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A Quick Look at the Sam Records Jazz Reissues

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 20, 2015

Some records deserve to be looked at as well as listened to. That's the case with the series of Sam jazz reissues from France.

These are a labor of love produced by Fred Thomas who procured the original master tapes and cut from them, with plating and pressing at Pallas. The fold-over covers utilize the original photography where possible because Mr. Thomas knows the photographers. He also includes a nicely reproduced black and white shot of the artist with each of the reissues that also reproduce the original late art.

These are first rate reissues well-worth picking up. They won't be around forever. Full reviews of each coming soon. Imported to America by Acoustic Sounds.

COMMENTS
MicallefK's picture
Submitted by MicallefK on Thu, 2015-08-20 18:53

What's wrong with the audio? Can't hear a thing.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Fri, 2015-08-21 06:24
This player default is off
Cartel's picture
Submitted by Cartel on Thu, 2015-08-20 23:41

A great find!
These LP's are €28 over here.
http://www.samrecords.fr/?page_id=58

Auric G's picture
Submitted by Auric G on Fri, 2015-08-21 03:11

quality jazz lps, what's the deal with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Gentle Blues on the venus label. It's been on back order for over a year. Can we expect any more pressings?

atomlow's picture
Submitted by atomlow on Fri, 2015-08-21 06:17

If you can't hear the audio very well turn up the volume in the video player. The audio quality if fine.

TheThing72's picture
Submitted by TheThing72 on Fri, 2015-08-21 07:04

Thanks for the reminder about Sam Records. I just ordered the Donald Byrd LP's and can't wait to hear them. More companies should take a lesson from this effort (Music Matters does a similar job) with their reissues. Look forward to the reviews.

Sam Records's picture
Submitted by Sam Records on Tue, 2015-09-15 08:22

Dear Mister TheThing72, Thanks so much for your positive comments !!! All the best, Fred

TheThing72's picture
Submitted by TheThing72 on Thu, 2015-09-17 14:18

Much appreciated Fred. I love both of the Donald Byrd LP's, quality is excellent and nice packaging. I also picked up one of the Chet Bakers and have been playing it regularly for a few weeks now. I highly recommend any of these. Keep up the great work. Jazz is such a under appreciated art form in the United States... its nice to see good reissues keeping the spirit alive.

Cartel's picture
Submitted by Cartel on Fri, 2015-08-21 09:55

I've ordered five records incl. the fairly rare Sacha Distel LP.
2 LP's viz. Chet Baker & his Quintet with Bobby Jaspar and Barney Wilen Quintet 1957 are out of stock.

hishou's picture
Submitted by hishou on Sat, 2015-08-22 02:20

The problem with written reviews is that they can't really emphasise the physical aspect of records. So thanks for the video! And of course the music is incredibly cool. Love it!

G-man's picture
Submitted by G-man on Sat, 2015-08-22 12:25

I totally agree! I bought the first offering and was sold. An awesome LP. I was so struck I bought two others. My only gripe is that 3 of 3 LP's have one side that is overly noisy ("pops/clicks"). One LP, re-cleaned was fine but not the other two. Not counting the pressing issues, I have to rate these as some of the best reissues I have or have heard. Amazing what a reissue can sound like when the HF isn't overly emphasized to obtain more "sparkle"!

Sam Records's picture
Submitted by Sam Records on Tue, 2015-09-15 08:15

Dear G-man, Really sorry to see that 2 of 3 LPs have some 'pops/clicks'. I check all the records i send to Acoustic Sounds. If you need better copies I can send new...if you want. All the best, Fred

Montpier's picture
Submitted by Montpier on Sun, 2015-08-23 11:39

Nice looking releases, thanks much for the video. But a note that Lester Young did not pass away in Paris, but rather in NY, though soon after his return. Another wonderful photo from that era is Lester enjoying a laugh with Roy Eldridge on the cover of Laughin' to Keep from Cryin' on Verve. You might have also mentioned that Barney Wilen leads the session on the album with 3/4 of the original MJQ -- some may be familiar with Wilen from the Miles Davis soundtrack to Louis Malle's Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (Lift to the Scaffold).

Evan's picture
Submitted by Evan on Tue, 2015-08-25 18:46

When you first listed this as a kickstarter campaign I bought into it and was very impressed with the email exchanges with Fred that were matched by the quality of these rare recordings.

punkzter's picture
Submitted by punkzter on Tue, 2015-09-08 07:35

If you could only get 2 or 3 of these, what would you suggest?

Thanks,
Brad

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