Clap Hands, Here Comes Vinyl!
Someone asked me the other day about listening to vinyl versus other formats. I said, whenever I want to listen to music and be completely mindful and do nothing else, then I will only listen to vinyl. I will pay careful attention, I will listen for nuances that I may have never heard before. This happened the other night. I was sitting with The Lovely Mrs. JC and she said, why don’t you put on a record. Now, in my house, the statement “why don’t you put on a record” is not a simple task, at least when the statement is sent in my direction. There are, after all, 8,000 or so records from which to choose. Which is the right record for the moment? Is it an old reliable favorite? Is it an old favorite I haven’t listened to in years? Is it something I have perhaps never listened to at all because there are for more of those among the 8,000 than I would care to acknowledge? In this particular moment, the situation was complicated by the fact that the record also had to appeal to The Lovely Mrs. JC, since it was she who was making the request. I asked, jazz, jazz vocal, something else? Jazz vocal was the answer. I went into the other room and came back with two records, both old reliable favorites that are certainly among the top 10 jazz vocal records that I have listened to in my lifetime. They were:
Ella Fitzgerald, Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie, Verve 4053, and Sarah Vaughan, After Hours at the London House, Mercury 20383. Ella was the first and only of the two to make it to the turntable, but first a quick diversion. In that same conversation the other day, I was asked about my expertise in jazz, which is pretty extensive, I’d say. My reply was that, yes, I know a lot, but I used to know a lot more. A lot more. I feel like I’ve forgotten more than I knew. I used to know every musician on every record and I knew the titles of just about every bebop song after just hearing a few notes. I can’t do that anymore. My brain has been filled with too much other stuff over the years, I guess. I take this diversion because as I’m listening to Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie for perhaps the 500th or 600th time, it occurs to me that I don’t remember who is accompanying Ella on this absolutely fabulous record. I’m pretty sure it is Lou Levy on piano and perhaps Mundell Lowe on guitar. But, I don’t recall Lowe on any Verve records from that era, but, then again, I recall that there’s a lot of stuff I don’t recall. And then I discover that the liner notes to Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie absolutely SUCK, courtesy of Benny Green of the London Observer. They suck not only because they are unbearably pretentious, which they are; but because nowhere do they mention who else is on the album, as if Ella were singing with karaoke accompaniment. Anyway, it is Lou Levy on piano; Herb Ellis on guitar; Joe Mondragon and Wilfred Middlebrooks sharing the duties on bass; and Gus Johnson on drums.
Back to my original riff. When I want to listen with complete mindfulness, it is only vinyl. I have nice turntables and I like to listen to at least one album a day, but that doesn’t always happen. If I am playing music for a guest, it is only vinyl. When I want to listen as background or to go to sleep, it is typically digital, in my case Sonos. Every night we fall asleep to a playlist I have made that is ballads-only. I have about 50 of those playlists and we vary them. They are typically between one and two hours each. CDs? Never in the house, sometimes in the car. Could I tell the difference between vinyl and digital? I like to think I could, but I have no interest in doing a test. I like to listen to my records. Period. I like to think they sound better, and I assume they do. I like to hold them in my hands, place them on the turntable, land the needle in the grooves. I like to listen closely, listen attentively, listen actively. I like to read the liner notes, even on those rare instances when they don’t tell me who is on the record.
i would like to make a comment but then , hé.. everything is said perfectly already by Al, about spinnin’ vinyl.
And thanks to ‘The Lovely Mrs. JC’, choosing Jazz vocal.
Who knows what else would be on the turntable when Mr. Perlman would have the honers?
A frantic Jackie Mclean ?, .. A.T.’s Delight ?
No, what we need now are the perfect voices that comfort us, and tell us that woman are underrated in jazz history.
Shades of Redd? Soultrane? Blue Train? Sonny Rollins Plus Four? Tenor Madness? Song for My Father? Giant Steps? Monk’s Dream? Bird With Strings? Bird and Diz? Bird and Bird? Rollins Plays Bird? Swing, Swang, Swingin’? Lights Out? Cannonball at the Lighthouse? Cannonball in San Francisco? Cannonball anywhere? Max and Clifford at Basin Street? Max and Clifford anywhere? Anyone at the Vanguard? Anyone on Blue Note (almost)? Kind of Blue? Musings of Miles? Porgy and Bess? Getz Plays? Getz Plays with Oscar? Pres Plays With Oscar? Webster Plays With Oscar? Anyone plays with Oscar. I could go on, and on, and on, and on. But you get the general drift.
Marian McPartland, Jutta Hipp, Lil Hardin Armstrong,Mary Lou Williams, Carla Bley, Melba Liston, Dianne Reeves, Melissa Aldana
Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Art Tatum . . . . This is fun.
