Music Review: Oscar Peterson - Unmistakable

This article was first published at Blogcritics.

However Sony Masterworks and Zenph Sound Innovations managed to do it, and I'll do my best to try to explain it, the release of Unmistakable a collection of what they are calling "re-performances" by deceased jazz piano virtuoso Oscar Peterson has produced some remarkably fine music.  The great Oscar Peterson died in December of 2007 at the age of 82 after a long productive career, so while the album makes use of some of his unreleased recordings made in the '70's and 80's, it is not Peterson who is doing the "re-performing."  What we have here is the result of the application of modern technology to artistic innovation, and if this is any example of what the technology is capable of, there will be a lot more coming.

Those readers only interested in good music played brilliantly and not much concerned with how it was recorded and those who think the whole thing is just too spooky can skip ahead to the next paragraph.  According to the Zenph publicity, the company "uses computer software to transform recorded music back into live performances, replicating what was originally played but with vastly improved sound quality.  They start with video recordings as well as some privately recorded performances.  Then as their website describes it: "We transform musical performance into data and then render it into sound, which can be used in completely new ways. Our proprietary platform expresses musical performance as malleable data. Rendered from this data, audio content is liberated from “frozen” recordings—creating immersive and interactive capabilities comparable to those of high‐resolution computer graphics."  I leave it to you to decipher what that may mean.

What you see if you are in the room with the piano is the various keys moving as if being struck by invisible fingers.  What you hear is some very fine music. The piano is programmed to play the particular piece just as it was played by the original performer. .  Zenph has already used this technology to create re-performances by Rachmaninoff, Glenn Gould and jazz legend Art Tatum.  Of course, exactly how this is accomplished is still Zenph's little proprietary secret Had the technology existed back in the day, we could have re-performances of Mozart, Beethoven or Franz Liszt.

At any rate, while Peterson was still alive back in 2007 representatives of the company met with him to show him how their system worked.  At the time they used the recorded re-performances of Peterson's idol, Art Tatum,  to let him hear what their process sounded like, and "hearing his hero playing live again after all the ensuing years brought Peterson to tears."  It impressed him enough that he spent the afternoon working with the team from the company and listening to some re-performances of his own playing.

After Peterson's death his wife helped with the selection of songs for this album. Of all the material made available to the team, they selected performances from two different concerts:  a mid '70's  concert at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, NY and a 1980's concert from Munich.  They also used a performance from the CBC TV series Oscar Peterson and Friends.  The actual recording contains 16 re-performances, eight in stereo and the same eight repeated in binaural stereo for earphones.  It is  as beautiful a recording of solo piano jazz as you are likely to hear.

The songs are all classics.  The album begins with "Body and Soul" and a signature speeding romp through "Back Home Again in Indiana."  It ends with the Benny Goodman theme, "Goodbye."  In between there is a Duke Ellington medley that starts with "Take the A Train" and includes "In a Sentimental Mood,"  "C Jam Blues," "Lady of the Lavender Mist" and "Satin Doll" among others.  Gershwin's "The Man I Love," Anthony Newly and Leslie Bricusse's "Who Can I Turn To," Victor Young's "When I Fall in Love," and Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" round out a very strong album.

Music Review: Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going

This article was first published at Blogcritics.org

There are at least three good reasons for classic rock lovers to take a hard look at Audio Fidelity's latest release in its 24K+Gold Compact Disc series, Phil Collins' Hello, I Must Be Going.  First of all there is the music.  Second there is the sound quality.  Third, even if you think all Collins' music sounds the same, the discs in this Audio Fidelity numbered and limited series may be collectibles waiting to happen.

First things first, the album's ten tracks are samples of Collins at his dramatic, albeit resentful best.  If you like what Collins does, and while it may not be hip to admit it, I have to say I do, how can you not want a pristine version of the ultimate bitter kiss off anthem, "I Don't Care Anymore?"  The album is filled with a lot of the same kind of venom nurtured art: "I Cannot Believe It's True," "Do You Know, Do You Care?," "It Don't Matter to Me."  There is no muse like a woman, even one you are divorcing.  You have to wonder who it is the singer is listening to in "Thru These Walls."  How the upbeat cover of the Supreme's "You Can't Hurry Love" managed to make its way onto the album is open to question, but it does at the least offer something of an antidote to the overall sweet bitterness.

The sound quality on these Audio Fidelity discs is exceptional.  As their website describes it, their process replaces the "irregular plated surfaces of standard aluminum discs" with a perfected layer of 24K gold free from "any type of physical defect."  Mastered in this case by noted audiophile music restoration specialist, Steve Hoffman the CD aims for what he calls a "lifelike" sound.  In answer to a question on his website, Hoffman says:  "I want that 'breath of life.' That’s what I want. If it sounds like a fake approximation of nothing that’s alive—that is not it for me. I want it to sound like, (and it doesn’t matter if it is Buddy Holly or Blood, Sweat and Tears or The Doors) I want it to sound like they could be standing in the same room where you are listening."  While there are those who argue there are superior re-mastering processes, the sound on the Audio Fidelity discs is impressive enough for me.

Finally there will be those who, as I suggested in my review of the Audio Fidelity release of James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, will not even bother to cut open the shrink wrap on their CD.  Limited edition, numbered, and nestled in what the manufacturer calls "deluxe packaging with see-through slip cases," these discs are prime candidates for collectors. A quick check on eBay shows that there is indeed a market for past issues.  The Band's self-titled album, for example, is on sale for $89.99.  Given contemporary interest rates, there could be worse ways to invest your money.

Seriously, the Audio Fidelity 24K + Gold series offers a selection of some of the best classic rock mastered with expert care.  Hoffman is on record as saying his goal is for the music to sound "alive."  As far as this ear is concerned, it is a goal he has reached.