepper + Eleven - recorded on three dates. Recording engineering credited to Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer.

I agree about the presence of drums on some of DuNann's recordings. I too always assumed it was the result of recording in a more limited space.

[Brad]

29 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

No need for Rudy to move over. There's room for both. Rudy, for one, gave us the reality of how drums sound in a hard bop rhythm section. DuNann was lovely across the board --the clarity, especially with bassists -- but things could get a tad restricted on some sessions, if only because IIRC most Contemporary albums were recorded in a smallish space  (that article probably speaks of that). Also I don't recall many, if any,  DuNann recordings with larger ensembles, while Rudy (if you liked his approach) was Rudy all the way up to whatever size there was. Not saying that DuNann couldn't have done a fine job with a large ensemble, just don't recall hearing that.

The title of my post was tongue in cheek. 

[mjzee]

My kind of guy!

At one point I asked him a rather breathless interviewer's question: "What was it like, in 1958, to come in and set up a session for some new musician you didn't know, and hear Ornette Coleman play like that? Jazz was changed forever from that moment. It must have been incredible. You were there, Roy. What did you think?"

 

In his inflectionless voice, Roy said immediately, "I would have sent him home."

 

"You would have sent him home."
 

"Yeah. I got so I could listen to a lot of the jazz stuff and know where one chorus was going to end and the next one begin. It was important for knowing where to make a splice. But with Ornette, you couldn't tell where you were. It just started out and it ended. It wasn't music at all for me."

[paul secor]

I'm thankful that Lester Koenig thought (and heard) differently.

[JSngry]

That’s what I need out of music, to know where to make a splice.

Oh, and about the “boxy” drum sound...not bad for a non- studio, right? It was their storeroom basically, correct, not a proper studio at all?

[Chuck Nessa]

21 minutes ago, JSngry said:

That’s what I need out of music, to know where to make a splice.

Oh, and about the “boxy” drum sound...not bad for a non- studio, right? It was their storeroom basically, correct, not a proper studio at all?

I was there and the room and booth were a minimalist's studio. Better than some "dedicated" studios I have visited. I have been to Rudy's, Columba's 30th Street and a bunch of others. Boxes of records are good sound absorbers.

[sgcim]

On 6/30/2018 at 11:28 PM, mjzee said:

My kind of guy!

At one point I asked him a rather breathless interviewer's question: "What was it like, in 1958, to come in and set up a session for some new musician you didn't know, and hear Ornette Coleman play like that? Jazz was changed forever from that moment. It must have been incredible. You were there, Roy. What did you think?"

 

In his inflectionless voice, Roy said immediately, "I would have sent him home."

 

"You would have sent him home."
 

"Yeah. I got so I could listen to a lot of the jazz stuff and know where one chorus was going to end and the next one begin. It was important for knowing where to make a splice. But with Ornette, you couldn't tell where you were. It just started out and it ended. It wasn't music at all for me."

 

Well, at least he didn't get out of the booth and knock him out with one punch, like Max Roach did when he first played in a club in NYC!