Search - Tito Puente, Woody Herman :: Herman's Heat & Puente's Beat

It's About Time

Southern Slim | Memphis, USA | 02/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anybody who owned this original LP and the subsequent shoddy transfers on CD (if you can find them still) can now rest at ease. Finally someone has taken the original LP and released it exactly as it was - complete original Nat Hentoff liner notes - The real cover of the LP, and finally the real title!! But the best news here is the remastering job - An amazing recording to begin with, finally sounds amazing on CD. It's about time! SMOKIN' HOT !!"

The Best of Big Band Sound

Buddy | 12/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is the ultimate stereophonic recording of the Big Band sound. The sound of the Big Band does not come any better and natural sounding than this recording. All the players are great, in their prime, and were ready to play at the studio in Long Island City, New York. Most importantly and also as great are the arrangements by the late great Neal Hefti. It is a real important message within the sound project when Neal Hefti was involved."

Really a 5-star...however...

Mike DiMartino | Rochester, NY | 10/16/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Do you dig the Vice Prez Paul Quinichette? Man, to hear him trade choruses with Al Cohn--with the Herd and Tito Puente's latin percussion behind them--let me tell you something: GET THIS CD. And another little bonus--besides the all-star band and the great charts throughout, and the gorgeous acoustic guitar guesting with the Herd--is hearing upstate tenorman Joe Romano here with the Herd.



OK, so why just 3 stars? Well, unfortunately a lot of the tracks were mastered from surviving vinyl (you can hear the records' surface noise, and you can hear the crappy process used to try to hide it, albeit only during quiet passages, of which there aren't many, being that this is a powerfully swingin' and hard blowin' HERD). The liner notes boast that this session is restored to it original lustre for this CD. Nope. Not when you can hear the needle grinding on the record's surface during the guitar-big band features, sadly.



So, yes, the Everest LP reissues of this stuff through the years were subjected to fake stereo and the shoddy like, which, as I say, remains on many of these CD tracks, as they were recorded from surviving vinyl (presumably the original master tapes no longer exist--and/or Everest had permanently stereo-reverberized the masters...which is probably why the meticulous Japanese companies won't touch these). And that's why this CD, aside from having the original cover art and Hentoff notes, is not all that improved over the Everests, although the overall fidelity and Rick Pantoja's mastering certainly earn 5 stars, especially when you consider there were no master tapes to work with.



Mike DiMartino in Rochester, NY, USA."