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The Absolute Sound:
reviewed by Fred Kaplan
For more ballads, there’s The Art of the
Ballad: Best of Mapleshade, Volume 1. Mapleshade, of course,
is that rare entity: an audiophile jazz label that consistently
puts out excellent sound and good music. After 10 years of recording
in his back-woods Maryland mansion, proprietor-engineer Pierre
Sprey has decided to compile a series of samplers, and he’s
off to a good start. It boasts an impressive roster—saxophonists
David Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, and Norris Turney, pianists Larry
Willis, Chris Anderson, and Myra Melford, drummers Warren Smith,
Bobby Battle, and Jimmy Cobb, to name a few—and the songs
are well-chosen: the stuff of fine wine and candlelight. Clifford
Jordan’s absence is a mystery; maybe Sprey figured that Mapleshade
customers would already have his Live at Ethel’s and
The Mellow Side [as indeed they, indeed you, should.] But
that’s the only basis for complaint. The disc even sent me
back to some Mapleshade albums [Andy McKee’s, Rebecca Kane’s,
C.I. William’s, and Mark Taylor’s] that I’d nearly
forgotten about. Sprey always records live-to-2-track analog,
with minimal miking and no EQ, compression, or other electronic
enhancements. The sonics here sometimes differ, in minor ways,
from the original releases, but they’re all in the same ballpark—which,
speaking of Mapleshade discs generally, amounts to the Fenway
of High End.
August/September 1999
Positive Feedback:
reviewed by Rick Gardner
OK, this is just yummy! Larry Willis, David Murray,
Harriet Bluiett and a host of other luminaries makes this “greatest
hits” disc a real pleasure. As stated earlier, I like Pierre's
taste about as well as anyone working in the audiophile music
scene. If by some chance you are not familiar with Mapleshade,
this disc is definitely the place to begin. Spanning a fairly
wide range of styles, The Art of the Ballad is precisely what
it purports to be...a nice cross section of ballad-based jazz
styles beautifully recorded and assembled. First rate stuff!
Fall 2000
HiFi+:
reviewed by Dennis Davis
The first in a The Best of Mapleshade' series, this collection forms an excellent introduction to a fascinating (new to me) label. Mapleshade claim that their studio has 'warm, natural acoustics musicians decide when they want to play and when they want to stop. There are never any time limits… artists take more chances and play with more fire'. All Mapleshade CD's are recorded live to 2-track analogue with no added EQ, reverb, overdubbing or noise filtering, and this is certainly born out on every one of the samples on this CD. Whether in the delicacy of the Rebecca Kane Sextet, the big, breathy 'Websteresque' sax of Hamiet Bluiett, or the woody tones of Warren Smiths marimba from the intriguingly titled 'Some Cats Are Stealing My $Hit'. None of the music is particularly challenging, but it is real music making, sensitively recorded and light years away from the awful audiophile horrors that other labels have inflicted on an all too gullible public in years gone by. On my copy, the track listing is somewhat shuffled from the sleeve notes, but who cares this is an unusually consistent selection which, as intended, forms a great introduction to a fine label.
Postive Feedback Online:
reviewed by Rick Gardner
OK, this is just yummy! Larry Willis, David Murray, Harriet Bluiett and a host of other luminaries makes this "greatest hits" disc a real pleasure. As stated earlier, I like Pierre’s taste about as well as anyone working in the audiophile music scene. If by some chance you are not familiar with Mapleshade, this disc is definitely the place to begin. Spanning a fairly wide range of styles, The Art of the Ballad, is precisely what it purports to be... a nice cross section of ballad-based jazz styles beautifully recorded and assembled. First rate stuff!
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