Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet - Simpler Times

180-gram 45 RPM LP

Mastered by Steve Hoffman and Bob Attiyeh!

Lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman!

Sophisticated Lady jazz quartet pays homage to the Great Tradition of American Jazz but most of their repertoire is written by members of the quartet. Unlike the majority of contemporary jazz recordings, which are carefully and surgically patched together in postproduction, this album remains raw and fresh. These tracks are complete takes, "live to tape," without editing. The music on this recording is how Sophisticated Lady plays without the help of digital manipulation.

Yarlung makes recordings in concert halls, not studios; our albums capture the sound of our musicians playing in real acoustic spaces. When the members of Sophisticated Lady quartet first played in Cammilleri Hall their eyes lit up and excitement built. They responded to the beautiful sound in the hall immediately, and the acoustics enabled Yarlung to record this album with our characteristically minimalist approach.

"Sophisticated Lady Jazz Quartet rehearsed and performed some of these tunes before our concert and recording but many are the first time through; the quartet discussed the tunes and who would take what solo in which order but without rehearsal. I wanted the intensity of raw improvisation. This is possible when superb musicians tackle new material together, listening carefully to each other and playing as a single organism. Right before we recorded "For Sebastian," for example, I played the opening of Variation 25 from Bach's Goldberg Variations on the piano. Misha led the quartet's improvisation from there. Music cannot get fresher than this." — Bob Attiyeh, producer

Side A:

1. Bicycles

2. Los Barriles

Side B:

1. Blue Corn Moon

2. For Sebastian

3. Sketches Of A Melancholy Bass

4. Simpler Times

Customer Reviews (5.00 Stars) 1 person(s) rated this product.

Highly recommend posted on 01/05/2022 5 Stars I had never heard of Sophisticated Lady before this album. But boy, this album exceeded my expectations. The album cover makes you think west coast jazz and the liner notes make reference to Bill Evans. You definitely get those feelings when listening to this album. Kudos to Yarlung for lining up Bernie Grundman and Steve Hoffman to help. Very well done.

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