DownBeat March 1987 [antikvár]

on the beat MY FIRSY CD by Art Lange ¦ : ell. I fought the good tight :••,, for as long as I could, but iiiKilly succumbed to the mevitable: I bought a CD player. 1 resisted the initial media and industry hype (remember quadraphonic sound?), and even held fimi against the enthusiastic recommendations of friends and fellow critics whose trained ears I trusted. But record companies finally made me an offer I couldn't refuse—tliey began issuing alternate tracks and (sigh!) entire sessions only on CI), with no plans for LF or cassette release. What could I do? They had me where I live. So, I bit down on my lower lip, scrunched up my face in my best Gary Cooper-ish "doubting Thomas" look, and marched into my local audio dealer. Thirty minutes later I marched out again, the mixâ David Torn CLOUD ABOUT MERCURY Cioud /tíkkit Mercury demonstrates that Dannd Torn is more than an impressive young guitarist on the rise. with Mark isliam '^(trumpet and flwelhom), Tony Levin ííChMman Stick, bass synth) and Bill Bruford (Drums, percussion), Tom his maturity as a writer, group Itóder^nd conc^túailst with a desire tödéivé into previously unexplored musical tenitory. Cloud About Mercury is a state-of-ttie-art record-. ing by four of ttie most distinctive riiu-'ísidáns in contemporary music#'' -831108 j3n Garbarek ALL THOSE BORN WITH WINGS'- ^ Jan Garbarek has created a striking work of SIX pieces which jjnfold in original and engaging liiahner On All' ^ Those Born With Wings Garbarek incluses the latest musical and studio ^iechnology with the warmth and hu* ¦^^îTianity of his highly influential ap- n ¦ proach to the saxophone. Also playing flute, emulator and perçus-^ ' sion, Garbarek conceives sound-scapes which are at times texturallv* , rich but elsewhere expose the difecf« ness of his saxophone playing. A dig-r • 'jtal recordinfl; Jan Garbarek All Those Bom With Wings Availapfe on Compact Dl8C, LP ánd Cassette ECM Distributed by PotyGram Classics 81Ő Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019 owner of a Yamaha CD-450 machine. Now, keep in mind that I am hardly a technological whiz, so I didn't spend a bt of time talking distortion specs with the salesperson. Nor does hi-tech flash appeal to me—I've owned and enjoyed the same middle-of-the-road, non-audiophile amplifier, turntable, and speakers for over 10 years now, with no desire to "trade up" to the latest, spiffiest, shiniest toy on the market. And, with over 6,000 LPs in my possession, I'm not exactly anxious for the CD revolution to make the 33Y3 rpm album and the equipment necessary to play it obsolete. But I did some comparative listening between CD players of various makes and prices—and to be honest with you heard very little difference in sound. I bought the Yamaha because it seemed dependable, had the few features I knew I wanted and no more, and didn't cost an arm-and-a-leg. I took it home, plugged it in, and plopped in the potentially noisiest CD I had on hand—a Denon recording of the Bruckner Symphony No. 8. Well, it didn't change my life, but I had to admit it sounded pretty good. The sound was clean and clear, and the lack of distortion had me turning the volume much higher than I normally play LPs—to the distress of my wife and, I'm sure, my neighbors. For my second CD, I decided lo get fancy and do an A-B comparison. I chose Oliver Nelson's Blues And The Abstract Truth on Impulse—music I knew fairly well, and which I had on both CD and LP I started them playing at the same time, and switched back and forth between the two. The difference was more than noticeable—it was stunning. There was infinitely more presence to the CD—you could hear Roy Haynes sliding his brushes across the top of his snare, and recognize the texture of the sound, where on the LP he was just a vague background presence. The third CD I played, a live '60s Duke Ellington concert from Japan, also on Denon, enhanced Johnny Hodges' melting tone—like a warm knife through butter— beautifully, but also revealed a few muddy ensemble sections (though whether this is a result of the original microphone placement or due to transfer to the CD format I do not know). Given the CD's lack of tape hiss, surface \nuy\ noise, and distortion. I can think of some music (George Crumb. Ran Blake. Morton Feldman, the Art Ensemble of Cliicago's People In Sorrow) whose drama emerges out of silence and thus donands the advantages of the CD fomiat. I'm looking forward to hearing tliem. As for everything else—especially at the curretu price of CDs—well, I'm only partially lonvincod, but give me time. I'm still a sliaiiger in this strange land. db ¦ I'd!/ I f,M'l''jlyf.t.'iPriCl.i'.M'/. 6 (JÜWN BFAT MAHCH 19B7