The Blues and the Audiophile Truth
The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Oliver Nelson, Impulse! Records 1962
Imagine that you were a journeyman sax player in the early 1960s and, having release a couple of good though unremarkable sides for Prestige, you get a call from Creed Taylor – the boss of the fledgling (but major label backed) Impulse! Records to put together a session. He has noted your excellent reputation for composition, arrangement and inventive use of tonal balance (using baritone in the high register and tenor and alto in the low register) and general enthusiasm . Your name is Oliver Nelson – and you will lead a Galacticos group (Bill Evans, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Paul Chambers, Roy Haynes (and a guy called George Barrow who played baritone), recorded by Van Gelder, in the production of one of the greatest albums of all time: “The Blues and the Abstract Truth (BAAT).” An excellent review of the album can be read here.
I’m not sure when I first heard this album – it certainly was in the early to mid 1990s – and the first recording that I owned was on CD (probably this one I just can’t locate it right now). I thought that the sound was amazing and developed a bit of an “orange spine” obsession that blossomed when I read Ashley Kahn’s book “The House That ‘Trane Built” (2006) [which really should be the house that Creed Taylor built and Bob Thiel furnished]. Impulse! records were released on heavy duty vinyl in gorgeous glossy gatefold sleeves that screamed quality. BAAT was no different – the cover looked like a work of abstract art that positively gleamed but curiously listed Oliver Nelson below Bill Evans on the cover.
Sometime, around 2009, I ordered a copy of this wonderful album from Speakers’ Corner records – and, when it arrived, I was devastated to discover that it had the wrong cover! Horror of horrors! In this version Oliver Nelson is top billed and there is a picture of him on the front. In fact this was the “revised” cover, released first in 1961 for the repress of the mono version. Indeed, the “revised” version became the main cover in the US for many years – up to the CD edition; and rightly so, it is Nelson’s album. I have wondered since if the original cover was record label sleight of hand – a bit like attributing a Cecil Taylor album to John Coltrane or a Mal Waldron album to Eric Dolphy (both were sidemen). I’m sure in 1962, people saw the cover and assumed that it was a Bill Evans record.
Analogue productions released a 2 x 45 rpm and SACD of BAAT in 2009 and 2010: both mastered by Kevin Grey (I have not heard either). I strongly suspect that Grey was behind the Speakers Corner version (2003) – but there is no easy way to confirm this.
Finding a mono version of BAAT is difficult there is a Spanish DeAgostini magazine version from 2010 that would be worth hearing, but that’s it.
In 2015 BAAT was released as a high resolution download (24/96) (I bought this from Qobuz) that sounded pretty much the same as the CD from the mid 1990s (by which I mean really excellent).
More recently, Analogue Productions, in the guise of Acoustic Sounds (AS) released BAAT as part of their Impulse! reissue programme – AAA, and, of course, I had to buy a copy. Note that AS used the “original” cover.
I must make a confession, here and now: the first time I played the album, I though I was listening to the CD – such was the crispness of the tones and width of the soundstage. Disappointed? Maybe. Was it better than the Speakers’ Corner LP that I had, or even the HiRes digital files? To find out, I conducted a series of listening tests on the three “audiophile versions” that I have.
Version: Speakers’ Corner
Released year 2003 (listed on Discogs – bought in 2009)
Mastered by: Unknown (? Kevin Grey), AAA (presumably original master tapes)
Pressed at: Pallas
Cover: revised original, gatefold, poly-lined inner
Version: Acoustic Sounds
Mastered by: Ryan Smith (Sterling Sounds), AAA, presumably original master tapes (after the fire)
Pressed at: QRP
Cover: Stoughton, plastic (unattributed) inner sleeve.
Version: High Res 24/96
Released: 2013
Source: HD Tracks / Qobuz ? Prostudio masters etc.
Mastered by: Unknown, 24/96 (digitally remastered – there is also a DSD/SACD version from 2009), presumably original master tapes (after the fire)
Equipment: Clearaudio Concept>Maestro Cartridge>Clearaudio Basic V2>Benchmark Dac2HGC (preamp)>Croft Series 7 (tube) power amp>Nordost cables>B&W CM7 (I re-listened to the different versions with the Benchmark AHB2 poweramp, which renders extraordinary detail to digital files – but the scores did not change).
| Version | Speakers’ Corner 2003 | Acoustic Sounds 2020 | 24-96 High Res Version 2014 |
| Cover | 8 | 9 | – |
| Packaging | 8 | 8 | – |
| Silence | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Treble | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Mid | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Bass | 9 | 7 | 8 |
| Clarity(muddiness) | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Soundstage | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Engagement | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Music | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Total (out of 80) | 69 | 69 | 69 |
Bizarrely, this turned out to be a draw. I really did not expect this, and assumed that the vinyl versions would win easily. Each version had different positive and negative attributes. The Acoustic Sounds version would win on packaging, the HiRes version on convenience. I don’t believe that there was a pdf booklet with the HiRes files and Verve used the original cover art on the files (which I replaced with the “Oliver” version).
The AS and HiRes versions have terrific clarity – the precision of instruments is better on the digital version, but the timing and timbre is better on AS record. They are so similar that, if I did not know better, I would have suspected that the AS version was sourced from the HiRes files (it is AAA). Nevertheless, the mastering is distinctly 21st century – designed to wow the listener with Cinemascopic width such that one can pick out every instrument clearly in 3 dimensional space. It is slightly less authentic as a result. While the huge soundstage must sound amazing if you are sitting in a big room with huge speakers, my speakers are 2 or 3 meters from the couch and the feeling is not dissimilar to watching a movie from the front row of the cinema. A bit overwhelming and less engaging. Strangely, you feel yourself wishing for a narrower soundstage or a “mono” button on the preamp. If you want a bright wide precise sounding recording, with a full midrange and treble, but slightly disappointing bass, the AS (or if you are a digo-phile the HiRes) is the version for you.
The Speakers Corner LP is more bass heavy, with a little less instrument clarity. Mid range and instrument separation are inferior to the High-Res digital version and the AS LP. However, the narrower soundstage sucks the listener into the music and is highly engaging. I found myself transfixed and stuck to my seat with this version, not wishing to get up to change record for comparison.
I have lots of early 1960s and late 1950s first pressings of Jazz albums in both mono and stereo – and they sound punchy and narrow like the Speakers’ Corner version (because that’s what happens when multiple instruments share the same space). Indeed, were you to be present in the studio, in Englewood Cliffs, or if you were to hear it played live in a jazz club, the album would sound more like the SC version.
Summary
Both the HiRes and AS version were clearly mastered for modern hifi systems (and expensive headphones) – and sound delightfully audiophile – but wholly artificial as instruments come at you from distinct locations in the wide stereo space (unlike at a concert or jazz club).
So, if I was to pick out a copy of BAAT today for casual listening, which one? The Speakers’ Corner – not because it sounds better, but because I find it more engaging. And I prefer the cover. If I were too lazy to spin a record, it would be the 1990s CD or HiRes, streamed from network drive or Qobuz.
Finally, as I mentioned before with the AS Coltrane records: if you don’t already have a copy, the AS is the last copy you will likely ever need (the AS version is still available, unlike the SC record). It will impress you friends as a demo record, particularly if you can EQ up the bass a little or if you have a slightly warmer set up. If you don’t have a turntable, honestly, there isn’t a huge gap between the CD/lossless streaming and the audiophile versions.
I hope this is helpful to somebody, sometime.
(I will update this topic in the future if and when I get my hands on the mono and AP-DSD versions listed above).
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