Album Reviews

The first time I recall hearing a vibraphone was on a record at E.J. Korvette's. I was perusing the vinyl back in 1960 something or other when the store clerk put on a copy of Terry Gibb's That Swing Thing (Verve V6-8447), cuing up Bobby Timmon's catchy as the flu "Moanin'" which this clueless suburban adolescent had never heard.

The tune plus the shimmering bell-tone of the vibraphone sucked me right in. Of course I bought the Gibbs album, followed by a string of Modern Jazz Quartet albums. Hey, if you're gonna start smoking a pipe at 17, you'd better be listening to some button down, cool jazz!

Another record I picked up back then was this one, originally issued in 1962, which I enjoyed greatly when I got to it around 1964, but with zero context to apply to what I was hearing.

Listening today, it's amazing to hear how Oscar and company submitted to Milt's vibe, literally and physically, on their first collaboration.

Peterson could be a pounder, but here he lays back, almost sounding like John Lewis, with the rhythm section of Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen also falling under Jackson's musical spell.

The song selection is safe: "On Green Dolphin Street," Nat Adderley's "Work Song," "John Brown's Body," and "A Wonderful Guy" from "South Pacific" among them. "Heartstrings," the second track, might as well be the MJQ, so far does everyone go to fit right into Jackson's style.

The quartet simmers onn side one, finally coming to a boil on "Work Song," which fades out to end the side.

This was never what one would consider a great recording. It was merely adequate, with the vibes and drums hard right and everyone else hard left. It's probably better heard in mono, which is also probably how it was intended to be heard, with the "stereo" version being the "unfolded" work tape.

Aside from the spatial limitation, the piano sound was never particularly good either, suffering from mud, boxiness and occaisonal overload. But you know what? If that stops you, out goes much of the jazz catalog from that era as the difficulties recording the piano are evident on many, if not most recordings from that time.

Brown's bass in nicely rendered as are Thigpen's drums, particularly the cymbals.

Unfortunately, compared to the original pressing, this edition mastered by Kevin Gray probably from a copy of the master (which was also probably used for the original pressing: both issues are "hissy"), adds additional boxiness to the piano's bottom octaves, which only exacerbates the occasional overmodulation and break-up built into the recording.

I have three editions of this: the original, this Speakers Corner reissue and Mobile Fidelity's 200 gram vinyl from a decade ago (MFSL 1-243). The Mo-Fi is easily the best of the lot. It has the most detail and the greatest transparency, while being warm without becoming muddy.

This Speakers Corner edition isn't one of Kevin Gray's greatest efforts, though I'm not sure of the quality of the transfer from which he had to work.

Hearing this reminds me of how little of the Modern Jazz Quartet has been reissued on vinyl, for reasons I can't begin to understand. Would someone please do Pyramid or the two disc Live in Europe, both on Atlantic?