Album Reviews

Don't Play This With a Mono Cartridge! Or Maybe You Should?

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 9, 2012

Le Grand Jazz
Michel Legrand
 
Philips/Speakers Corner B 07373 L 180g "electronically reprocessed" for stereo LP
Produced by: Michel Legrand
Engineered by: N/A Frank Laico? Fred Plaut?
Mixed by: N/A
Mastered by: Willem Makkee
 
MUSIC
SOUND
What happens when you gather thirty one jazz musicians including MIles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Mann, Phil Woods, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Milt Hinton and many other jazz greats (including a baritone sax role for Teo Macero) in Columbia's iconic 30th Street Studio?

You get this record, which was originally issued with different cover art as a Columbia "6-Eye" (CS 8079) back in 1958. Actually there were three groupings of musicians recorded on three different days in June of 1958, during a visit to America by the French jazz arranger Michel Legrand, then still in his twenties. Columbia had previously released a number of Legrand's albums, but those were more in the then popular "mood music" vein.

This album's energetic arrangements were written earlier that June after Legrand had been in America for about a month. Legrand's game plan was to write arrangements for the chosen instrumentalists, with the structures designed to showcase and highlight particular soloists: four for Miles ("Wild Man Blues," "The Jitterbug Waltz," "'Round Midnight" and "Django," while still leaving plenty of space for other greats to play in the big bands Legrand had created.

Two tunes spotlight Ben Webster and some were designed to highlight ensemble playing. All of the tunes are by now pop and/or jazz chestnuts if they weren't then (like "Stompin' At the Savoy"), but all of them swing like hell in arrangements that are spirited, youthfully audacious and exhibit a particularly French sense of tonal colors, helped on some tracks by the addition of harpist Betty Glamann. The take on John Lewis's familiar "Django," with Glamann introducing the "KOB" grouping of Miles, Coltrane, Evans and Chambers (Kenny Dennis was on drums) plus Phil Woods and others is just gorgeous! Though there's not a bad track on the album.

I don't know how this album was received then or how jazz connoisseurs consider it now. I've always loved it both for the Franco-American arrangements that provide unusual settings for familiar musicians and for the spacious, though sometimes cavernous sound.

Why no one stateside has thought to reissue this remains a mystery to me but Speakers Corner just did it, using the artwork and an "unusual" tape from Philips, which had obviously licensed the title for Europe.

Since the artwork and label don't mention "stereo" I at first assumed this was the mono edition and played the first track using the mono Miyajima Labs Focus cartridge currently under review and it sounded okay but something wasn't right, so I played it with a stereo cartridge and? And it sounded like "electronically reprocessed for stereo" and I'm sad to say that's what it is.

I hadn't played the original for a while but when I did, the spacious 30th Street Studio appeared in all of its enormous glory. Even if you flip the mono switch you're going to hear the effects of artificial echo or odd phasing that messes everything up.

Since the players are so noteworthy and the record is too, I felt it my obligation to alert you to this mess before you bought it. Find an original or don't bother.

This is one of the very rare screw ups by the folks at Speakers Corner and I really don't understand how this might have happened other than they called for the stereo tapes from UMG's Berliner vault and didn't know any better because at first it sounds like "stereo". It kind of fooled me for a few minutes, but surely if Willem Makkee looked at his oscilloscope he would have seen it if he didn't hear it.

A real shame. Can we please get the stereo tape reissue? BTW: if you didn't know better you'd think this sounds "pretty good" but it really doesn't.

COMMENTS
mittehifi's picture
Submitted by mittehifi on Tue, 2012-10-09 14:42

a few years ago I had the chance to auction a sealed 6eye pressing. and what a great record!

BarakaPDub's picture
Submitted by BarakaPDub on Tue, 2012-10-09 16:47

I considered picking up this Speaker's Corner reissue after picking up a few Legrand's originals from Amoeba's massive Back East Collection pickup for a few dollars a piece.  I glad I didn't buy it after reading your review as I normally have high standards for Speaker's Corner reissues and probably would have felt cheated.  

deckeda's picture
Submitted by deckeda on Tue, 2012-10-09 17:45

But yeah, then why bother?

Looking at the list of players and the mention of the Philips tape I'm wondering if licensing the original U.S. one wasn't going to happen.

Thanks for the heads-up regarding the 6-eye.

Digging around some, I'm seeing mention of CL1250 (mono) and CS1250 (stereo, same as CS8079).

