To my ears, the Dutch label Just Listen Records is today capturing much of what is best about live, or nearly live, recordings in their direct-to-DSD256 productions. And occasionally live-to-DXD if needed by the recording and venue.
In my days collecting vinyl, I always enjoyed direct-to-disc recordings...when they were well done. And not all were. But the best of them captured the energy of a live performance with an immediacy and transparency to the sound. This is what Just Listen is capturing today.
Their goal is stated succinctly in their logo.
DSD is not a forgiving format. There is no easy way to edit or post process a DSD recording without transferring it to analog or to PCM. If you are committed to keeping the recording in DSD, you also are committing to a certain purity of process. You might do alternate takes, but there are no overdubs, editing or remixing—it is possible to splice, but there is no post processing in the conventional sense.
Just Listen Records is among a very small group of labels recording directly to DSD. It is a group I plan to write more about in coming articles. Just Listen stands out because of its heritage. Founder and principal recording engineer, Jared Sacks, has long been a proponent of DSD recordings. Virtually all of his recordings over the past 20 years for his Channel Classics classical music label have been to DSD. He founded Just Listen Records with his son, Jonas, to record jazz in a way he's long wanted to do.
Jared Sacks at the recording session for The Contemporary Fortepiano
In a recent email exchange, Jared explains…
"Just Listen Records I started with my son who makes the videos out of my frustration with having tried to make Jazz recordings in the past. The musicians were so used to dry studios, blankets over the piano, dividing walls between the players and everyone with headphones, that they could not play any other way!
"Luckily how people listen has changed enough that we can record in more natural settings with higher quality."
And the recordings from Just Listen Records are capturing something very special to my ears—the sound of real performers playing in a natural acoustic environment. This outcome is very much evidenced in the three recordings I am recommending to you below. With one exception, these albums are all recorded directly to DSD256 in straight takes but with the opportunity to record each track a few times.
As Just Listen explains on their website, "This creates a concert-like performance in the recording studio, all about playing together and balancing the sound on set. The artists choose the best take of each track and the resulting audio files are not 'fussed with' afterwards: no editing, no mixing, just the music as it was played at the time—both artistically and sonically."
Here are three wonderful examples to get you started on what I promise will be a most enjoyable exploration of good music in great sound.
- The Sweetest Sound - Angelo Verploegen, Ed Verhoeff & Eric Van Der Westen
- The Contemporary Fortepiano - Rembrandt Frerichs Trio
- Amsterdam Moon - The Coo
- Some final thoughts
The Sweetest Sound - Angelo Verploegen, Ed Verhoeff & Eric Van Der Westen. Just Listen Records (2018 (DSD256) (HERE)
The music here is relaxed, sweet jazz with Angelo Verploegen and his colleagues playing various standards they know well. Verploegen's flugelhorn, "the softer brother to the trumpet" per the liner notes, leads and blends gently with Verhoeff's guitar and van der Westen's double bass. The three performers sound like good friends gathering together and inviting us along to join them.
For this album, Verploegen has come back to the flugelhorn after playing trumpet in recent years. About his experience with this album, he writes:
"Literally being brought up with the flugelhorn, I feel at ease with the way the horn requires its own approach of phrasing and articulation. This enables me to reach the level of lyricism and intimacy I'm looking for in my playing.
"So when Just Listen Records invited me to do a recording for the label at their specific terms, play live, in balance, no mixing, no editing, just capturing the live music as it is with the best possible equipment at the best suitable venue it was obvious for me to return once more to my first love—the flugelhorn.
"…As for the repertoire, I simply picked 'standard' tunes I grew fond of over the years, looking for a certain degree of variety in melody, harmony, formal structure, keeping the the drum-less trio sound in mind, allowing it to flourish, creating a casual, lush and intimate atmosphere."
The recording quality is simple, direct, and transparent. It sounds very natural: live instruments in a natural acoustic space where you hear the acoustic envelope in which the instruments are playing together. This is the sonic characteristic of each of the Just Listen albums I'm listing in this article, but particularly apparent here. This album seems especially to have that right combination of the sound of the instruments and the sound of the space—a mid-sized to largish venue with nice open acoustics.
As Jared Sacks explains about this recording session, "I mix at the session and then go straight to the AD converters…with the intention of no post production. Of course the space is then 80% of the recording. A pleasure for me to work in and for the artists. The three recordings you have chosen (to write about) are recorded in this way."
Recording session photos for The Sweetest Sound
The recording site was the MCO, Hilversum the Netherlands, a cultural center southeast of Amsterdam. It is home to the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Groot Omroepkoor and Metropole Orchestra, offers a busy concert calendar, and was selected by Jared Sacks for the excellent acoustics found in the main performing hall (which seats about 400 people. It proves to be a nice match to the music on this album.
If you'd like to learn more about this recording, check out the Behind the Scenes YouTube video for the album.
Just Listen records for both two-channel stereo and multi-channel in the same session. I can listen only to the stereo recordings, but Jared tells me "…if one has the chance to listen in Multichannel, the added value of emotional impact is great because one feels that not only is one listening from the 5th row, but the emersion of the space is very effective."
If you've heard this album in its multi-channel format, please share your thoughts in a comment below. But no matter what number of channels you choose, you're in for a rewarding experience. Highly recommended.
