Rare AcousTech Pressing Duke Ellington & Ray Brown 2-LP This One's for Blanton

$

90

Strictly limited edition, numbered (#174 out of only 1,000 made worldwide).  

OUT-OF-PRINT AND HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE

Acoustech release of the Duke Ellington with Ray Brown 2-LP "This One's for Blanton".  Issued in 2005 on Pablo Records catalog number 2310-721.  This double vinyl album plays at 45 RPM pressed on black vinyl.  The track listing is presented at the end of this description.

Includes the original outer poly bag with the Acoustech hype sticker on the front.  The vinyl is housed in standard poly-lined inner sleeves.  Also included is a 12x12 inch hype sheet that describes how the mastering of this album was done.

Vinyl and sleve are in excellent condition.

"This One's for Blanton" is a studio album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington duetting with Ray Brown recorded on December 5, 1973.  The title refers to early Duke Ellington collaborator and influential yet short-lived double bass player Jimmy Blanton.  When he died in 1942, Duke Ellington’s 21-year-old bassist, Jimmy Blanton, had liberated the string bass from its traditional role as an accompanist. Two of Blanton’s disciples, Ray Brown and Oscar Pettiford, carried forward his work of developing the bass into a solo instrument. Their contributions had a great deal to do with bebop’s becoming a mature music. More than 30 years after Blanton’s death, Brown went into a studio with Ellington to pay homage to his idol. Their duets echo the famous ones of Ellington and Blanton and demonstrate Brown’s creativity and virtuosity on the Blanton model.

This Acoustech release has been cut by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray from the original master tapes.  This record was cut at 45 RPM at AcousTech Mastering. All pure analog!  In the words of Steve Hoffman himself: "The record has been cut at 45 RPM for maximum quality by Kevin Gray and me using our full ANALOG disk cutting system; most studios cannot even cut vinyl in 100% true analog anymore (they convert to digital first) but we can."

This special edition record is part of the "Fantasy 45 Series" that features 100 titles that are bona fide classics with mindblowing sound in the Fantasy, Inc. tape vaults (Fantasy owns the rights to the Pablo label records).  These titles were picked with the audiophile in mind. Not only did they have to be excellent performances, but the sound quality had to be top-notch.  The album "This One's for Blanton" is part of the second set of 25 jazz titles in the Top 100 Fantasy 45 Series.

REVIEWS:

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"...The duet with Ray Brown is the more musically compelling, and the microphones pick up Brown's bass-plucking in all its dynamic subtlety." - Fred Kaplan, The Absolute Sound, December 2005 (included in Kaplan's "Best-Sounding Jazz LPs")

"Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman's superb mastering continues in this second series of releases from Acoustech...These records are treasures and offer some of the greatest sound you'll ever hear coming from your system...no matter how large or small. Highest recommendation."?Recording = 9/10 Music = 10/10?- Richard Foster, Hi-Fi+, Issue 31, page 139

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TRACK LISTING:

All compositions by Duke Ellington except as indicated

RECORD ONE:SIDE ONE:1. "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me" (Ellington, Bob Russell) - 5:302. "Pitter Panther Patter" - 3:003. "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" (Mercer Ellington) - 3:56

SIDE TWO:1. "Sophisticated Lady" (Ellington, Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish) - 5:222. "See See Rider" (Traditional) - 3:04

RECORD TWO:SIDE THREE:1. "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass: First Movement" (Ray Brown, Ellington) - 4:472. "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass: Second Movement" (Brown, Ellington) - 5:07

SIDE FOUR:1. "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass: Third Movement" (Brown, Ellington) - 3:352. "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass: Fourth Movement" (Brown, Ellington) - 4:55

BUYER PAYS POSTAGE COST:

For mailing addresses in the U.S.A., the buyer pays the postage cost using U.S. Postal Service Media Mail for a package that measures 15 inches long, 14 inches wide, 2 inches height, and weighs 1 pound 15 ounces.

For mailing addresses outside the U.S.A., the buyer pays the postage cost using U.S. Postal Service International Priority Mail for a package that measures 15 inches long, 14 inches wide, 2 inches height, and weighs 1 pound 15 ounces.