I own about 15 of Mapleshade's recordings, including the reggae group (Midnite), several of the blues groups, the folk group led by singer Ben Andrews, and 8 or so jazz groups. As noted above, all are very well recorded and have good to excellent music. If there is any negative aspect to the Mapleshade recordings, it's the fact that most are miked VERY closely and have a pretty dry acoustic quality. Some folks really like this quality, others don't (my wife, for example, prefers a bit more distance and room acoustic, and thinks the Mapleshade recordings sound very one-dimensional). If your sound system has good resolution, however, you hear a lot of subtle details, such as where the drum kit is located and how it is miked, and how the miking is sometimes changed a bit as the recording sessions proceed. I think highly of Mapleshade's catalog, and hope they stay around a long time.