The Contemporary Fortepiano - Rembrandt Frerichs Trio. Just Listen Records (2017 (DSD256) (HERE)
Don't let the title of this album put you off! There's great jazz with a world music flair residing here.
Yes, pianist Rembrandt Frerichs plays a fortepiano, a copy of a Walter that stood in the house of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He also plays a harmonium dating back to 1860—a bellows operated reed instrument sometimes called a reed organ or pump organ or orgue expressif. Bassist Tony Overwater plays a violone—a 17th century predecessor to the modern double bass and an instrument commonly used in historically informed performances of classical musical today. And percussionist Vinsent Planjer plays a self-tailored percussion set providing an enormous variety of different effects and rhythms from snare drum to African log drum to chimes.
The Trio uses the unique timbre and color of these instruments create a new sound in contemporary jazz. And it works. It works very well indeed with this collection of instruments from an earlier era. The trio's improvising breathes life into the music.
As we're listening together, Ann says: "I like this; it's kind of different. It's refreshing to hear the jazz with other than the 'standard' instruments…Yes, I like it. I like every cut we've heard." And so did I.
Jared Sacks: "The Rembrandt Frerichs Trio was recorded in a church. The wonderful reflections of the percussion could never have been gotten out of a (studio) black box! Also an analog mix (to DSD256) with no post-production except to get it all in the right order."
So, a collection of instruments from an earlier era, but making great contemporary jazz and world music, with a lot of interesting Arabic and Baroque influences through the contributions of bass player Tony Overwater.
"Organized disorganization," says Ann when listening to the composition "A Long Story Short." Indeed. And a most enjoyable album full of creativity and excellent musicianship throughout.
Note: For some idea of the unique character that the violone contributes to the music on this album, here are two brief videos exploring the sound of this instrument so important to music of the Baroque through its evolution to the modern double bass.
Franenberg on the violone | Netherlands Bach Society
Perspectives—What Exactly is a Violone?
Amsterdam Moon - The Coo (Matt Arthur and Jara Holdert). Just Listen Records (2020 (DXD, 24-352) (HERE)
The Coo are Matt Arthur and Jara Holdert, both composers, guitarists, singers, and really good musicians / performers. They hail from opposite sides of the Channel—Jara in Amsterdam, Matt in London. A chance meeting during an open-mic event in Amsterdam's café De Koe has led to a serendipitous and on-going collaboration.
The music here is jazz influenced folk composed and performed by The Coo as a collaborative give and take of musical ideas. "We discovered that there was this kind of magic between us, musically," says Matt. "We don't ever need to discuss things too much. We could start and end songs on stage whenever we liked, or we could change melodies and arrangements and we knew that we would follow each other."
Says Folk Radio UK, "(The Coo) sing songs together in two-part harmony, reminiscent of the warm late 60s and early 70s sound of artists such as Carole King & James Taylor; Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and contemporary artists such as Angus & Julia Stone and Big Thief. Like those aforementioned names, some artists just sound like they were made to work together and The Coo are no exception, their harmonies are a soothing balm for the chaos of today."
Regarding the genesis of this recording, Jara comments, "We both had experience with studio projects and band projects where tracks were perfected to a tee and rehearsed for hours, but that's not what we were about. Our playing together felt more free, spontaneous, a breath of relief. We thought part of our magic was in that—and that the live-feel of our material is what we should try to capture if we'd ever record."
And in April 2019 this album was recorded in front of a live audience in the Uilenberger Sjoel, Amsterdam, an old synagogue turned into a community cultural center.
Says Jared Sacks, "The Coo I recorded in what used to be a Synagogue! Now it is used for cultural activities here in Amsterdam. I recorded live during the two concerts, making an analog mix to DXD. I then had to do some tweaking of balance in a DXD project using the Merging (Technologies Pyramix) software. From this I could then make all the different formats for release."
This album is an exception to Just Listen's normal direct-to-DSD recording philosophy. Obtaining the best right outcome from a live performance dictates making the practical choices needed for the venue and circumstances. By recording to DXD, Jared was able "to do some tweaking of balance" that he'd not have been able to make in DSD.
And the recording still sounds just like what I'd hoped to hear: direct, live, unprocessed. With the lovely natural acoustics of this nice performing space.
As to the music, why don't you settle back and listen for yourself to the track "If Only" as captured on video concurrently with the live recording of this release.
For more about The Coo, here's a link to their 7 minute YouTube video about how they came together, their music together, and the making of this recording:
The Coo—Amsterdam Moon EP (Live) (Making of featurette
Some final thoughts about the recordings from Just Listen Records...
Just Listen Records is a recording label whose philosophy of capturing music for listening in the home aligns exactly with all of my audio/musical values. They just punch every one of my buttons as both a music lover and an audiophile. I feel like I've found a sympatico partner in my search for great music and sound.
I have not yet explored the recordings Jared Sacks makes for his Channel Classics label, but since classical music is the genre in which I spend most of my time, you can bet I will be queuing up some of those recordings while watching for additional releases from Just Listen.
And, I see that there are three additional recordings by Angelo Verploegen now available on Just Listen Records. You better know we will be checking these out!
All images courtesy of Just Listen Records.
