Herbie Nichols Trio – Herbie Nichols Trio (UHQCD)

Throughout his life, Herbie Nichols stood in the shadow of other jazz pianists and composers. Unfortunately, he only received the recognition he deserved long after his untimely death. Nichols, who, like Thelonious Monk, had found his own niche, left behind a very small body of work, but one that is all the more impressive for it. On “Herbie Nichols Trio,” the third of only four albums, he presented nine original compositions, including “Lady Sings The Blues,” written with Billie Holiday, in which he cleverly combined elements of old and modern jazz styles.

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 sessions for “Herbie Nichols Trio” took place on August 1 and 7, 1955 and April 19, 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey.

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

1.    The Gig
2.    House Party Starting
3.    Chit Chattin’
4.    The Lady Sings The Blues
5.    Terpischore
6.    The Spinning Song
7.    Query
8.    Wildflower
9.    Hangover Triangle
10.    Mine