Any opinions? I'm curious about some of the more obscure ones that have no samples on their site, such as:
Brother Ad's, Celebration (von Schweikert's imaging reference, they say)
Michael Carvin, Drum Concerto at Dawn
Chief Bey, Children of the House
Silent Bear, ?
Tony Williamson, Still Light of the Evening (does have samples)
I see they sell 4 or more for 9.60 each at mapleshade.com, and that you can exchange any recording you don't like after listening. Amazon charges 19.00 for ARC, anyway. (I haven't yet checked at Amazon for samples of the others....) Amusicdirect charges something like 12.00 each, but has no samples nor even descriptions. |
Al Lee - "Ain't Playin' The Game." Really an amazing disc from an unheralded artist. |
I have several Mapleshade CDs. Some of which are among my favorite CDs and some I probably won't listen to ever again. The sound quality is great, but tends to be a bit to bright for my taste or system. My favorites are:
Norris Turney- Big, Sweet and Blue. This has got to be the best recording of saxophone that I've come across, and the passion behind the music is vibrant. It's a must have for any sax music lover.
Clifford Jordan- Live at Ethel's. This is an audiophile classic for it's live recording quality. You hear every breath he takes, and the clinking and clunking of the keys on his sax. It's a must have, too.
Bobby Battle and Ted Nash discs are very good and I find myself spinning them quite often.
Avi Lebo is fantastic for any fan of the trombone, which may not be too many. The playing is invigorating and the recording is too.
I personally don't care for any of the Hamiet Bluiett CDs. I just can't stand the playing (squalling) of his baritone sax.
There are several other enjoyable discs and several new ones which I've not heard. |
Thanks to all for the info and ideas. I suspect Mapleshade is probably an "acquired" taste, but on the other side, good recordings can't be all that bad.
Big thanks to SantafeFrank, for the obvious suggestion of going to the website (!!) and listening to various cuts. The samples are real helpful at getting the flavor of a CD.
The "Live at Ethels" album is right where my jazz tastes are at. I'm pretty sure I'll find a couple more to my liking. |
Thanks to all for the info and ideas. I suspect Mapleshade is probably an "acquired" taste, but on the other side, good recordings can't be all that bad.
Big thanks to SantafeFrank, for the obvious suggestion of going to the website (!!) and listening to various cuts. The samples are real helpful at getting the flavor of a CD.
The "Live at Ethels" album is right where my jazz tastes are at. I'm pretty sure I'll find a couple more to my liking. |
I was surprised at the feedback I received so I created an auction for my Mapleshade collection of 11 mint condition cd's.
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc.pl?softdisc&1019179744 |
Drink Small"Live"
Sweetman and his Southside Blue's Kings..
These two "really" cook,if you like blue's,"heavy" on electric guitar and in your face you will love Drink Small.If you like "kick ass" down and dirty,sleazy stle,southern,sax with a whole lotta,rock then you'll love "Sweetman".Check them out,I have a very high end system,but it would not matter,if you had a boombox with these two,there loud,acurate,and true to the source!!!!!! |
Do you think anybody would be interested in purchasing my absolutely mint collection of 10 or 12 Mapleshade recordings? |
I have about 25 of them and (obviously) like them a lot. A cross-section of favorites:
Chris Anderson - Love Locked out
Harold Ashby - Just for You
King/Bluiett Trio - Makin' Whoopee
Gerard D'Angelo Trio - Not What My Hands Have Done
Walter Davis, Jr. - In Walked Thelonious
Clifford Jordan - Live at Ethell's
Frank Kimbrough Trio - Lonely Woman
Consuela Lee - Piano Voices
Andy McKee - Sound Roots
Bob Kindred - Gentle Giant of the Tenor Sax
Larry Willis - Solo Spirit
Caveat: If you like "smooth jazz," you'll likely hate all of them! |
My favorite is "Harp, Steel and Guts" by the Blue Rider Trio. The music is good (harmonica Blues) and of course the recording is excellent. I especially like "Salty Dog" and their version of "CC Rider".
They do have some samples on their web site:
http://www.mapleshaderecords.com
but they tend to be pretty short - usually a minute, though there are some full-length cuts. Of course they pick the best songs for samples, so on some of them the one song on the web is the only one I like. But liking one song is better than liking none. ;-) |
A few of my favs:
The Sampler Disc is good.
A La Carte Brass...second cd
Clifford Jordon, "When Alto Was King"
I have to agree that some of the performances seem week. I have found the more I listen to them the more I grew with them and really enjoy listening to them. |
The Kendra Shank is sonically astounding and I can sort of enjoy the music. But I agree with the others, the content on this label is too weak, even given the great sonics. |
I own about 10 Mapleshade CDs, and while I enjoy the fidelity of them I don't always care for the performances. Also, I've noticed some strange subsonic anomlies on a few of them. That being said, I really like Sunny Sumter's recording for Mapleshade. I much prefer the offerings from JVC's XRCD remastering library. Lot's of new and old classics with new life injected into them. Check out Jacintha's releases, along with Chet Atkins' In Hollywood. |
rrick, I purchased about 12 mapleshade cd's all at once about 9 months ago. They seem to be very well recorded but I just can't digest that type of music.
I should put them up for sale.
-John |
