Cal Tjader - "Concert By The Sea" 1959

Yes, we have here another reel to reel RIP, this one from the late 50's and the recording speed unfortunately is 3-3/4 IPS.  This recording to my knowledge has never been released on CD.  Just LP and Reel to Reel.  Recorded in Monterey CA. "Concert By The Sea" is the vibraphonist/percussionist's breakthrough recording under any name. The bass-less, percussion-heavy lineup--Tjader on vibes, Willie Bobo on drums and timbales, Mongo Santamaria on bongos, Lonnie Hewitt on piano, and Paul Horn on flute--offers a curious mixture of Latin rhythms and the sort of West Coast cool pioneered by Tjader's former employer Dave Brubeck. Evenly balanced between standards given Tjader-style cool arrangements and band originals like Santamaria's classic "Afro Blue".  All in all the fidelity is acceptable... you be the judge.  My fav is the laid back "Laura", imagine being there in 1959, Monterey must have looked a lot different back then...

Front Box Cover

Back Box Cover

View of Tape in Box

• Alto Saxophone, Flute – Paul Horn
• Bass – Al McKibbon
• Drums – Willie Bobo
• Percussion – Mongo Santamaria
• Piano – Lonnie Hewitt
• Vibraphone – Cal Tjader

The Jazz Three - "Daytripper" 1973

I came across this gem on eBay, and have never heard of the group, and neither had Discogs.com (which is generally unusual).  So I  had to have it because of it's rarity.  This purchase delivered!  You can try and Google this recording and like myself, will find no information!!  After spending hours researching this recording, I have come to the conclusion that this was several session musicians that came together to play some jazz standards, and Sony-Superscope help bankroll this, so they could add more repertoire to their catalog.  These three musicians appear courtesy of Takt Records.

Front Cover

Rear Cover

Tape (close-up)

Produced by: Jack Wagner Cover Design: Samuel Green

Musicians: Kazuo Yashiro, Masanaga Harada, and Jimmy Takeuchi

(Courtesy of Takt Records - Japan)

NEW!! Reel to Reel Rips

I have not seen anyone posting Reel to Reel rips, and as you have noticed my posts are few and far between, mainly due to my time is limited, and most of my music on LP has been released on CD or Digital release.  Since I have started to try these rips for a bit, I wanted to mention the process.

My LP rips can be seen on this post.  The process is basically the same, except the need for ClickRepair is gone, reel to reel format has no clicks.  However, they can have some excessive white noise.  I have tried to reduce using electronic means, and I do not like the artifacts that it adds to the recording. Therefore the music is  left intact, noise and all.  On the 7-1/2 IPS (inches per second), the noise is well controlled, but the 3-3/4 IPS, the noise can become a bit excessive.  The rips were made on Pioneer RT-909 (see pic below) from 1979.  This was my second reel to reel unit, my first was a Revox B77, very well built and wonderful sounding, but not a lot of sex appeal, some may disagree.  It too was a 10" reel capacity unit, like the RT-909.  I sold the B77 for a great price, and got the RT-909 and has been working ever since.  The only maintenance was changing the drive belts and two capston rollers.

The Pioneer RT-909; a thing of beauty . . .

Without further adieu, I will start to post some of these rips.... I hope you enjoy!!