Horace Parlan Speakin' My Piece on XRCD

Mastered to XRCD from Rudy Van Gelder's Original Two-Track Analog Master Tapes! 

One of the Best-Sounding Digital Releases You Will Ever Hear! 

1960 Horn-Accompanied Set is Parlan's First Masterpiece: Mildly Swinging, Intricate, Immersive! 

Like guitarist Django Reinhardt, hard-bop pianist Horace Parlan did the impossible and turned a disability into an advantage. Stricken with polio as a youth that left him with a partially paralyzed right hand, Parlan became a major innovator who developed a highly original rhythmic style. By the time he recorded 1960's classic Speakin' My Piece, he had convinced Charles Mingus (who hired him in 1957) that he was one of the most soulful pianists on the scene. At 29, Parlan was also a member of Lou Donaldson's group and regularly recording as a leader for Blue Note.

Speakin' My Piece is Parlan's first album with horns, rounding out his trio (bassist George Tucker, drummer Al Harewood) with the legendary Turrentine Brothers. Tenor-saxophonist Stanley Turrentine already possessed his immediately recognizable soulful style while trumpeter Tommy Turrentine adds bebop fire to the performances. The music that the group plays, catchy originals including Parlan's most famous composition "Wadin,'" is simultaneously swinging and sophisticated but also bluesy, greasy, and fluent with soul. An absolute must-have for any jazz fan, particularly those that admire the 88s.

In handling one of jazz's all-time best-sounding recordings, Rudy Van Gelder's original Blue Note two-track analog tapes were meticulously mastered to XRCD by engineer Alan Yoshida and producer Joe Harley. This XRCD comes with deluxe hardbound book-style packaging with original liner notes and high resolution B&W session photos. This edition of Speakin' My Piece represents the highest-quality analog to digital transfers from tape to CD available, and is among the finest digital releases you will ever hear.

"...thanks to the XRCD process and the care that was taken transferring these albums directly from the original analog masters, these CDs have to be approaching the limit of what the compact disc is capable of resolving. Instrument timbre is stunningly real, and the amount of air and decay present on these recordings will make the uninitiated swear that there is a record playing on a turntable somewhere. I’ve never heard this music sound this good in any digital format."
-Jeff Dorgay, TONE Audio, Issue 26

“At $30 a pop, these XRCDs are expensive, although not as pricey as the same $50 vinyl sets! And while they may not equal the breathtaking sonics of the vinyl discs, they come very close. So close, in fact, that during one of my listening sessions I was prepared to get up and flip the LP to Side 2 – except I wasn’t listening to an LP but to an Alan Yoshida-mastered XRCD!”
- Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2010
 
“JVC has examined the each step in XRCD CD mastering and manufacturing processes and designed specific equipment to improve those processes. Every combination of equipment, connections, AC power regulation, clocking, mastering format, and compact disc construction was evaluated technically and by listening tests.”
- Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, June/July 2010

Horace Parlan Speakin' My Piece Track Listing:

1. Wadin'
2. Up in Cynthia's Room
3. Borderline
4. Rastus
5. Oh So Blue
6. Speakin' My Piece