Kirsten Edkins - Shapes & Sound

 

180-gram LP, pressed at RTI

Deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket

AAA vinyl release

Debut album recorded for launch of new record label by award-winning mastering engineer Kevin Gray!

Recorded all-analog/all-tube at Gray's new studio, Cohearent Recording, for Cohearent Records!

Shapes and Sound by jazz composer/saxophonist Kirsten Edkins

"If you start with the final track, Wabich's "Hula Hoop" (Do younger readers even know what that 50's era "starter hump toy" is?) when you hear Turkmenoglu's stand-up bass actually sounding like a stand-up bass playing in a room, with its attack and timbral character so naturally presented, you'll realize how rarely contemporary recordings manage what Gray gets on tape here. And a shout out also to all of the musicians for their willingness to record this way!" — Music = 8/11; Sound = 11/11 - Michael Fremer, TrackingAngle.com editor. Read Fremer's entire review here.

Shapes and Sound from jazz saxophonist Kirsten Edkins is the debut LP release from Cohearent Records — the new record label companion to famed mastering engineer Kevin Gray's latest enterprise, an all-valve (vacuum tube) recording studio (Cohearent Recording) adjoining his home-based mastering facility in California.

"It's the 'essence of an era' we are trying to recapture with today's musicians, not the sound of specific spaces, engineers or recordings," Gray told music reviwer Michael Fremer.

This album was produced all-analog/all-tube at Gray's Cohearent Recording on December 10 and 11, 2021. Dave Connor produced, while Gray and Ryan Wirthlin co-engineered. Edkins on sax was joined by Gerald Clayton (courtesy of Blue Note) on piano, Ahmet Turkmenoglu on bass, Lemar Guillary on trombone and Chris Wabich on drums.

Edkins, a composer and saxophonist from Los Angeles, graduated from Eastman School of Music on scholarship. She studied composition and arranging with Bill Dobbins, as well as Walt Weiskopf and the legendary Ray Ricker. Before her time at Eastman she studied with Bob Sheppard, a jazz recording artist and woodwind specialist. Edkins is a sought-after improviser who has performed with Arturo Sandoval (Al "Tootie" Heath), Tim Hagans, Clay Jenkins, John Beasley, and Geoffrey Keezer.

She has performed with the Clare Fischer Big Band, Bill Holman Big Band, Bernie Dresel Big Band (The BBB), Sara Gazarek and others. She's appeard on television shows such as American Idol, Duets, Knight Rider, Glee, and Bones, plus The Tonight Show. She's also a music educator whose associations include Cal State Fullerton, Stanford Jazz Workshop, Saddleback College and Golden West College. She also direct the American Jazz Institute's community outreach program and teaches saxophone at Occidental College in Eagle Rock.

The album is an excellent showcase for Gray's new recording studio. Cohearent Recording was born from Gray's relentless passion to create the best sound recordings. It was that passion that has inspired Gray's long career cutting lacquers for such noted labels as Blue Note, Music Matters and Analogue Productions.

He spent 15 years building gear for the project. "I had a novel idea: In order to get the vintage sound we all love, (I'd) design and build an all-valve (vacuum tube) recording system from microphones through to the disc cutting head, NO transistors or IC's anywhere in the signal path. That took much longer than anticipated but it is finally complete."

Gray was inspired to use his own living room as the studio space when he realized it was similar in size and shape to legendary jazz recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack N.J. parents' home. Many classic jazz albums were recorded there by Gelder.

Some of the same microphones used on those earlier Gelder recordings are in use in Gray's setup. The custom vaccum tube electronics are different and for Shapes and Sound Gray used a tube-based Studer C37 rather than an Ampex.

Gelder's Hackensack recordings for both Blue Note and Prestige, Gray says, are "some of my favorite jazz records, and they are also exceptionally good sonically."

Musicians:
Kirsten Edkins, saxophone
Gerald Clayton, piano
Ahmet Turkmenoglu, bass
Lemar Guillary, trombone
Chris Wabich, drums

 

Music

Sound

Ratings from Michael Fremer @ trackingangle.com

Side A

Party Slug

Bird Shapes

Dedicated To You

The Goose

Side B

Sweet Pickles

Wuhoo

Proprietary Minor

Hula Hoop

Customer Reviews (4.91 Stars) 11 person(s) rated this product.

