Audiophile jazz drummer picks best sounding albums

okay yeah so these are a few records I could go on and on yeah okay yeah I couldn't stop once you asked me to do it I couldn't stop but because my brain started working so so these are also my favorite drummers a few of my favorite drummers but I put I picked out the ones that are that I kind of relate to in terms of what I want to sound like if I ever if I ever was so lucky to be able to do that but this is what I kind of go for when I try to get a sound because I think this is some of the best sound that you can get drum wise on a recording still not the same as going to see these people alive and all these people I've heard live too and the recordings don't really compare to that probably but you know you can only some of them aren't here anymore so so this is this is what you got so okay so the start at the beginning this is a record by great pianist Wynton Kelly this is called Kelly at midnight and this has the great Philly Joe Jones on the drums and this is a Japanese pressing actually and Philly Joe those drums are just so upfront and personal and and crisp and clear and so you can hear his audacious technique and the way he has his drums tuned and who knows if they were even his drums sometimes Philly was playing on whatever he'd get his hands on but nevertheless his touch was so great that he made the drums sound incredible so Kelly at midnight when Kelly with Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums unbelievable record I think it originally came on on the v-j label but this is a Japanese pressing okay next we have volume 1 and volume 2 of the great jazz trio which is Hank Jones Ron Carter and Tony Williams these records originally came out on a label called east wind and they were licensed through inner city and again this is mid-70s Tony Williams with a bigger bass drum and black dot heads and bigger sticks and everything during his kind of fusion period but he organized a band with Hank Jones great pianist and Ron Carter on bass on this this was done it live at the Village Vanguard and on this particular record on a really good system you can hear the fact that Tony Williams feathers his bass drum on all four beats which a lot of people don't realize that he did and I used to see him play a lot and to see him do that with everything else that he was doing on top was one of the wonders of the world as far as I'm concerned so on moose DiMucci especially the first track on here just check out the way he's feathering the bass form if you got really revealing system they can do bass and can do micro details you'll hear it so volume 1 and volume 2 all right ok next did I just hit the microphone next Steve Koon trio Steve Kuhn is a guy that I still play with great great great pianists and Ron Carter on bass and the great al Foster on drums this was also done at the Village Vanguard and so you can hear Al's very very very personal drum sound being a drummer I'm really in touch with exactly what equipment some of these people are using so Al's very famous for his use of a Paiste darkride sound creation 22 inch ride cymbal which is captured immaculately again at the Village Vanguard and I believe David Baker did this one as the other Tony Williams with Hank Jones too so he really got he really got the essence of these guys as sonic signature so al Foster with Steve Koonin trio it's called life's magic unbelievable this is the Pentagon this Cedar Walton Clifford Jordan Sam Jones and the great Billy Higgins this also originally came out on Eastwind in Japan and was licensed to inner-city this happens to be a direct to disc recording and so you open up the inside you see the director disc process and all that stuff with all the pictures of the cats and this is just a great recording of Billy Higgins his beautiful touch tuning Paiste 22 inch 602 with rivets it's the standard for that cymbal sound Higgins incredible so Cedar Walton Clifford Jordan Sam Jones and the great Billy Higgins okay next another Tony Williams well we've got two Tony Williams is the one with miles feed a Kilimanjaro with miles Wayne Shorter Herbie Hancock Ron Carter Tony Williams and a couple of tracks with Chick Corea and Dave Holland replacing Ron and Herbie Tony Williams's drum sound Gretsch drums old kaizo Jian cymbals captured immaculately this is a LP but the box set of this I can't I think it's on the oh gosh I can't remember the box set it is I think it's at the inner Silent Way box set it's on that that's incredible it's incredible oh yeah yes it's incredible you can get this the CD - but incredible and this one earlier Rudy Van Gelder blue no Herbie Hancock maiden voyage Tony again cymbal sound drum sound state of the art captured a Rudy Van Gelder Studio Blue Note his drum set where he always used Gretsch drums old K Zildjian cymbals during this time but always Gretsch drums and Gretsch drums and Blue Note and Rudy Van Gelder seemed to be synonymous with each other and and those Rudi ones in Hackensack they were recorded well this one wasn't Hackensack this is Inglewood Hackensack is earlier and that's that's more you know Tony wasn't recording for them for he wasn't on the scene then so but those sound great too so any of those records with Philly Joe Jones or Max Roach or Blakey or Kenny Clark or forget it Arthur Taylor incredible but this one is a standout for me for the cymbal sound especially and this one this one too drums and cymbals just incredible okay next we're gonna go to another one of my all-time favorites is the great Jack T Jeannette on ECM and of course Jack DeJohnette is synonymous for his drum sound and he seems capturing his drum sound this is from 1979-80 and this is one of Jack's pants special edition and again the the gear that he was using sonar drums Paiste cymbals that he basically kind of designed the dark rides he and Al Foster and Paul motion for the chief presenters of the dark ride sound which in my time was we were all enthralled with that and I still AM and so this is a great recording it's a cymbal made by pie spice tea cymbal company and they don't make them anymore well it was kind of designed by Jack Dee Jeannette because he wanted he wanted a cymbal sound from the past but updated so that it could it could coincide with electronic instruments and things that were starting to take place in the 70s with fusion and all that kind of stuff so he wanted to assemble that had the the warmth and the breath of an old cave which was with acoustic instruments but could cut through the electronic instrument so it was kind of fortified and it was a special symbol that only a few people really could even play and he was one of them and fosters the other one and then Paul motion too but okay so this one and then this one is earlier new rags which was actually never this never came out on CD so this is a real Jim this is a unbelievable record John Abercrombie Alex Foster and Mike Richman and Jack incredible credible drum sound if you can find it get it another blue know somebody that's pretty much the blue note drummer or that you can think of and that's Art Blakey and this isn't one of the Jazz Messengers records which are all great this is him as a sideman which was kind of rare and also Miles Davis as a sideman which is kind of rare on cannonball alleys record with Sam Jones and Hank Jones on bass and piano and our Blakey's drum sound on here is just man so beautiful so tasty Gretsch drums case iljin summers I think all these guys knew what to do and you know who knows miles could have been a little bit unsure I don't know I mean I wasn't there I can't I can't nobody's around to answer the questions about this one but I know that it says it's this stands up there to me with how many people talk about kind of blue and all that but this was right around the same time and it really stands up to it in terms of just everything that's great about it there's not one bad thing on here it's just an hour Blakey's drum sound is just through the cymbals the drums all the little nuances you know and him being just the consummate side man so he's not necessarily out front doing his art blakey you know things which is great he's just been the perfect drummer I don't know I mean I don't know I mean sometimes Art Blakey is just volcanic on studio recordings just the way it was when he played live and I don't think they I think they play the music the way it should be played it sounds like to me it sounds like they don't alter their plan to fit a particular situation that there anyway you know I would imagine that they wouldn't play overplay or play too loud in a room that was reverberant you know that was going to cover people up you know they you know their masters okay Paul motion lavage very just typical ECM 70 sound jf Jenny Clark on bass and the great Charles brackeen on saxophones just tree oh no cords no piano no guitar space space is the place on this this is just sparse music but beautiful just just so just put you in heaven and the way motion just picks his spots to play something just that you know doesn't have to be a lot of notes he's not flailing around the drums he's just picking his spots and being like like a painter just finding just the right shade of blue and he's just incredible just incredible one of my favorites one more oh man I got like okay I got three more Elvin Jones remembrance look at that cover look at his outfit this is just captures Elvin in the 70s the cymbal sound the drum sound incredible and this came out on the pawza us PA USA label I think it's German this is a great record never came out on CD that I know of maybe it has but I don't know about it and real quickly Billy Higgins with Clifford Jordan glass bead games on strata East unbelievable and Billy Higgins again with Lee Morgan on Blue Note incredible all right all right okay

