Great earlier Brownie!
JetTone12 | USA | 01/16/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Clifford Brown is one of my favorite musicians of all-time, and this disc is great for any fan of his musical talent. The Gigi Gryce Big Band is in wonderful form and Clifford sounds great. My personal favorite is actually one of my favorite tunes on any album as well, "Keeping Up With Jonesy". This tune is incredible big band work with Clifford and Art Farmer trading solos on the harmon mute. This tune swings like no other, I kid you not. "Brown Skins" is another great vehicle for Clifford's trumpet. Magnificent. Great takes of classic tunes such as "All The Things You Are" and "Conception" round out this set, along with a funny little tune called "Goofin' With Me". It's nice to hear the added alternate takes as well, but it's clear that the master takes were all the best choices. I'm so glad I was introduced to this awesome recording, because I didn't even know it existed until recently. Clifford fans will love this one. Great purchase."
DISCONTINUED BY MANUFACTURER
Mike DiMartino | Rochester, NY | 03/15/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Good riddence to this CD and the lousy remastering--actually, tampering-- of producer "Baumgarten"--a name I'll avoid from here on in. What kind of an jerkhole would add STEREO REVERB to the very ends of these prized and precious Clifford Brown - Gigi Gryce recordings!!!???
The sad fact is, mainly the master takes were, a long time ago, ruined forever when Prestige added permanent stereo reverb to them. Baumgarten mixed them back to mono but added flourishes of fake stereo reverb on the ends.
OJC's mono edition sounds fine and natural, closer to the original VOUGE 10" EPs. But OJC doesn't include ALL takes, as Baumgarten's did.
What it comes down to is, if you have the Vogue records, you have the original audio. If you're lucky enough to have the Inner City LPs (THE PARIS COLLECTION Volumes 1 - 3), then you have the surviving permanently stereo-ized masters that were produced long before clowns like Baumgarten came along with their digital toys of destruction to further disfigure these essential Clifford Brown recordings."