The new OJC series is not a budget series—far from it! Like the reissue series from Blue Note and Warners, the 180-gram, 33-RPM discs are packaged in gorgeous heavy stock covers and mastered by Kevin Gray. Like the Blue Note titles, the discs are pressed at RTI. Each record in the series also carries a Japanese style “OBI” wrap along the outer seam, which for me only serves to mar the beauty of the cover art. It can, however, be removed and stored, or thrown away if you are not worried about later selling your copy (especially if it becomes a collectible item). Craft didn’t make the same mistake as Warners when it came to selecting titles for release. The first two titles are Miles Davis Workin’ from the Prestige catalog and Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, originally release on Jazzland. They have already announced a handful of future titles including the two original Bill Evans’ Village Vanguard records.
These titles, as well as the other future releases already announced, are essential music likely to be found in any serious jazz listener’s record collection. The Monk/Coltrane record was released in 1961 but the contents were recorded earlier. It includes the only three useable recorded tracks that exist from the famous six-month residency of the Monk Quartet with Coltrane (along with Wilbur Ware and Shadow Wilson) at the Five Spot Café in 1957. To fill out the album Riverside/Jazzland used outtakes from Monk’s Music (with Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Gigi Gryce and Ray Copeland) and Thelonious Himself also recorded in 1957. This release is labeled as “stereo”–well, sort of. Monk’s Music was Riverside’s first Monk LP issued in both mono and stereo, and the two versions were miked very differently. The outtakes from that session used here are clearly stereo, but the three Five Spot tracks are mono, and I doubt a stereo version exists. The outtake from Thelonious Himself is also mono.
Workin’ is a studio album by Miles Davis’s classic quintet (Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and “Philly Joe Jones) recorded in 1956 but not released until 1960. It is one of four great albums recorded in two sessions by Davis to meet the contractual requirements of Prestige Records.
Movin’ on up…
These two iconic albums have, with one minor exception, never sounded better. The one caveat is that, in an ideal world, Craft would have stuck to mono throughout the Monk/Coltrane LP, as jumping around between mono and stereo tracks on the same LP certainly doesn’t serve the music, and the tracks in question are better recorded in their mono versions anyway. Until now, the best sounding versions were the Analogue Productions 45-RPM releases issued many years ago, and those are long out of print and selling on eBay for two to three times the cost of the current versions. Kevin Gray mastered those earlier versions with Steve Hoffman, but since that time he has significantly improved the equipment and cabling in his mastering chain. The improvements wrought by those upgrades were first made obvious when Music Matters started reissuing its 45-RPM Blue Note titles at 33-RPM. So, unless you are wedded to hearing your jazz at 45-RPM these new versions are the best way to enjoy these classic jazz titles.
