ISO audiophile blues and jazz on CD

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Never Get Old

Member
Joined 2017
Hi all, I am having a hard time finding high quality recordings of jazz and blues that I like on CD. I love the great artists like B.B. King, Albert King, and John Lee Hooker. Also looking for any other recommendations based on my likes and notes listed below:
  • Even though it isn't what some would consider an ideal recording environment, I find that the recordings of John Lee Hooker and Albert King on the CD "I'll Play the Blues for You" (Tomato Records) are pretty good in that they do give a "you are there" experience inside a small club with live music. I like that very much.
  • B.B. King's "Live at the Apollo" CD has been a favorite of mine for a while. I do prefer live recordings when possible.
  • Jazz at the Pawnshop is another favorite CD.
  • The Leon Thomas Blues Band CD that I bought in the 1990's is a good recording, and I like the music. I wish they had recorded it live.
  • Even though they are very early and somewhat harsh all-digital recordings, I like Tunnel and Big Notes by Flim and the BB's. I wish they had been recorded on analog equipment instead of very early digital, but back then (early 1980's) all-digital was sold and hyped as the best thing since sliced bread. It wasn't, as demonstrated by so many of the CDs of that era.
  • I own all of the CDs from Sheffield Labs except the ones that are classical music. Although much of their music is oddball stuff, they always did a decent job of recording I thought.
Any and all recommendations welcome. I'm having a hard time finding new music CDs to listen to on my recently upgraded system. I am looking for CD only, no streaming or vinyl at this point. I miss the days (1980's) when I could walk into high-end audio shops and almost immediately find new CDs that I liked as they played them on demo systems. One by one, every such store anywhere near me has closed over the decades.
 
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N

Never Get Old

Member
Joined 2017
If anyone knows of a really good sounding CD with Ray Charles, that also would be a welcome addition to my collection, especially if its live.

Note: If it's a live recording, "good sounding" to me means it truly sounds "you are there" when played on a good system, even if was recorded in a small venue with screaming crowd noise, occasional feedback squeals, and other irregularities that are to be expected at small venue live events. John Lee Hooker and Albert King "I'll Play the Blues for You" (Tomato Records) is full of these irregularities, and I love the CD anyway.

I had the pleasure of seeing B.B. King play live twice, at a small venue, and Ray Charles twice at a large open air venue. They are missed. Ditto for Allen Toussant, who I never saw live in person, but have seen perform live on TV at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
 
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soulsheiksan

Member
Joined 2005
I am not a big jazz listener but use the recording and music for my audio work,I have the usual suspects,I do like the mark isham tribute to the MD kind of blue it's very well recorded
The sound track the hot spot is a must have
Yet link below.
I know the guys that work here so I was given these CDs and enjoy them
https://www.discogs.com/label/319085-Vertical-Jazz
The Stanley Clark one is fantastic with a direct 2 track with no mixing,editing or overdubbing
The other label is https://mackavenue.com/
The east axis stuff was done at east side sound (lots of crazy audio freaks like me there)
Have fun
 
SRMcGee

SRMcGee

Member
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Never Get Old:

You might want to spend some time at bandcamp.com. I buy downloadable FLAC files from them, but they also sell CDs and LPs (while supplies last). Some of the material on bandcamp is high resolution, which you might also appreciate (e.g. Michael Formanek Very Practical Trio). Unlike traditional music publishers, bandcamp pays the artists something like 90% of the price paid for the music; personally, I strongly approve of a music distribution system in which the artists make the bulk of the money.

The downside? To be kind, there's a lot of amateur and less-than-great stuff there. But the search can be a lot of fun.

Regards,
Scott
 
N

Never Get Old

Member
Joined 2017
Big dissapointment so far. I went to the local used CD shop, and I bought five CDs from "reputable" bands like Manhattan Transfer, Trombone Shorty, Bela Fleck, etc. All were among the worst recordings ever, and most were poor performances too. Fortunately, the shop has a return policy, so back they went. Now I know why they were in the used bin.

So I ordered the 6 CD Ray Charles set True Genius specifically to get the CD that was recorded live in Sweden in 1972. Sadly, I must report that the recording and mastering is terrible. So I tried the remainder of the CDs in the set, and they are equally terrible. I don't know who mastered the recordings, but they sound like very badly worn, old records with horrible dynamic range compression. So, the whole 6 disc set will get sold too.

Still looking for true blues high-quality recordings, preferably live, like: BB King Live at the Apollo or Albert King and John Lee Hooker I'll Play the Blues for You. See original post.

I did pick up the last three Sheffield Labs CDs that I was missing - Pat Coil Just Ahead (ok I guess), and the relatively rare Pat Longo's Super Big Band, Billy May For President (technically released under the Town Hall label but was listed on the Sheffield Lab site), and the little known McNeely Levin Skinner Confederations album, which is terrible (Sheffield Labs dropped the ball on that one).
 
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