Milt Jackson – Milt Jackson with John Lewis, Percy Heath, Kenny Clark, Lou Donaldson & The Thelonious Monk Quintet [Mono] (UHQCD)

Vibraphonist Milt Jackson appeared on numerous Blue Note sessions during the bebop era in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including in 1952 under his own direction with the original lineup of the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums and Lou Donaldson on alto saxophone. That year, Blue Note released the 10-inch LP “Wizard Of The Vibes”, which included Jackson’s unforgettable theme “Bag’s Groove”. In 1956, Blue Note switched to 12-inch LPs and launched the legendary 1500 series with the expanded LP “Milt Jackson And The Thelonious Monk Quintet” (BLP 1509) with additional tracks from 1948 and 1949 conducted by Monk, including a quartet recording with John Simmons on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums, and a quintet recording with Sahib Shihab on alto saxophone, Al McKibbon on bass and Art Blakey on drums. The Penguin Guide to Jazz described the tracks featuring Monk as “classics that culminate in the captivating version of “I Mean You”. AllMusic wrote: “Jackson’s imaginative playing on both days makes this CD an important part of his impressive discography, and it should be in every bop fan’s collection.”

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 this compilation took place on July 2, 1948, and July 23, 1951.

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.    Lillie
2.    Tahiti
3.    What’s New
4.    Bags’ Groove
5.    On The Scene
6.    Willow Weep For Me
7.    Criss Cross
8.    Eronel
9.    Misterioso (Alternate Master)
10.    Evidence
11.    Lillie (Alternate Master)
12.    Four In One (Alternate Master)