Hank Mobley Straight No Filter CD

 Music: 5 Stars--Rudy...You Get an F, All Due Respectl
I think these RVG issues are nothing more than another of Michael Cuscuna's re-marketing strategies. Geeze, how many times does he expect us to buy these same titles? But we do! We get suckered in, thinking these will be the best-sounding yet--becuase they were remastered by Rudy Van Gelder himself. How many issues, how many years, does it take to get it right? For the Japanese, it takes just once. They had it right as far back as 1985, when they issued the Prestige Jazz Masterpieces series--gorgeous sound! (Compare those 1985 CDs, if you're lucky enough to own any, to the currently available harsh and brittle sounding domestic OJC CDs of the same sessions.) Japanese Blue Notes always sound magnificent--perfect. Very simply put, they are the best documentation of the masters on earth. Don't bother with these RVG's--just buy the Japanese. If Rudy did have a hand in remastering these, it sounds like he is selfishly using this as an opportunity to "improve" his recordings--that is, to utilize technology he did not have, back when he made these, and to make his recordings competitive with today's recordings--or, another way of putting it--to alter the classic original in his own glory. On every RVG I've heard, you can hear how Rudy boosted the high end, sometimes to the point that it makes you cringe. (Check out the alternate of "Wee Dot" from A Night at Birdland--for the love of Clifford, Art Blakey's cymbal rips our ear drums, and ruins Clifford's solo, which is actually the better solo of the two takes. Thanks for that, Rudy, and shame on you for destroying Clifford's solo, just to satisfy your need to "improve" the recording. I do realize Rudy is getting up in years--maybe he's losing the high frequencies of his hearing (and I don't mean any sarcasm there; it's common in the later years). Rudy also boosts the bass on these RVGs, as was done for the connoisseur series. A common criticism of Rudy's Blue Notes was that they lacked in bass. Again, the RVG series was his chance to "improve" on this. Well, sorry to say, though there is lots more bass punch, now some of those classic bass solos sound too boomy and muddy. If ask me, these RVGs are nothing more than a repackaged connoisseur series--compare sometime, and you'll hear what I mean. All in all, there is some sort of racket going on between Cuscuna and the Japanese. Think about it: Why, after all these years, after all those issues--Blue Note, connoisseur, Ultimate, Gold, 16-Bit--why do the Japanese CDs still sound superior? (By the way, they're not always $35--you now can find Japanese Blue Notes as low as $13.05.) And, while I'm at it, how many times have you purchased "The Complete," only to discover a new issue with additional material? The answer to both those questions is simple: Michael Cuscuna and Toshiba know what they're doing. I've not yet heard a Japanese RVG, but I'd bet if you compared one to a domestic RVG of the SAME title, you'd like the Japanese audio better. If I'm right, that would prove, this RVG marketing ploy is a crock. What--Rudy would master it differently for the Japanese?
Submitted by mdmartin (Rochester, New York, USA)
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 Mobley Lives
Hank Mobley has played with the best. As a Leader he is something else. Every member of this tight formation has been a Leader in his own right. Together the sparks really fly. "Straight No Filter" all the way home. WOW!!!!!!!
Submitted by a reviewer (Baltimore)
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