The Magnificent Thad Jones (UHQCD)

“The Magnificent Thad Jones” is widely regarded as the best small group recording in the trumpeter and composer’s career. Following his Blue Note debut “Detroit – New York Junction” in March 1956, Jones returned to the studio in July to record this extremely swinging album with Billy Mitchell on tenor saxophone, Barry Harris on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Max Roach on drums. The album opens with a legendary interpretation of “April In Paris”, a reworking of the famous version recorded by the Count Basie Orchestra with Jones the year before – complete with the trumpeter’s mischievous “Pop Goes The Weasel” quote. Other highlights of the album include two Jones originals – the relaxed “Billie-Doo” and the light-swinging “Thedia” – as well as the breathtaking ballad “If Someone Had Told Me”. Michael G. Nastos’ review on AllMusic reads: “This quintet plays truly great jazz together… The musicianship is so high, so intelligently chosen and executed, that this CD is a must for any collection and is widely considered Jones’ best work, regardless of his later big band recordings with Mel Lewis”.

“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 “6 Pieces Of Silver” took place on July 9 and 14, 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. April In Paris

2. Billie-Doo

3. If I Love Again

4. If Someone Had Told Me

5. Thedia