Description:
A historic record recorded just four years removed from the dawn of the analog tape era !
200 gram double LP set remastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes and cut at 45 RPM !
Recorded on an Ampex 200, using 3M-111 magnetic tape running at 15 inches per second.
Gatefold old-style "tip-on" on jacket by Stoughton Printing.
Plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings !
"Remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes, the record was plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings. The depth and space when those rich chromatic harmonies create a wide and well-defined soundscape, the timbre of the orchestra as a whole as well as individual instruments, and the thick, wooden sound of Wendell Marshall's bass are among the aural pleasures provided when you drop a needle on this platter; expect goose bumps". - Music = 5/5; Sonics = 4.5/5 - Jeff Wilson, The Absolute Sound, May-June 2015.
"I chose the CD reissue of this album as one of my R2D4s for 2012, but now from Chad Kassem's Analogue Productions comes this QRP LP, and it's an occasion for popping corks. Released in 1950, this was Ellington's first LP, and he used the new medium to stretch out four of his biggest hits. The arrangements are jaw-droppingly gorgeous and the sound just slightly less so. Recorded by Fred Plaut, who later miked Kind of Blue and other Columbia classics, it has the dynamics, depth, and in-your-face tonal realism of a modern (mono) audiophile thumper. Among the best jazz albums ever. How about a 45 RPM pressing, Chad ?" - Fred Kaplan, for Stereophile - "Records To Die For" - February 2015.
"Among the first recordings arranged and produced to take advantage of the LP's longer playing time, this album was released in 1950 on Columbia Records' classical imprint, Masterworks, with a whimsical cover by Stan Fraydas (author of Hoppy, the Curious Kangaroo) that's reproduced for this edition. (Columbia soon replaced it with an image more "modern" and more mundane.)... Freed from the 78 RPM single's three-minute constraint, Ellington could score and record concert-length arrangements similar to those enjoyed by his concert audiences. Three of the four selections, including 'Mood Indigo' and 'Sophisticated Lady,' are familiar Ellington classics stretched and elasticized to luxurious effect. The harmonically saturated, transparent mono sound is astonishing for any era of recording. It's sure to leave you swooning, and wondering how and why recorded sound has since gone so far south." - Michael Fremer, for Stereophile - "Records To Die For" - February 2015.
"I have recently been obsessed with Masterpieces by Ellington, one of the best records I have ever heard in terms of music and production. I can now see Ellington in full technicolor glory !" - Colleen ‘Cosmo' Murphy, Classic Album Sundays.
"Chad Kassem's Analogue Productions, in conjunction with Ryan Smith of Sterling Sound mastering studio have produced an LP that equals and in some way exceeds the sound of a pristine original pressing properly equalized. The perfectly quiet vinyl and exemplary packaging add up to one of the best reissues of the century". Recording = 10/10; Music = 10/10 - Dennis D. Davis, Hi-Fi +, Issue 120
"This new re-issue slays my vintage copy in every way. Every dimension of the recording was much better...dynamics, harmonics, frequency response, detail, jump...all just leaped out at me! The recording sounded like it had been made that morning...absolutely fresh-sounding. No veiling. No roll-off. In fact, it's so good that it doesn't matter that this is a mono recording ! Listen to it on a great turntable...you'll hear mono that fools you into thinking that it's not mono. Just wait until you hear Yvonne Lanauze sing, "Mood Indigo" amigos, after a long instrumental build-up...she'll take you there !... The pressing itself was impeccable : flat, and free of noise, tics and pops... a genuine masterpiece of the pressing-plant arts. The Hyperion OCL, the finest cartridge that I've ever heard, revealed how superbly these grooves were carved! Commendable, reference-grade analog...very, very close to master tape sound. Very damned close ! Kissing cousins close ! Hell, maybe even closer than that. In fact, I now consider the Analogue Productions re-issue of Masterpieces by Ellington to be one of the very finest Jazz records ever released. (Sorry Miles! Move over, Kind of Blue!)". - David W. Robinson, editor-in-chief, Positive Feedback Online.
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