Chet Baker, Art Pepper and Phil Urso – Picture of Heath (UHQCD)

After two joint recordings for Pacific Jazz, trumpeter Chet Baker and alto saxophonist Art Pepper continued their fruitful collaboration with the extremely swinging album “Picture Of Heath”, originally released under the title “Playboys” – until Hugh Hefner, publisher of the relevant men’s magazine, objected. The sextet for this session was packed with top talent from the West Coast jazz scene, including tenor saxophonist Phil Urso, pianist Carl Perkins, bassist Curtis Counce and drummer Larance Marable. What was remarkable about this recording was its focus on the compositions of saxophonist Jimmy Heath, who wrote five of the album’s tracks: “Picture Of Heath”, “For Miles And Miles”, “C.T.A.”, “For Minors Only” and “Resonant Emotions”. The set is rounded off by two pieces by Pepper – “Minor-Yours” and “Tynan Tyme”. The band’s interplay is lively throughout and peppered with exquisite solos.

An absolute cool jazz masterpiece! As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US’s analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Picture Of Heath” took place on October 31, 1956 at Radio Recorders Studio in Hollywood.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

UHQCD (Mono-Mix)

1. Picture Of Heath

2. For Miles And Miles

3. C.T.A.

4. For Minors Only

5. Minor-Yours

6. Resonant Emotions

7. Tynan Tyme