Another time Another Place - Jerome Etnom
Label : Golden strings audiophile repertory GSCD 029AG

I have some great SOUNDING Bob James, Brian Culbertson, Michel Camillo, Warren Bernhardt, Dave Grusin, Joe Sample discs seem to be all over the place sound quality wise, David Benoit (a favorite of mine). If you can find Benoit's This Side Up...buy it. It is one of the best sounding piano LPs I own. James and Grusin use too many synths for my taste.

I have some great performances of Ellington, Mike Longo, Nat King Cole where the recording is not up to the level of the performance. I have a great LP of 1940 performances that I am dying that the recording is so bad. Nat Cole was a great piano player. I have heard some very good McCoy Tyner, Carla Blye, Patricia Barber, Lynne Arrial, Renee Rosnes, and the easy on the eyes Elaine Elias and Diana Krall. Also Liz Story, Billy Barber, and Fred Hirsch.

If I can think of some more that I may have I'll come back.

These are some of the best quality and best performance
live jazz piano recordings I've heard.

Jessica Williams
Live at Yoshi's (Vol. 1& 2)

Mulgrew Miller
Live at Yoshi's (Vol. 1& 2)

Samples can be heard on maxjazz.com

Jim, I'm not sure which Bob James discs you have, but assuming you enjoy his style, my favorite "Grand Piano Canyon" has very minimal synths on just a couple of tunes, and some of Bobs best chops. Another would be "Bob James Trio - Straight Up" with NO synths.

I have several of David Benoits very early works but gave up on him as everything began to sound the same to me, however after hearing you praise that particular recording several times I think I will give it a try.

RG

I love Grand Piano Canyon as I also have the LP. I also love Four Play in Heart Felt.

With Benoit I would agree there is a sameness to some stuff, but the older This Side Up lp is a fav and a great demo piece. Makes me believe that if all disc cutters really cared the lp world would all be stunning. I need to get This Side Up in my HP.

I just transferred the Pablo lp Basic Jam 2 into my computer and burned a CD...which sounds excellent as does the lp of course. I have to redue side two as there were some pops "that gotta go" I missed in cleaning. There are some great Pablo recordings and some just OK like Mike Longo Talk With the Spirits. The playing is excellent. I transferred it yesterday. His bio is an iteresting read off the net. I think, 18 recordings to his credit.

My goal is to do one disc a day and, by the time I kick there will be most likely "one" left to do. LOL The man just can't catch a break!

ps I had to come back...

I could not find Grand Piano Canyon on LP...where I put it I do not know, but I do still have the CD. I do have the Bob James LP of Ivory Coast, which is also nice and I am uploading it into my HP as I write.

What I have been doing is using a Creek OBH 10 for maintaining levels below 0DB into my computer. Now that I have really scrutinized some of this work and compared it to the lps I can tell you than running it through the OBH has soften the sound ever so slightly, but it is discernable. I then when back and took it out of the circuit and adjusted the ouput of my phono stage to output less and keep the levels in check. The sound is ever so crisper with a slightly more dynamic sound. I can always normalize if the levels are too low. I would rather not have to do that. It may be that an NHT vol control a JA fav at $99 may be in my future.

I will also say that when MF and other cartridge reviewers talk about a certain cart being more suseptable to clicks and pops, believe it. The transferring is not something any of us want to do twice. It is hard to get all the static off the discs. I guess that new fluid MF talked about this month may be worth a try, accept for the grunge it put on his stylus. You know the stylus Mickey has is NOT user replaceable and worth some real money.

Regards,

In terms of recording quality (and performance!) I'd recommend the following for audio benchmark reference:

1. Solo Piano: Jim Brickman "No Words"
2. Jazz Guitar (electric): Denny Jiosa "Moving Pictures"
3. Acoustic Flamenco Guitar: Ottmar Liebert "The Hours Between Night And Day"

Hope this helps!