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Chapter 17: Digital Jazz: Making Music in High-Tech Times
Listening to Van Gelder today
Keeping pace with technology, Van Gelder continually upgrades his studio
with the latest digital equipment and software. Unlike analog recordings
made on tape, digital recordings can be duplicated without sacrificing sound
quality. But Van Gelder’s recordings make it obvious that it was the man as
much as the equipment that made the recordings great — technology is only
a tool, and that’s a lesson for every home studio maven. You need good ears
to get the most from those sessions.
As you expand your jazz collection, check out dozens of special Rudy Van
Gelder (RVG) reissues of his original Blue Note recordings. (I give you tips
on building a jazz collection in Chapter 21.) Originally recorded for vinyl, the
songs have been remastered and remixed for CDs by Van Gelder, and these
albums often include additional bonus tracks that weren’t on the original
releases. See whether you can hear the distinctive nuances of the Van Gelder
touch (carefully balanced sound levels, clearly distinguished instruments,
and overall clarity) in the CDs from the following artists:
� Art Blakey, Buhaina’s Delight
� Tina Brooks, True Blue
� Clifford Brown, Clifford Brown Memorial Album
� John Coltrane, Blue Train
� J.J. Johnson, The Eminent, Vols. 1 and 2
� Hank Mobley, No Room for Squares
� Lee Morgan, The Sidewinder
� Leo Parker, Let Me Tell You ’Bout It
� Horace Silver, Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
� Jimmy Smith, The Sounds of Jimmy Smith
Tapping into Today’s Technology
to Create and Sell Jazz
In the early days of recording, making an album required a lot of planning, a
budget, and a means of distribution. An aspiring jazz player would be lucky
to get a recording opportunity that required getting a recording company’s
attention through a live performance heard by the right person or through
word of mouth. In the 1930s and 1940s, an affordable home studio didn’t
exist, let alone one that could make high-quality recordings that could be
easily duplicated and distributed.
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