Search - Barney Bigard :: Clarinet Lament

Great music transcends an awful recording

Johnny Hodges | Clark Fork, ID United States | 02/10/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"My original review is below, but the after living with this record for a few months, the music is just so good that recording quality has become secondary. Upped it a star. For well recorded Barney Bigard, check out "Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington: The Great Summit". My original review:Why is it that every time I buy a pirate CD that sounds bad, it was produced in Great Britain? There seems to be a characteristic tubby sounding overemphasised bass, accompanied by surface noise and lack of dynamic range. Are they just playing 78's into a microphone? These are some great old tunes, but I have some of these exact same cuts on an old RCA Bluebird CD "The Great Ellington Units" (hard to find now) that proves what CAN be done if you are interested in properly remastering great jazz from the 40's. 4.5 stars for the music, 1.5 for the remastering(?). If you want to hear some excellent, well recorded small group music led by an Ellingtion clarinet player, get Jimmy Hamilton's "Can't Help Swingin'" instead."