Octave Records and pianist Tom Amend and his band take listeners on a jazz journey to a hallowed musical era with Jazz Classics: 1940s, the label’s latest release. The album features Amend and his sextet putting a new musical flavor into vintage favorites like “Take the A Train,” “Stella by Starlight,” “How High the Moon,” “Moonlight Serenade” and six more classics. Octave Records’ high-resolution Pure DSD sound quality has never been better, as this exceptional recording demonstrates.
Tom Amend plays piano and bass clarinet on Jazz Classics: 1940s and is accompanied by Daryl Gott on alto saxophone, Nate Miller on trumpet, Seth Lewis playing upright bass, and Ian Spillman on drums. Musician, composer and educator Amend is one of Octave’s most acclaimed artists, and Jazz Classics: 1940s showcases his beautiful arrangements and orchestrations and the superb, sympathetic playing of the band.
Jazz Classics: 1940s was produced by Tom Amend and Jessica Carson and recorded and mixed at Octave Studios in Boulder, Colorado by Paul McGowan, with Jessica Carson and Terri McGowan assisting. Gus Skinas was the mastering engineer. The album was recorded using Octave’s state-of-the-art Pyramix Pure DSD system, mastered using a PS Audio DirectStream DAC and mixed using PS Audio’s flagship Aspen FR30 loudspeaker. No compression, limiting, or studio “tricks” were used, to capture the sound of the musicians with astonishing sonic purity, dynamics and detail. This is a truly special recording.
Tom Amend and company lead off with a dazzling version of “Take the A Train.” This song has been recorded countless times, making it particularly challenging for an artist to bring something new. Amend and the band do just that, adding a lively swing and adept improvisation to the song. Seth Lewis’ bass playing is a highlight on this song and throughout the album, with a propulsive drive and rhythmic pulse. Next up is Charlie Parker’s “Dewey Square,” and here the ensemble playing of the horns shines.
Octave’s Pure DSD process captures the body and textures of the instruments with remarkable fidelity. The piano has presence with superb harmonic extension, and its percussive attack adds to the realism. The saxophones sound creamy and full-bodied, and the trumpet has a reach out and touch it quality. Of particular note is the low end: the bass is remarkably articulate and clear, and occupies its own sonic space, powerful but never boomy. The drums are startlingly lifelike and present.
Tom Amend. Courtesy of the artist.
Every track on Jazz Classics: 1940s is a gem. “Milestones” is straight-ahead jazz at its finest, and has Ian Spillman punctuating the song with adept solo breaks. “Skylark” features Amend on bass clarinet, and the rich sonority of the instrument is one of the many sonic highlights of the album, with a realism that simply must be heard. “How High the Moon” finds the quintet disassembling and reassembling the song in a unique way, beginning with a slow statement of the melody before launching into a roaring improvisation, accented by Lewis’ bass solo. Among the album’s other standouts are a gorgeous rendition of “Stella by Starlight,” the irresistible motion and swing of “Casbah,” the band stretching out on “Long Ago and Far Away,” and the sheer beauty of the arrangement and playing on “Moonlight Serenade.”
Here's the full track listing for Jazz Classics: 1940s:
“Take the A Train”
“Dewey Square”
“Milestones”
“Skylark”
“How High the Moon”
“Casbah”
“Stella by Starlight”
“Long Ago and Far Away”
“A String of Pearls”
“Moonlight Serenade”
Jazz Classics: 1940s features Octave’s premium gold disc formulation, and the disc is playable on any SACD, CD, DVD, or Blu-ray player. It also has a high-resolution DSD layer that is accessible by using any SACD player or a PS Audio SACD transport. In addition, the master DSD and PCM files are available for purchase and download, including DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64, and DSDDirect Mastered 352.8 kHz/24-bit, 176.2 kHz/24-bit, 88.2 kHz/24-bit, and 44.1 kHz/24-bit PCM. (SRP: $29.)
I caught up with Tom about the making of Jazz Classics: 1940s.
Frank Doris: Since Octave has done Jazz Classics: 1960s, 1950s and so on, recording an album of 1940s songs is a logical progression. Did you approach these older songs in any kind of different way than you would with more recent material?
Tom Amend: With this era and set of music, I wanted to experiment with playing these tunes in a way that might be interesting for the band to explore different orchestration textures, meters, feels, and so on.
FD: The orchestrations are wonderful. Did you have any main influences like Billy Strayhorn, Gil Evans, Nelson Riddle and so on, or were you more set on doing your own thing with fresh interpretations? Personally, I admire the fact that you put some new musical spins on some songs that have been done over and over again.
TA: I’m glad you enjoyed it! I’ve definitely have had periods in the past where I was really into the arranging and orchestrating techniques of those folks. With this batch of tunes, I was really just trying to think of some different combinations of textures to get into, between Nate, Daryl and myself playing the horns.
FD: Did you have the arrangements ready before you recorded the album? And has the band been playing these songs for a while?
TA: These were all done fresh for the session. This particular group hadn’t played together before [we did the album]. We have however, all played a lot of these tunes many times over the years in different contexts.
FD: We’ve often heard it said that the first take is the best take. Did you find that to be the case with this album, or did some of the songs need to settle in after playing them a few times?
TA: There are lots of first takes. Especially on the less-arranged ones. Maybe we took a run through on the orchestrated bits to suss out the blend [of the instruments] and the interpretation.
FD: Why did you pick the songs you did? Do some of them have special meaning?
TA: Not particularly. Paul [McGowan], recommended a few. I wanted to make sure to include some Charlie Parker, as he is an improviser and composer who is truly hard for me to tire of. Other than that…we just did tunes that we like to play, and lots of those are from this decade.
FD: Your piano playing is for me a great blend of classic jazz influences and your own thing. Were you aiming for a certain feel or style, like say, “think Bill Evans on this one,” or did you just go where the music took you?
TA: Thank you! I was just trying to get out of the way and express myself without thinking. I obviously love and come from the rich jazz piano tradition and have spent lots of time studying the greats. But recently, I am really trying to just focus on letting the sounds come out how they want to.
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