Channel: Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac

Views: 22,141

Rating: 4.957346 out of 5

Keywords: Drummers, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, jazz drummers, Jack DeJohnette

Id: 2u3tJsqSxP8

Length: 13min 12sec (792 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 25 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Four_Minute_Mile]

My friend Billy is a jazz drummer and the Audiophiliac for a Day. I asked him to pick his favorite albums for music and sound quality. His picks, in order of appearance:

1) Wynton Kelly, Kelly at Midnight; drummer Philly Jo Jones

2) The Great Jazz Trio, Vol 1 & Vol 2; drummer Tony Williams

3) Steve Kuhm Trio, Life’s Magic; drummer Al foster

4) The Pentagon; drummer Billy Higgins

5) Miles Davis, Filles de Kilimanjaro; drummer Tony Williams

6) Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage; drummer Tony Williams

7) Jack DeJohnette Special Edition: drummer Jack DeJohnette

8) Jack DeJohnette’s Directions, New Rags: drummer Jack DeJohnette

9) Cannonball Adderley, Something Else; drummer Art Blakey

10) Paul Motian, Le Voyage; drummer Paul Motian

11)The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, Remembrance; drummer Elvin Jones

12) Clifford Jordan Quartet, Glass, Bead, Games; drummer Billy Higgins.

13) Lee Morgan, Charisma; drummer Billy Higgins

After we were done Billy said, “Due to last minute suggestion and time restraint, I was not able to properly choose the recordings as I would have liked.“

We’ll do it again, Billy has a huge record collection!

[u/ss0889]

What about if you like something other than jazz?

[u/Domi4]

Listen to This Year's Model by Elvis Costello. Everything's great about the album:

vocal

drums

bass

synth

and is wonderfully produced! And what's most important you will like the songs!