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I'm about to order some music from Mapleshade and Cardas, there's a lot in the catalog that looks good. My tastes are pretty eclectic, so I'm open to all genres of music.Can anyone suggest recordings from these studios that are particularly great performances (I'm assuming they're all at least decent recordings)? Any personal favorites? Any other 'audiophile' recording studios worth looking into?
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Available as a hybrid SACD and is one of the BEST audiophile recordings I've come across in both content and recording quality from both layers (SACD & RBCD)..AP
# The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men # Samuel L. Jackson (Ezekiel 25:17)> Pulp Fiction < Current Set-Up..Plinius CD101-> M8-> SA-REF-> Genesis IM-8300 <-
Twisty,I have some of both Chesky & Mapleshade; my best advice is to get the samplers from both companies (I think they both have a few) and then that way you will get a better idea of what to expect.
Next, I believe they both have on line sampling so you can check the stuff out (of course the sound quality will suffer but that won't spoil a good tune!)
Interesting question, I am about to publish a couple of interviews with Mapleshade and Waterlily. I would highly recommend recordings from both of these houses.Musicmaker.org is another excellent label. Telarc has some fairly decent stuff too.
Arvind Kohli
http://www.tnt-audio.com/int.html
www.chesky.com
I have yet to hear something from Reference Recordings that isn't very nice.Recently, I bought Dick Hyman's "Swing", and the Minnesota Orchestra's "Ikon of Eros", both excellent performances beautifully recorded. "Ikon" is one of those "modern orchestral works" but I've enjoyed this one a great deal... I've probably listened to it 3-4 times in the last couple of months... it's good music, "different for sure", and sonically rich.
Also from Reference, I have Pictures at an Exhibition (very nice!), Reveries (when I need to slow down a bit), and Symphonic Dances. I suppose I'll eventually buy one that's sub-par, but that hasn't happened yet.
And, if you believe "wild ride" and "Beethoven" could possibly go together, get Osmo Vanska's recording of the Beethoven 4th and 5th on BIS... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00076AE3U/qid=1146849778/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0838858-4393747?s=classical&v=glance&n=5174
Peter
Waterlily. m.a. recordings, a lot of stuff on enja, Manfred Eichner's label.. the first two call themselves "audiophile" and are but the other two sound fantastic as well but would otherwise be considered "normal" -:)Many smaller European labels (many French ones in fact) are very audiophilish in their sonics and attention to detail. Naive comes to mind, Al Sur, l'empreinte digitale... the list is far longer and merely requires to be experimental and try stuff out...
I purchased 5 mapleshade recordings, They are classic audiophile trash. Great sounding with no musical value. I've heard better music in elevators.
Some singers don't sound good without reverb -- and Mapleshade presents them as they really sound. I had to pay postage to return the three but they let me choose another three from their catalog in exchange.I have about one dozen Mapleshade and Wildchild CDs. They don't get much play. I often see others in used CD stores in Ann Arbor Michigan and elsewhere, but rarely touch them even at $6 to $8 each.
My favorite is the Midnite reggae CD on Wildchild because the sound quality is better than any other reggae CD I've ever heard, including my two Bob Marley CDs on Mobile Fidelity.
For the rest, typically one or two songs on each CD are worth hearing more than once. A Hamiett Blueiett (probably spelled wrong) alto sax CD of Nat King Cole songs is the best of the rest -- a contra-clarinet solo on the last song is very unusual and very good for testing subwoofers.
If I were a bigger jazz fan, maybe I'd like more of them. The blues CDs have been consistently mediocre, which surprised me because blues seems like such a simple genre to master and I wasn't expecting much.
Many people agree with you about the quality of Mapleshade performances. I've recommended the two CD's discussed above and been
attacked by people who have been very disappointed by the label.
There good if you want to demo your system, other than that the music is ok at best. If you like it there is nothing wrong with that I personally don't. Audiophiles are a sensitive bunch, they only want to hear what they want, anything else is wrong & they will cry & moan till the cows come home.
Nt
I have quite a few that I love -- for the music. Hamiett Bluiett, Clifford Jordan, Larry Willis, Harold Ashby, Jack Walrath, Consuela Lee, Frank Kimbrough, John Hicks, Keter Betts, Walter Davis, Jr., for starters -- If these are your idea of trash musicians, I can only guess at what you DO like.
Please add to that list Walter Booker, the Willimason Brothers (terrific bluegrass) and the Arc Choir. If you're looking for audiophile trash, try Jacintha for $30 a pop. I'll stick to the $10 Mapleshades. And by the way, for the posters below, Holly Cole and Diana Krall do not record for audiophile labels.
I find most *audiophile* recordings musical value sucks. I also find most audiophiles listen to there equipment not music. I know of many audiophiles who have nothing but audiophile recordings, I also find they are never happy whith what they have, they are always looking for that magic component & or CD, LP. They lost touch with what brought them to this hobby in the first place MUSIC!My definition of an audiophile is someone who has $100000 in electronics & $.75 worth of music they like to play.
nt
Do I really want to know?
*If these are your idea of trash musicians, I can only guess at what you DO like*Yes you are right you can only guess, but let me give you a hint.
