Phineas Newborn, Jr. – A World of Piano! [Stereo] (Craft Recordings Contemporary Acoustic Sounds Series Edition)

(AAA) — Lacquers cut from the original analog master tapes by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series continues in 2023!

Seven key albums from the Contemporary Records catalog reissued on 180-gram vinyl

Titles featuring Andre Previn, Leroy Vinnegar, Ornette Coleman, Curtis Counce, Art Farmer and Phineas Newborn Jr.

Featuring all-analog mastering by Bernie Grundman

Pressed at Quality Record Pressings

Stoughton Printing old-style tip-on jackets

Continuing Craft Recordings' 70th Anniversary celebration of Contemporary Records

"Another exemplary release in Craft Recordings Acoustic Sounds series is by under-appreciated jazz pianist Phineas Newborn called A World Of Piano! ... The 180-gram vinyl quality is excellent — certainly higher than the standard weight ‘80s edition — and was pressed at QRP (Quality Record Pressing). The cover art is made to the exacting standards of the vintage LPs from the 1960s. ... Also, because Craft is paying attention to important details for collectors, A World Of Piano! is issued on the black stereo Contemporary Records label design of that period." — Mark Smotroff, Audiophile Review, Feb. 19, 2024. Read the entire review here.

"Phineas Newborn Jr. was one of the greatest jazz pianists, possessing an astonishing technical ability, a deep bluesy swing, and a complete mastery of jazz harmony. ... Critic Leonard Feather wrote that A World Of Piano! was "the most stunning piano set since Tatum's salad days in the 1930s" and "Newborn is the greatest living jazz pianist."... A World of Piano!, the first Contemporary album, was recorded at two all star trio sessions in the fall of 1961 at Contemporary's office in the shipping room that doubled as a studio. A World of Piano! was recorded by Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer, who separately or together recorded dozens of sonic masterpieces for Contemporary and Lester Koenig's other labels. It is an extraordinary recording in the minimalistic, natural style that DuNann devised... My copy was flat, pressed on center, unmarked and unscuffed. It played superbly and quietly. ... The Craft A World of Piano is a superb reissue of an album that is both a musical and sonic classic and is highly recommended." — Music = 11/11; Sound = 10/11 — Joseph W. Washek, TrackingAngle.com. Read the whole review here.

Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds are proud to continue the Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series for 2023 with seven album releases from the Contemporary Records catalog, celebrating 70 years of the legendary jazz label. The releases are supervised by Chad Kassem, CEO of Acoustic Sounds, the world's largest source for audiophile recordings.

Each title, originally engineered by Roy DuNann and/or Howard Holzer, features all-analog mastering from the original tapes by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman (himself a former employee of the label), as well as unsurpassed audiophile pressing on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings, presented in a Stoughton Printing old-style tip-on jacket.

The series highlights gems from Contemporary's extraordinary catalog and features artists who both defined and expanded the sound of West Coast jazz.

American jazz piano virtuoso Phineas Newborn Jr. recorded A World of Piano! in 1961 for the Contemporary label, which released it in June 1962. Newborn performs five jazz standards and three lesser-known rarities by jazz composers on this superb album.

The album consists of tracks from two 1961 sessions paring the pianist with two all-star rhythm sections: Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones (October 16) and Sam Jones and Louis Hayes (November 21).

Founded in 1951 by film producer, screenwriter and record collector Lester Koenig (1917-1977), Contemporary Records became the epicenter of the West Coast jazz scene, while its cutting-edge approach to sound and design attracted some of the era's most exciting artists. The Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series — which launched in the spring of 2022 with titles by Art Pepper, Barney Kessel and Benny Carter, among others — honors the label's rich legacy through meticulous reissues that highlight the label's influential classics, as well as its must-hear rarities.

Since its initial rollout, the series has earned accolades from a slew of outlets, including JazzTimes, which spoke to the impact of the label, reflecting: "Artists, producers, and engineers alike have held Contemporary aloft...as a label dedicated to presenting jazz at its absolute purest, richest, and live-est," adding that the new reissues "are living, breathing proof of that label's hotly cutting clarity." Audiophile Review, meanwhile, marveled at the stereo pressing of Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics, which it called "top-notch," elaborating that it sounds "richer and more inviting...deliver[ing] a bit more cinemascopic ‘view' of the group." Praising Hampton Hawes' Four! as "pristine," Audiophile Audition added, "Kudos to Craft Recordings for re-introducing a brilliant pianist."

Musicians:
(Tracks 1-4)
Phineas Newborn Jr., piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Philly Joe Jones, drums
Recorded in Los Angeles, Oct. 16, 1961

(Tracks 5-8)
Phineas Newborn Jr., piano
Sam Jones, bass
Louis Hayes, drums
Recorded in Los Angeles, November 21, 1961

Music

Sound

Ratings from Joseph W. Washek @ trackingangle.com/

(Above description from AcousticSounds.com)