Al, the intentionality of listening to vinyl is a part of the pleasure. I am especially fond of the liner notes w/fonts so much larger than those “name on a grain of rice” CD liner notes. Related– I purchased a new amp this past month, my first ever “new” piece of equipment, rather than my vintage thrift finds. I was shocked at the new things revealed on CDs! I put them in when folding laundry or between Zoom meetings. I have begun to purchase “Van Gelder Edition” CDs just to hear if I could tell differences between original Rudy recordings and his intentionally remastered digital versions. Fun with ears!
Daryl, good for you 😉
I bought almost the entire Blue Note CD Catalogue in the 90’s and early 2000. Those RVG’s are not the best sounding CD’s IMO. Not very close to the LP’s. My favourites are the japan TOCJ BNWorks 4000-series and especially the XRCD24 that are way above the rest.
“I like to listen to my records. Period.” <- This is it. This is all there ever needs to be. Kudos.
As far as pretentious and shitty liner notes, Benny Green is tough to beat. Sometimes he can barely even focus on what he is supposed to be writing about. See his word salad on the back on Joe Pass' otherwise amazing "Virutoso". Rivaled for pretentious stupidity only by Ira Gitler, imo. Example: Charles McPherson's "The Quintet/Live!" on Prestige. Such nonsense.
What a great post Al ! I would have written sooner but I fell off my chair while reading about “listening to Jazz”…I was not prepared for your foray into non Blue Note recordings. So I’m hopeful that you might change the blog’s name to ; “Jazz collector and listener.com” …. the sheer enjoyment of this art form is not determined by the label it was recorded on.
As a UK resident, I completely agree with your observations about Benny Green and those liner notes. To exclude mentioning the accompanying musicians is so ill-mannered. As a one-time friend of another (sadly deceased) British sleeve note writer, Alun Morgan (who wrote over 3,000 liner notes) I must point out that we did, and still do, have some quality jazz writers who compensate for the likes of Mr Green.
BTW – Thanks for your column, which is always informative and very readable.
Mike Davis (Shropshire, England)
Alun Morgan indeed. And of course Richard Williams, one of the absolute best ever.
I feel like I’m often tied somewhat to a device when listening (and when not). If there was one thing I could change about myself, that would be it. Glad you could get some unfettered listening time to a classic album — that Jean Dubuffet artwork on the cover always seemed like an odd companion to the music on the LP. I wonder if it was chosen as a tie-in with the 1962 MoMA exhibition, his first major US retrospective and an art world hit at the time.
We’ve been battling mild but annoying COVID in the household and at home/not going anywhere for a week. I asked my wife if I could throw on vinyl in the main room (she’s more of a tv/movie watcher when she’s ill) and chose Page 1 by the George Otsuka Trio (recently upgraded to a first pressing). I was surprised to hear her say she really liked the record a lot as it was playing, which doesn’t often happen with jazz albums… and it is a really lovely record, especially his drumming. I have to wonder what Al might pick were he to go through my shelves, or any of ours?
I agree completely with your comment about Richard Williams Clifford,one of the greatest music writers ever in my opinion.
His blog the blue moment .com is definitely worth a look,not all jazz by any means but always interesting and beautifully written.
yep, that is a great blog. His sports writing (and I’m not a sports fan really, beyond cycling, which I know is one of Williams’ areas too) is also well worth reading.
As for why vinyl, add me to the “my sentiments exactly” column. Thanks!
A lot of music just doesn’t work on vinyl, though, let alone exist in the format. Morton Feldman or Christian Wolff, and by extension ultra-minimal and lowercase composition — those pieces are just so spare or have dynamics that CDs/digital are meant for. Glitch-based electronics, also long form pieces that stretch out over an hour, I prefer that kind of thing on CD or digital.
And there’s just a ton of music recorded/released post-1985 that isn’t going to sound or present right on an LP, or that I don’t want to pay $50 to “upgrade” because someone decided they wanted it in some deluxe vinyl version for record store day. I’ve still got thousands of CDs and I’m fine with them (probably do need to do a cull) in principle, even if my first pull of the day is usually an LP.
I do buy some modern LPs if that’s the only format available and I really want to hear the music but I must admit to feeling a bit uneasy about digital recordings being issued as LPs.Once in the digital medium it seems more sensible to issue the music as a CD.
Analogue recordings or expertly remastered analogue recordings sound much better on LP,the music’s natural home! Unfortunately modern analogue recordings of improvisation are few and far between and relatively expensive.
When I’ve compared different pressings to AAD CD’s the CD usually is just as good or better as regards stereo versions. Particularly compared to BN stereo albums released in the NY label era. Mono LPs sound different but not necessarily better. I’ll always enjoy vinyl, but it’s just overhyped at this point. Too high of prices. It’s hip, lots of money from the middle aged crowd that wouldn’t have been collecting 15 years ago thus inflating prices. Not to mention Discogs’ impact on inflating store prices.
I agree with Clifford Allen that CD is just much better for certain types of music. Electronic, metal, long pieces.
Vinyl is great, jazz vinyl is the “cool” thing. CD’s can also be pretty incredible too.