Harold Vick: Don’t Look Back (1974) Strata East (Re 2018)

Selection: Lucille

.  .  .

Artists

Harold Vick, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, bass clarinet; Virgil Jones, trumpet, flugelhorn (A1-A3); Kiane Zawadi, euphonium ( A1-A3); Joe Bonner, electric piano, piano, percussion, tuba; George Davis, guitar, flute (A1-B1); Sam Jones, bass (A1-B2); Billy Hart. drums, percussion (A1-B2); Jimmy Hopps – percussion ( B1;) recorded at Minot Sound Studios, White Plains, NY, November 1974.

Track List

A1 – Don’t Look Back (6:04)
A2 – Melody for Bu (7:22)
A3 – Senor Zamora (5:40)
B1 – Stop and Cop (6:38)
B2 – Lucille (9:20)
B3 – Prayer (1:05)

Music

Vick is among the more mainstream artists who recorded for Strata East, with a leaning towards soul jazz, found on another Strata East title with Shirley Scott, the excellent One For Me. (Harold Vick’s  “Keep On Moving on”)

Somewhere between Boogaloo and Cosmic Conciousness is Mainstream and this is reassuringly it. Vick was a funky, bluesy tenor who paired well with heroes of the Hammond –  Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Johnny Hammond and Big John Patton. He led just one title  for Blue Note, 4138 Steppin’ Out, in 1963, compared to around a dozen soul jazz sessionswith McDuff, for Prestige.  His tenor style is a dancing partner of the soul jazz organ: muscular, solid, playing inside the groove not out, absent tortured self-expression, but setting out his own engaging lyrical path and a tenor voice tinged with vibrato – not unlike another Strata East saxman, Clifford Jordan.The line-up is electro-acoustic – acoustic brass and woodwind, the piano is both electric and acoustic. The drums, accents and cymbal-sibilance are spread  across the width of the soundstage. The recording engineers were on the case, and the remastering engineer is on the same wavelength. Dynamic and tonal range is full, which is ultimately I guess what today  “audiophile” means, and not optimised for earbuds.

Vinyl: Pure Pleasure 2018 reissue of 1974 Strata East SES 7431

In Pure Pleasure’s own words about the label: “Sourcing the best available masters to work from, then over to spending stunning days with the experts at Mastering.  Air Studios with Ray Staff. Graheme Durham at the Exchange, Shaun McGhee at Abbey Road. Ron McMaster at Capital mastering in Hollywood, Kevin Grey at Coherant Audio.”

Harry’s Place

Harry M has the photos.

Harold Vick, Montreux 1975, with Shirley Scott Trio

Sam Jones, Copenhagen 1969, with Oscar Peterson Trio

Collector’s Corner

Tale of Two Labels: auction max –  Blue Note $700 left, Strata East $300 right

The Don’t Look Back recording session was held after Vick’s recovery from a heart attack in only his late 30’s. Another finally claimed him in 1987, too soon, at age 51.

This  “Musician’s Departure Timetable” prompted my comment in a record store, that “most of the people I listen to are dead”.  Whilst anatomically correct, the proprietor was a little taken aback at my clumsy expression. They were definitely all alive during the recordings. What I meant to say was I don’t listen to many living artists, That doesn’t sound much better, but in no small measure because they mostly put out their work on CD and download. And only occasionally, on vinyl.

Modern Vinyl Manufacture, UK

One living artist I have bought recently on vinyl was talented Manchester trumpet player Matthew Halsall, sort of lounge Miles Davis, a bit acoustic wallpaper, but nice acoustic wallpaper. Two double LPs, sealed, first time out of the sleeve, the pressings were filthy, grooves choked with dust. All four LPs in the same shocking Dusty Groove indeed. Under diffuse roomlight, unnoticeable, under LED, send for the vinyl police. If you don’t have an LED spot, get one now, it is an education.

The ten year old recordings had been remastered for a tenth anniversary reissue, sounded digitally sourced, missing much of the upper register – another engineer who had read those frequencies can not be heard. Was the original recorded source analogue?  The vinyl  output  is mostly midband and boosted bass, engineered for Millenials, smells digital. Each record had a code for digital download. I thought, why bother? I think that’s what I’m already listening to.

A friend bought another of Matthew’s albums, and immediately had to send it back as one side had  seriously faulty pressing. Is there no quality control in these plants? Perhaps the guys producing this are not themselves vinyl-philes.. It is vinyl,  and vinyl is cool, but ultimately just another format, according to preference. So the digital file source gets put on vinyl. You don’t know what you don’t know.

An eye-opener, UK modern vinyl manufacture is in a sorry state.The vinyl revival contains a large quantity of  poorly manufactured plastic quality. Audiophile quality manufacturing  seems the monopoly of Germany – Optimal who press BN 80’s, and  Pallas, who press Jazzman. Perhaps it’s the customers fault, unwilling to pay for a properly manufactured  product. You get what you pay for, though sometimes not even that.

With a few notable exceptions, engineering skills also seem to have been have been lost. The exceptions include Kevin Gray, who I am now convinced is the living reincarnation of Rudy Van Gelder.  In the UK, Caspar Sutton-Jones at Gearbox, Ray Staff at Air Studios for Pure Pleasure, Colin Young (CY Audio) for Jazzman and Pete Hutchison and his mastering engineers  for Electric Recording Company (ERC), £350 a pop, sold out before I finished typing his name. That’s what I call provenance, Hutchison apparantly flew between LA and London with the Bill Evans Village Vangard  tape in his personal custody.

In the  tiny sector of truly audiophile vinyl (stands  up to originals, or acceptably close) , I now include Pure Pleasure, ERC, Blue Note Vinyl Classics 80, Tone Poets, and Music Matters Jazz SRX. There is gold out there, take no-one’s word for it, trust just your own ears. And well, maybe trust mine. However there is still a lot to be said for “originals”, though deep pockets are  required.

POSTSCRIPT

Hey! Look what I just found! Pure Pleasure are proud sponsors of…

ENDS JUNE 4, 2021

https://sonicly.com/Projects/Experience/661/1695

  Impressive line-up  he said, checking the Musician’s Departure Timetable, yup, they all with us so far, few days to go.  Billy Parker’s still  got a good head of hair.  The hair is all in the genes.  Buster’s looking good, but no grey,  how old is the photo, Buster? Sorry Lenny, the hat is a giveaway, what you would conceal, you reveal.

Strictly ticket only streaming event.

There is probably also a super-level participation ticket, where you can jam with the band on Zoom  Personally I’ll spend on another Strata East reissue… pure pleasure, more lasting 

LJC