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Rudy Van Gelder Remasters

Anyone have the opportunity to hear any of these from the Concord Music Group? The liner notes indicate they were remastered by RVG himself at his studio using the analogue master tapes at 24 bit digital resolution. I picked up Gene Ammons "Boss Tenor" used the other day just to check out one from the series. Very impressive. I've been picking up as many of the Acoustic Sounds 45 RPM "Greatest Jazz" series as I can afford but this would seem a much less expensive alternative that gets pretty close. I think next I'll buy one of the RVG Remasters that I already own as a AS 45 and do a little comparison--anyone done this?
128x128dodgealum
davemitchell
253 posts
 
The RGV remasters on Blue Note generally sound lean and sterile compared with any other CD versions and especially when compared with the LPs. After trying about a dozen of the RGV's, I gave up on them.

Some of the best sounding Blue Note CDs are the Japanese HR2088 EMI reissues. Otherwise, the standard American 1980s reissues are actually the ones to get.
grimace
624 posts
 
We were discussing this a few weeks ago. I'm no fan of the RVG productions - at least not on CD. A lot of them do sound thin and tinny. But if you listen to jazz you just can't live without them because the music was so amazing. I'm told that the original vinyl is better soundwise, but being all bits and bytes I don't know first hand.
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum OP
1,406 posts
 
I had the opportunity to visit my local used record/cd store last weekend (Princeton Record Exchange) and spent about an hour in the jazz cd section. It would appear that there are two Rudy Van Gelder reissue cataloges. The most recent is the RVG Remasters I originally posted about. Apparently RVG was also intimately involved in a previous reissue of these classic recordings that are entitled the Rudy Van Gelder Edition. This earlier project is dated from around the turn of the century while the RVG Remasters are very recent. From what I could glean comparing the liner notes it would appear that both series were remastered by RVG using the same original masters and digital transfer technology. I don't know why one reissue would be so quickly followed by another ($?) or whether anyone has had the opportunity to compare these two editions but I suspect there is really no difference other than the packaging. The newer RVG Remaster series provides better liner notes and a brief history of each recording on back outside cover of the cd.

I've only had the chance to listen to one of the newer series I purchased (so now a total of two I've heard) but I have to say that from my angle the sound is very good. Not up to the 45RPM Acoustic Sounds vinyl but for 1/5 the price (the RVG Remasters can be had for $10) I'd say they are a fantastic bargain. I hate to buck the trend but the sound of these cd's is fairly rich, warm and reasonably detailed. Would I rather have the LP reissues? Sure. Can I afford all 100 of these at $50 per pop? No. the RVG Remasters get you 80% of the way there for 20% of the dollar investment.

I'd encourage folks to give them a try.
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