King Oliver - Off The Record: The Complete 1923 Jazz Band Recordings

Off the Record offers an amazingly fresh and simple alternative--one that proves to be a definitive step in presenting these truly classic sides. By special arrangement with Archeophone Records, Off the Record is proud to present all 37 issued titles by the Oliver band, newly transferred from the best available original sources, issued on two compact discs. Engineer and master sound recording restoration specialist Doug Benson--known for his definitive work on "The Complete Hit of the Week" on Archeophone Records--and David Sager--jazz historian and trombonist--have searched far and wide to gain access to the cleanest copies of all the Oliver discs, including the unique copy of "Zulus Ball" and "Working Man Blues." Using a meticulous musical ear, a wide variety of styli and the subtlest application of digital technology, Benson, perhaps for the first time, has revealed the natural ambience of these discs. Unprecedented Detail and Clarity: The Oliver ensemble has never been heard to better advantage. Passages long accepted as muddy and indistinct pour forth with unprecedented clarity. Even the introduction of the ultra-rare "Zulus Ball," often lamented for its poor condition, shines through crystal clear! Straight off the discs with as little processing as possible: There is no better way to bring these old discs to life than with the right stylus, a sensitive ear, and careful application of non-invasive processing. Whereas many reissues are marred by over-processing, resulting in muffled sound and/or digital artifacts, Off the Record has judiciously applied just enough non-invasive technique in order to remove ticks, pops, harsh resonances and other unwelcome noise--leaving the music to speak for itself. Expertly Speed Corrected: Just because we call them "78s" doesn't mean that they really are. Sound recordings from the early days of sound recording rarely spin at exactly 78 rpm. Back in those days there was no standardization regarding speed; often discs ran a Product Description

Stunning achievement

I hate to say this, because I didn't want to hear it myself, but..... this really is the best available transfer of this priceless music. I didn't want to believe it, because I already had this material in John R.T. Davies' revelatory CD transfers on the Retrieval and King Jazz labels. Good as those sets are, this one has them beat.

The difference is both in the presence of the music, and in the detail available to your ear. These obviously will never be hi-fi recordings, but you know that already if you are reading this. On these transfers, though, the music has the kind of presence that 78-rpm fans know is so hard to find in any transfers, even from good source material. This is just about as "close" as we will probably ever get to this music. It is more vivid now -- present in a way it has not been before.

Plus, the voices in the ensemble really do stand out in clearer relief against one another. I do not know how the engineer did this, but he did. It is like hearing a truly great Bach player play a fugue, as against a player who can hit all the notes but doesn't really make the individual lines stand out. Here every line of thought in the group polyphony is fully activated, or at least much more so than in the past.

I wish this engineer would now have a whack at some of the other ill-served classic performances from jazz's early years -- the Jelly Roll Morton Gennetts, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, some of the early Keppard and Dodds material. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the engineer and the label for such a beautiful achievement, a real labor of love. June 7, 2008

Outstanding Sound Restoration Gives New Life to Timeless Music

In a series of recordings in Chicago, Illinois, and Richmond, Indiana, in 1923, a transplanted New Orleans jazz band led by cornetist Joseph "King" Oliver recorded some of the most influential sides in the history of popular American music. On second cornet was the soon-to-be world famous Louis Armstrong. The band also included such fine instrumentalists as Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Honore Dutrey on trombone, and Johnny's brother "Baby" Dodds on drums.

Included among these historic recordings are "Canal Street Blues," "Weather Bird Rag," "Dipper Mouth Blues," and "Alligator Hop," to name only a few. Two things have kept these recordings among the top of the list of the most important jazz records of all time. First, the sheer quality of the band itself and its individual members, continues to impress listeners nearly 100 years later. Second, this band was the last, best exponent of the style of collective improvisation (two or more players improvising on the melody at the same time) which was the hallmark of the New Orleans jazz bands. By the early '30's a new style, eventually dubbed "Swing," had replaced the "Dixieland" style of the New Orleans bands. Swing bands were generally larger ("Big Bands") in which individual soloists would improvise against arranged backgrounds. Experiments in the kind of collective improvisation exemplified by the King Oliver Band would not be seriously undertaken until "New Thing" or "Free Jazz" emerged in the late 1950s and Early 60s. In many ways, jazz would wait 30 years before tackling this complex and difficult style again, with mixed results.

I can remember buying my first "Jazz Archives" LP of these recordings in the early 1970s. I eagerly brought the album home from the record store and put it on the turntable. To my great disappointment, every tune was unlistenable. They were so marred by the surface noise on the original "78" rpm discs, resulting from almost 50 years of play by collectors, that all that could be heard beneath the rubbish was the small, barely audible sound of Joe Oliver's lead cornet. Everything else was buried by pops, clicks and hisses. At that time sound restoration was in its infancy, and there was really little that could be done to substantially improve the sound quality of these badly worn "78" transfers.

Well, what a difference 30 years makes. Although the sound of these new reissues will never be confused with recordings made digitally or on magnetic tape, there is a clarity of sound and detail that is a wonder to hear. Each instrument in the band can be heard distinctly, with a richness that makes it possible to really enjoy it as living music from a great band rather than merely as a musical fossil to be examined for what it can tell us about older styles of jazz.

The notes are excellent. The details of how the sound restoration engineers came up with the idea of using different styluses of varying widths to go deeper or shallower into the record grooves to find pieces of undamaged sound waves that had not been scratched off through decades of play, is fascinating. The history and importance of these records, and the circumstances of their recording, are thoroughly explored.

There's not much more to add to the almost universal acclaim that this 2-CD reissue has received from previous reviewers here. I can only add my own voice to the others and say that if you have an interest in jazz, or the popular music of the early 20th century, you really should have this set your collection. June 2, 2008

An obviously biased review...

Maybe this is a bit unorthodox, but I'm putting it out there anyway. I am the remastering engineer for this CD, so of course, I give it 5 stars! But before you scoff at my self-serving review, understand that I'm not talking about my work on the project, or even that of my co-producer David Sager, who received a grammy nomination for his excellent notes. Rather, my kudos is to the music itself, and to the effort of these musicians who obviously played together a LOT, and were quite well-rehearsed for these recordings. Having played in Dixieland-style groups before, I understand how difficult it can be to play good stuff and still not step on the toes of the musicians around you. Listening to the October Gennett session which includes two cornets, trombone, clarinet, c-melody sax, bass sax, piano, banjo and drums, I can only stand agog at the these musicians' mastery of improvised ensemble playing. That's a BIG ensemble for a group such as this! King Oliver seems to be rather underrated these days. I believe he was one of the true masters of jazz presentation. April 10, 2008

Briliant Release Of The Most Important Jazz Recordings Of All Time

I finally heard the new Complete King Oliver set on Archeophone, and I love it. This is the best I've ever heard this material. The pitch is right on, and the individual horns stand out nicely. I love the way I can hear the great trombone work of Honore Dutrey, one of the great trombonists in jazz history. Great to hear Charlie Jackson's bass sax too! I even found a chord change that I had missed for all these years on "Alligator Hop", what a treat!. Excellent photos, and text compliment this historically significant re-issue of what are to me the most important jazz recordings of all time. - John Gill
Off The Record: The Complete 1923 Jazz Band Recordings November 5, 2007

Could use some more engineering

It's a great compilation to learn about King Oliver. Some of the tracks are so scratchy that they're not enjoyable to listen to. Perhaps the originals are just too far gone to rehabilitate into anything like clean sound. Other pieces are fine. October 26, 2007

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