Johnny Coles Little Johnny C 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: Warm, Intricate, Transparent

1963 Hard-Bop Set One of Coles' Only Albums as a Leader: Also Features Early Magnetic Playing of Joe Henderson

Trumpeter Johnny Coles, a distinctive and passionate player best known for his associations with Gil Evans, the remarkable Charles Mingus Quintet of 1964, and Herbie Hancock’s late 60s Sextet, led relatively few albums of his own, and only two before 1982. Recorded in 1963, Little Johnny C is universally recognized as Coles’ finest recording.

Cole’s soulful trumpet is heard in superb form as he pushes the hard-bop mainstream forward. Duke Pearson, who was both a very skilled pianist as well as one of the top arrangers of the 1960s, contributes five very fresh originals. Notably, Little Johnny C is also one of tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson’s finest early recordings, his round sound and innovative phrasing clearly evident at this early point in his career. With the superb title cut, the ballad “So Sweet My Little Girl,” and “Jano” among the high points, in addition to beautiful flute and alto solos contributed by Leo Wright, Little Johnny C is a masterful album by an artist at his creative peak. A set to be savored again and again, especially now that it's been given proper sonic treatment.

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. The package alone is worth the investment. This edition of Little Johnny C 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

Johnny Coles Little Johnny C Track Listing:

1. Little Johnny C.
2. Hobo Joe
3. Jano
4. My Secret Passion
5. Heavy Legs
6. So Sweet My Little Girl