OMG Just Buy This Record posted on 04/01/2024 5 Stars Reviewer: GRB If you like jazz and excellently mastered and pressed records then you need to own this one. Way to go Kevin Gray on the quality of the recording. Sounds as good or better than some of my best records (including my UHQR's). Kirsten Edkins' music took me by a bit of surprise as I had not heard of her and bought the record knowing this was the first record produced in Kevin Gray's Cohearent Records studio with all tube gear. i was very pleasantly surprised by the musicality of the players. 9/10 for music 11/10 on recording and pressing.

Excellent posted on 09/18/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Glenn I enjoy discovering good music from new artists and this one is fantastic. The recording quality is exceptional. Congrats to Kevin Gray and Cohearent Records. I look forward to future releases.

An Audiophile Must Have! posted on 07/03/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: CliffC First, congratulations to Kevin Gray and Cohearent Records on your first release. You folks NAILED IT! Every minute and every dollar you spent was worth it. This is, without a doubt the quietest vinyl album I have ever bought., and that includes Quality Records (The Wonderful Sounds...) and Impex Records (The Famous Sounds of 3 Blind Mice). If you call yourself an audiophile this is a must own album. The recording, engineering, mastering and pressing are among the best. Kevin's micing techinque brings the feeling of you are there in the club live with Kirsten and the band as intended. Music is a very subjective art form and to each his own as to style preferences. The jazz is a littlle more old school than I was expecting but there is no disappointment in this to me. Kirsten plays beautifully and the rest of the band does an excellent job. This album is a joy to listen to and I give it a huge thumbs up.

Great Recording posted on 04/29/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Big-J A fabulously recorded album. It is up to debate if the recording chain makes any real difference. What is not open for debate is the result. Great music and a great recording. Now... can we please get this in SACD.

wow,more please.... posted on 04/23/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: TS Quite a debut recording and LP for Kevin's studio and Coherent. Class A + sound and music all the way. Cannot wait for more releases from Coherent/ Kevin Grey....keep them coming KG. Congratulations!

You really need to preorder this today... posted on 04/22/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Peter G OMG! The sound is absolutely amazing, I'm pretty sure it's the best recording I own, including AP UHQRs and MoFi One-Steps. If you have any interest in jazz and/or audiophile recordings, this is a special gem-- it's basically a jazz combo in your living room. I preordered and waited a couple of months (OK, I had to remember why I even ordered it when it arrived...haha). Now I can't wait for Cohearent's next recording-- whatever it is, I'll take it. Given their limited production capacity, I would guess these are going to be preorder only for a long time

Modern sound with a classic sensibility posted on 03/23/2023 4 Stars Reviewer: Chris G The music is fantastic, the recording is spectacular, and the pressing is pristine. The first of a new wave of modern acoustic recordings made using time-tested methods previously abandoned and now rediscovered with new appreciation? Maybe. Either way this one is bound to be a collector's item in the long run. A must have.

A MUST HAVE IN YOUR COLLECTION! posted on 03/22/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Andy Rogulich I am a Mastering Engineer and this is one one of those recordings that will go down in history as being in the top 100 of must have records. Simply outstanding, perfection in every sense of the word.

And the Lord said, let there be tubes…. posted on 02/07/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Michael Renwick I bought this relying solely on the fact that KG was the engineer. I knew he would release a top tier production and the music would follow suite. I was right. The pressing quality is that of older Japanese records, unbelievable. Not a single tick or pop, flat. The SQ hits you right away with a tight bottom like I hadn’t heard before. Better SQ than many 45’s I have. Music is fantastic as well. I think KG will do more for “new jazz” then any other person. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

An Important Return to the Warmth of Tubes posted on 02/07/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Shawn Howard Musically, people will have many different opinions of this album. There is more to it than a single casual listen will reveal, It's like these musicians and this composer were asked to "Show us what you got". They showed off, subtly and intelligently. All said, I think you could slide this between any two albums from the Golden Age of Jazz and it would not seem out of place.. i ordered this out of excitement to hear a modern all valve/tube recording. I do enjoy the warmth, texture and realism. I am enjoying the record for the music, and will for a long time to come. Looking forward to more from "Hackensack West" Get this if you can.

That was fast posted on 02/04/2023 5 Stars Reviewer: Johnny Angel A new jazz record sells out all 1250 first pressings in one week.If you don't own it just simply pre order it right here at Acoustic Sounds.

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