Recommendations for a jazz record which demonstrates vinyl superiority over digital

I cannot imagine the "open air" approach to buliding a plinth for a 301 would be efficacious, for me at least, because what you want to suppress in a 301 is vibration and motor noise. For that it seems to me you need mass. That’s just my opinion.

So I quite agree with your choice to fill the space in the hollow plinth. But in your first post where you described what you are building, it seemed at first reading that you plan to interpose springs between the chassis of the 301 and the solid plinth you are making with MDF. It think that would not be good, to put it mildly. I'd mate the chassis to the plinth as firmly and as completely as possible. As for the choice of MDF, I never want it near the sound producing elements because my bias is it sounds muffled, or it adds a muffled coloration. But again, just my opinion.

@lewm

I could absolutely guarantee to find you some Vaughan Williams you would like, just because he wrote such an immense variety!  You's have to listen more than once, though.

The open-air plinths are usually based on slate or some such.  Slates are a bit like graphite, very directional with vastly different properties depending on where they are quarried.

My existing SME plinth includes springs and foam damping, though nowhere near as springy and undamped as a Linn.  If I raise my internal plinth, the springs and damping will disengage.  Each layer will start with constrained layer damping between it and the next layer.  When the springs are disengaged, I will rely on three IsoAccoustics OREA Bordeaux pucks to ameliorate vibration coming up through my Sydney sandstone blocks.

Sydney sandstone is quite soft and porous with about 4% cavity.  There's plenty of it.  It is up to 600 feet thick and started to be deposited before dinosaurs walked this planet.  Enough has washed away to form the up-side down Blue Mountains and to drift thousands of kilometers north to form the world's biggest sand island, K'gari once known as Fraser Island, which is almost 100 miles long.

I am very open to suggestions, and have a gut feeling that the Garrard is valued because of its resonances!

@richardbrand 

Understanding jazz has nothing to do with genres. It has to do with patience. Jazz doesn't try to be better or superior, it just tries to go deeper. Not wider. It's that minor difference of trying to wow you vs trying to slow you down and appreciate rhythm and melody Jazz is everywhere, it's a luxury for musician who can explore and not cop out or those who don't care to.

My favorite jazz musician is Paul McCartney. Favorite jazz album: Ram

@grislybutter 

Last big live concert I went to was Paul McCartney and he did have a jazz band with him (more accurately, halfway along the side of the stadium).

It is noteworthy that his songs have to be memorable, not because they are classics, but because he has to remember them!

Must admit, I've never thought of him as a jazz musician ...

I started a thread called "Truly Stunning Vinyl" (of any genre) a month or two ago and one of the early recommendations by two forum members was the Chet Baker album, Chet. They were right, it sounds truly stunning on my system. I would probably also love it streaming from a high res digital file but I've never done so. If you don't have a streamer in your system Google it, you can find some clips to see whether you like his jazz trumpet before buying it, but here's a link to the Craft Recordings vinyl version:

https://craftrecordings.com/products/chet-baker-chet-180g-lp

Happy listening.