Ornette Coleman
John Coltrane
Miles Davis
Gil Evans
Dizzy Gillespie
Charles Mingus
Thelonious Monk
Charlie Parker
Hank Mobly
We could all write down lists (in our favorite genres--jazz, classical, rock/pops) of the best musicians of all time, compared to whom most other musicians would pale, but that would not answer the original question, which I believe pertained to good-sounding labels and titles within those labels.As a general rule, Mapleshade has some very good sound and some good musicians. Clifford Jordan, Larry Willis, and Harold Ashby (who played with Ellington) are good examples, though there are many others. With Mapleshade, there is sometimes a sense of very spirited, albeit less-than-world-class, performances in very immediate sound, but that is very similar to the live experience, where performances can be hit-or-miss as well.
Some people may think that Mapleshade recordings are a bit hot (of course, this varies with the recording), but I have found many that are very immediate and not too hot.
Gee, they were all turned down by Pierre Sprey of Mapleshade. What an oversight!You are just tres cool!
-------
Addicted to content-free jazz music.
Who was?
It's spelled "Mobley," by the way.
You audiophiles are more sensitive than a women. What's the deal? Someone posts their opinion & if you don't like it you wine like a bitch. Sound like a bunch of cry baby liberals.
And a misogynist to boot. But I guess I shouldn't "wine" when I could be listening to all those dead jazz icons and feeling superior :-)
interesting take ... my personal approach is to listen to Mapleshade discs as if I'm hearing these folks at a coffeehouse or other small venue that I paid only $9.60 to get into not necessarily knowing the artist. Then I just enjoy what they're doing as if live (which it certainly sounds like). Great performance? Great! Mediocre performance? Cost me less than $10 and I get to go back again for a retry.
Groove Note - awesome recordings, jazz and blues
Naim
Classic Records (people here bash a lot, but I find them excellent) - rock, jazz, classical
Check out Highnote CDs at the jazzdepot. I picked up a dozen, most of
which were mastered by Rudy VanGelder. I would recommend the Houston Person's recordings and Joey Defransisco.
While they don't have the audiophile stamp, they are better to me than
a lot of stuff by the self proclaimed audiophile labels, esp. Mapleshade.
Regards,
Lew
This is unreal. A must-own for audiophiles i'd say.
If you have that you must have ;Tales of the Inexpressible and the Remixes.
Audiophile recording- Sheffield Labs- "Growing Up in Hollywood Town".... Amanda McBroom is IMO one of the most-underrated singers I've experienced.
Live at Rainbow and Stars has all of her best tunes and sounds better than the Sheffield's. Hit play, have a glass of your fave and get ready to laugh and cry.
Not an "audiophile" recording, but great music and the sonic rival the best audiophile stuff which many times has less then stellar music.
I second Holly Cole, Temptation...
A wonderful collection of Tom Wait's music.
Great bass lines!Jennifer Warnes..The Well
Very well produced!
I've never heard a Cardas recording, but I've got dozens of Mapleshades. It's an excellent label, and Pierre Sprey, the owner, is a wonderful recordist, but the discs are uneven and some can be either incredible or incredibly bad on certain systems, especially if your rig tends towards leanness or brightness. Otherwise the sense of space and presence is usually startling. Try Clifford Jordan's "Live at Ethell's" for sure. You won't find many live jazz recordings more realisticly done than this one. Amazing room feel. "Cats Are Stealing My Shit" by Warren Smith is bongos, flutes, a shockingly real tympani along with beat poetry and an unsettling version of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit". If you like bluegrass, or have dipped into country from time to time without ill effect, try "Still Light of Evening" by the Williamson Brothers, which could be the best-recorded bluegrass I've ever heard. Their harmonies just hang there like they're in the room with you. All of Sprey's piano recordings are excellent.
But avoid, in general, discs with lots of brass on them. I am convinced that Sprey has some hearing loss in the highs, because his recording chain way overcompensates for it. Almost all the brass recordings are shrill, nails-across-a-blackboard ear-bleeders. So skip the big bands. And the massed vocals, like the Arc Choir, are fabulous, riveting performances, but the recording technique is so extreme (dry and shrill) you may not like it. I think that among all the audiophile labels that produce their own music, Mapleshade's performances are right at the top, and more consistently than the recordings are.
...anything from Bela Fleck? "Flight...", "3 Flew...", "UFO...", as well as "Perpetual Motion" and "Tales... Planet" on a non-Fleckstone basis.The best sounding CDs I have heard, as well as being GOOD music.
LPs w/ Dave Grisman equally impressive.
Cue up track 4, "Sojourn of Arjuna" from Left of Cool... tell me THAT doesn't sound REALLY good...
Unfortunately, I don't only listen to well-recorded stuff, as my (sometimes immature) tastes lean toward bands that didn't really give a damn. But - this stuff is good all around.
. . . for those damned electronic drums--they sound hideous. I love the music, but that's a deal-killer for me.
...I would rather real, but it's still quite impressive, seeing Futureman play.I haven't figured that out... why the "drumitar" thing. I suppose it's an invention that they are proud of.
Remember - the original query was about quality playback... there are some explosive dynamics from that crazy thing!
Second the digital drums, they suck, no offense to Future-man. Headache inducing!!
I am listening to John Cocuzzi "Swingin' and Burnin'" right now. It is really well recorded and excellent if you like vibraphone jazz.I also have Hamiet Bluiett "Making Whoopee" and Sunny Sumter "Sunny". I used to play baritone sax and the Bluiett CD is very well recorded and almost makes me want to take up the instrument again! Sunny Sumter is a great vocal recording, very natural sounding.
Don't have any Cardas recordings and can't comment.
(nt)
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