Legrand Jazz, Impex Records LP Reissue, Stereo. IMP 6028 of Columbia CS 8079
It is about time Legrand Jazz, this historic jazz LP—or shall I say "hard bop"—was reissued properly. The Impex LP is the 36th LP version of Legrand Jazz in the world, and the best, I think, by a country mile. Made from the Columbia session tapes and cut on the all-tube Bernie Grundman mastering and cutting system, it got RTI's best treatment, supervised by Rick Hashimoto. Impex's brilliant Bob Donnelly oversaw production, and Chris Bellman did the cutting. The album art is fresh and first class all the way, with a gate fold jacket, too. This is the kind of "high cotton treatment" for which Impex Records is famous in all of their releases.
I auditioned the new Impex Legrand Jazz on the Grado Epoch Phono Cartridge, which is in my opinion America's most advanced and sophisticated phono cartridge, hand-made by John Grado, personally. This is as good as it gets, dear reader, and all the extraordinary musical fun and drive of Legrand Jazz was finally revealed. The RTI pressing was supremely quiet, too.
Starring everyone, it is easier to tell you who was not in this album than who was. The eleven cuts featured Michel LeGrand as arranger and conductor, along with Herbie Mann, Coltrane, Phil Woods, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Don Lamond, Hank Jones, Art Farmer, Byrd, Gene Quill, Teo Macero, etc., etc., etc. The performances are all amazing and luscious. Dynamics are powerful and precise. The bass is open and deeper than deep. Sound stage width is wall to wall, and depth is excellent and clear. The personnel play like there’s no tomorrow, with lots of heart and energy.
Imaging is absolutely, positively perfect. Every instrument and ensemble is mic'ed to perfection. The tonality and layering is fresh and tape-like. The session tapes were well cared for and fresh for the remaking. Legrand Jazz is 180 grams of musical tour de force. I kept saying WOW! over and over again with each superb solo. Who knew this album, the recording, and the engineering was this phenomenal? I did not.
I have three other reissues, and they pretty much suck with distortion. I suspect they were made from CD sources, old LPs, or worse.
The Impex Legrand Jazz is state-of-the-art from first note to last, and truly worthy of my Grado Epoch cartridge. Legrand Jazz is possibly a superior effort to the Impex LP Indigos, my favorite reissue to date. I suspect it is all about the quality of the tapes, and the Legrand Jazz tapes must have been curated by the angels. The music is fresh and alive. It’s very hard to believe the work tapes were 59 years old. In 1958, Columbia was about the only studio recording center fill as excellently as left and right extreme for stereo sound. None of the RCA "ping pong" sound here.
This may also be RTIs best pressing effort, too. It is so perfect and openly pure sounding, you will swear that a R2R machine is playing a 15 IPS copy via a live feed. Not a tick or crunch is audible. Side two is possibly a bit more realistic and vivacious than side one. Instruments pop and swing with slightly more energy. No quibbles with either side, however.
Favorite songs? There are too many to list. I loved them all. OK, well maybe "Night in Tunisia," "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Wild Man Blues," and "Round Midnight" were real super hits for me. "Wild Man Blues" is worth the entire album price! Mind blowing!
Summary
The Impex Records Legrand Jazz LP reissue is just now hitting the market, and is available at Elusive Disc and Acoustic Sounds. With superb performances, exquisite surfaces, perfect LP cutting and pressing, and Impex Records’ extremely high production standards, Legrand Jazz is in my current estimation the ultimate reissue ever. Legrand Jazz is a true reference LP and worth including in any top-notch record library for the jazz aficionado or devoted audiophile.
Well done Impex! Legrand Jazz receives my highest recommendation.
Price: USD $34.98
Impex Records