There's also a Wax-Time LP now but that's probably best avoided.

kozy814's picture
Submitted by kozy814 on Tue, 2012-10-16 05:56

Classic Records put out a version of this when they were just getting started.  I recall it featured the orignal Columbia cover art.  I always wonder how that edition rates.  I still remember passing it up, and how I now wish I had not...

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Thu, 2012-11-15 13:48

I don't recall Classic issuing this title...

Audiobill's picture
Submitted by Audiobill on Tue, 2013-04-30 13:26

What's the story on WaxTime? I mistakenly bought Ellington Indigos from Amazon.com on the WaxTime label. The label claims the LP is "Audiophile Grade, Pure Virgin Vinyl, 180 gram Newly Remastered, One Pressing, Limited Edition, DMM." Price was $25.98.

Posts on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums say that WaxTime (in EU, possibly Spain) is remastering titles that are public domain in Europe using CD's as the source and selling them for $13 (available at Half Price Books?). The website listed on the liner, www.waxtime.com, is not operational. I have not found any negative posts about the sound, but I'm not sure whether they have a point of comparison, or just passing judgemnt on the pressings.

Do you have any reliable information or personal experience with WaxTime?

floweringtoilet's picture
Submitted by floweringtoilet on Wed, 2012-10-10 13:05

I have a Columbia six eye pressing of this, and I agree it is a wonderful sounding [mono] recording. I rate the music very highly as well, nearly on a par with Gil Evans' collaborations with Miles Davis. The Philips cover is really ugly compared to the Columbia one too. Michel LeGrand does not get the respect he deserves because he also put out so-called "easy listening" music, but the arrangements and playing on this album are brilliant. Hopefully someone else can do this right. Thank you for the warning.

decameron's picture
Submitted by decameron on Wed, 2012-10-10 15:54

To the best of my knowledge Columbia released three versions all in 1958:

1) CL 1250 which is a mono pressing ( I own and love this recording)

2) CS 1250

3) CS 8079

The latter two recordings are stereo as the "CS" prefix would indicate.

All three of these recordings are on the "Six Eye" label which began in 1955. I believe the mono numbered recordings ceased at around CL1800. The Six Eye stereo (CS) ends around 8579.

Alan

Oystein's picture
Submitted by Oystein on Thu, 2012-10-11 00:20

Sad if they messed this up. My experience with Speakers Corner has usually been very good (like Steely Dan: Can't buy., Kooper etc: Supersession, Wiz Jones: Right now, Santana: Abraxas). Some days ago I suggested a new release at their website, Steely Dan's Royal Scam, and got the answer that this is a great idea but they are not able to get the tape.

oregonpapa's picture
Submitted by oregonpapa on Sat, 2012-10-27 14:34

As a long time jazz buff and and avid record collector since the 1950s, I've ended up with probaby a thousand or more mono jazz records. As pointed out in the review, and by comments here, mono recordings can sound spectacular on a high-end audio system. The question is ... how can we get the best sound out of our mono records without breaking the bank on a specialized mono cartridge? Well, I've been using a stereo cartridge for the past year or so that has the abilty to play mono records in a spectacular way. Its the AudioTecnica OC-9 MK III. Just flip the switch on your phono stage or preamp to "mono" and enjoy. Search the web for the best price. I bought mine from LPTunes for $499. Not bad for a cartridge that retails for $800.00. Oh, and it does a great job in stereo as well. 

As a new subscriber to this site, I will be reading and posting on a regular basis. Thanks for reading.

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Sat, 2012-11-10 14:51

I wasn't aware of this LP so I went looking and found (eBay) a decent copy of CL1250, which I cleaned this afternoon and am listening to now.  A very cool record; thanks for the tip.

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Sat, 2012-11-10 15:10

I wasn't aware of this LP so I went looking and found (eBay) a decent copy of CL1250, which I cleaned this afternoon and am listening to now.  A very cool record; thanks for the tip.

oregonpapa's picture
Submitted by oregonpapa on Wed, 2012-11-14 21:36

Your article prompted me to get out the original that's been lurking in my collectioin for the past 35 years. Amazing! I Thank you! I'm presently using the AT-OC9MKIII, and with this cartridge, mono recordings sound their best ... at least in real world prices for cartridges, at least in today's world of high-end mono cartridges. Oh, and the added bonus? Sounds great in stereo as well. Anyway, the recording sounds great and ther preformances are first rate, just as you said. .

lifecando4's picture
Submitted by lifecando4 on Fri, 2013-08-16 02:01

These are some great artist from the past. They have infulenced a lot now from the music these days, one of the best examples is rock music. - Mallory Fleming

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