The Columbia LP set is riddled with tape splices that mar such tracks as
"Tozo" and "Freeze and Melt." In those days, clicks and pops in the
original discs were removed by literally cutting them out of the tape,
resulting in jerky jumps in the rhythm. Columbia reissued the Henderson
set on CD about 20 years ago, using fresh transfers of nearly all the
selections. You should compare that issue to the Mosaic Hawkins set.
Dave Weiner
On 9/19/12 8:18 AM, "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I recently picked up a superb condition used copy of "A Study In
>Frustration - The Fletcher
>Henderson Story" 4LP set. I also have the new Mosaic Coleman Hawkins set.
>In the case of many
>overlapping tunes, the new set is clearly sourced from production shellac
>records whereas the old
>Columbia LP set is sourced from metal parts. To my ears, the Mosaic crew
>made some better EQ
>decisions for the new set, particularly in the low end, but their product
>suffers from distortion
>and surface noise of "well-loved" records that weren't quiet the day they
>were pressed.
>
>So what happened to the Columbia metal parts? Or, why weren't the master
>tapes to "A Study In
>Frustration" used for the new set. If you took those old transfers from
>metal parts and applied the
>modern idea of EQ, using a good mastering equalizer, I think you'd get a
>better result because of so
>much less disk surface noise and pressed-in distortions from the shellac.
>
>As of the early CD era, those original master tapes existed because
>Columbia put out the original
>"Study In Frustration" as a 3CD set in the 80s. I haven't heard those
>CDs, but my bet is that they
>suffer from the terrible overuse of CEDAR that plagued Columbia reissues
>in those days.
>
>-- Tom Fine
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