Tag Archives: Montreux Jazz Festival

World News

First Time CD Release Of 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival Concert by Superstar Supergroup Rite Of Strings Features Jean-Luc Ponty, Al Di Meola and Stanley Clarke

Posted on by Mark Smotroff

A new 1994 archival concert release from the archives of The Montreux Jazz Festival called Rite of Strings – Live at Montreux 1994 features the dynamic acoustic trio of Stanley Clarke on bass, Al Di Meola on guitar and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. 

A magical recording by a magicial trio, these three super-musicians work really well together, complimenting and supporting one another while seemingly keeping each other in musical check. All of these players are master musicians and can run high speed circles around each another if they wanted to.

But they don’t… 

And there-in lies the joy of why Mercury Records’ new two-CD set titled Rite of Strings – Live at Montreux 1994 works for me as an end-to-end album listen. Here, these jazz fusion super-stars lift and inspire one-another, allowing for moments of technical brilliance where their shredding-inclined nimble fingers can sparkle, yet forcing each other to back off and give the music the necessary space to breathe.

No one steps on any musical toes (if you will), something I can’t always say about other similar powerhouse combos like this which I’ve seen in both rock and jazz worlds. Sometimes fewer notes can say a lot more in communicating and connecting with an audience.

OnRite of Strings – Live at Montreux 1994each artist gets a tasty solo spotlight. I especially liked Mr. Di Meola’s “Summer Country Song.” Mr. Ponty’s ethereal “Eulogy To Oscar Romero” finds the violinist masterfully employing digital delays and other special effects.  

Now, I have to admit that prior to this CD release of Rite of Strings – Live at Montreux 1994 I’d completely missed out on the DVD release of this concert (released in 2005, an especially bad year for me personally, so I’m not surprised it slipped through the cracks). 

Perhaps more surprising was discovering that this trio released a studio album (using the same super-group title, Rite Of Strings) in 1995, which I’ve honestly never seen before!  I think I may know why too: it was issued by the decidedly non-Jazz leaning record label I.R.S. Records just before it closed down in 1996. My guess is — and this just is a guess, so take it for all that is worth — that the combination of a jazz fusion album coming out from a rock oriented label which wasn’t in the best of health business-wise resulted in a very weak commercial release. 

I hope I’m wrong about that — the album was apparently a critical success (at least according to the Wiki). One of these days I hope to find a copy.

Until then, I’ll be enjoying this great trio recording in all its live-without-a-net glory on this fine new CD set.  If you have access to any of the high resolution streaming services you can find Rite of Strings – Live at Montreux 1994 on Qobuz in 48-kHz, 24-bit fidelity (click here), on Tidal in MQA (click here) and on Apple Music Lossless (click here).

You should check out Rite of Strings – Live at Montreux 1994 if you love any of these artists. This is the good stuff. 

World News

Listening Report: Marianne Faithfull’s Montreux Years Concerts On Vinyl, CD & Streaming

Posted on by Mark Smotroff

Reviewing a live album that is also retrospective of an artist’s career becomes a pleasure when the producers of the recording have put some TLC into the project. Balanced song selection, choice of ace performances and use of best quality audio sources can result in a powerful listening experience that complements the artist’s catalog. Not all live recording achieve this. But, several of the new releases from BMG — as part of their series of archival releases from the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival — do!

In the latest edition in the series, the producers have done a wonderful job creating a fine overview of legendary ‘60s British Invasion-era singer Marianne Faithfull’s performances at Montreux between the years of 1995 and 2009. This tracks her late period renaissance and it is the sequencing of the album which elevates the album above the norm.  The feel flow of music on Marianne Faithfull: The Montreux Years delivers peaks and valleys, arcs, twists and turns.

From the rocking angst of her ‘80s comeback breakthrough “Broken English” to the moody and haunting song Tom Waits wrote for her, “Strange Weather, across this hour plus album you’ll get tastes of rock, jazz, reggae, dance and ambient production styles. You’ll also hear compelling tales from Faithfull, she a survivor of rock ‘n’ roll excess, stardom and celebrity intrigue. Her version of “Sister Morphine” – – written with the Rolling Stones Mick Jagger — is powerful here as is her take on John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero.”

Overall the fidelity on Marianne Faithfull: The Montreux Years is quite wonderful and remarkably consistent. The CD version sounds fine and the LP is excellent, pressed on thick dark 180-gram vinyl that is quiet and well centered.  

As with the earlier albums in the Montreux concert series I’ve reviewed, Marianne Faithfull: The Montreux Years was mastered using MQA technology — yes, the vinyl was mastered via MQA.  This is interesting since most audiophile folks know MQA from Tidal’s high resolution streams.

In my review of Nina Simone’s Montreux Years set I explored this in some detail (click here in case you missed it). From that report I’ll recap a clarifying paragraph on why MQA is gaining favor among some vinyl mastering engineers:

“… The process of digitization (whether historic or recent) introduces artifacts such as time smear, or “blur.”  Apparently, the MQA encoder ‘cleans’ or ‘de-blurs’ the recording and then the MQA decoding and rendering in the DAC provides a clean path to analogue, preventing any artifacts being reintroduced during conversion.”

Accordingly, you can find Marianne Faithfull: The Montreux Years streaming in 96 kHz, 24-bit resolution on Tidal in MQA format (click here) as well as in Qobuz Hi Res (click here). Both versions sound real nice, crisp and clean with a pleasant richness to the bass and drums in particular. In this case I lean a bit toward the Tidal version as I like how it treats Faithfull’s naturally raspy vocals. Everything feels a bit warmer there, dare I say it, a bit more analog feeling.  

It all adds up: a great combination of choice songs, high quality sound and compelling performances make Marianne Faithfull: The Montreux Years a winning collection.

World News

Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG Set to Release Brand-New Live Albums As Part Of “The Montreux Years” Series

Posted on by TAS Staff

The following is a press release issued by Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG.

Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG have announced the forthcoming releases of ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’ and ‘Etta James: The Montreux Years’ on Friday, 25 June 2021. The live albums, which will be available in multiple-format configurations, including double LP and two-disc CD editions, feature sublime collections of the musical icons’ finest Montreux Jazz Festival performances, including previously unreleased material, all restored to their full glory and more. The audio will also be available on digital download and streaming services, and in full master quality on TIDAL.

Pre-order ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’ and ‘Etta James: The Montreux Years’ here.

Simone’s and James’ albums are the first releases of Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG’s brand-new collection series “The Montreux Years”. The collections will uncover legendary performances by the world’s most iconic artists alongside rare and never-before-released recordings from the festival’s rich 55-year history, with mastering performed by Tony Cousins at London’s iconic Metropolis Studios, incorporating MQA to capture the original sound of these special live performances. Each collection will be accompanied by exclusive liner notes and previously unseen photography.

Nina Simone’s story from the late sixties to the nineties can be told through her legendary performances in Montreux. Taking to the Montreux stage for the first time on 16 June 1968 for the festival’s second edition, Simone built a lasting relationship with Montreux Jazz Festival and its Creator and Director Claude Nobs and this unique trust and electricity can be clearly felt on the recordings.

Simone’s multi-faceted and radical story is laid bare on ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’. From Nina’s glorious and emotional 1968 performance to her fiery and unpredictable concert in 1976, one of the festival’s most remarkable performances ever witnessed, the collection includes recordings from all of her five legendary Montreux concerts – 1968, 1976, 1981, 1987 and 1990.

Featuring rare and previously unreleased material from Claude Nobs extensive collection of recorded material (Montreux Sounds), Nina Simone devotees worldwide will be thrilled by the inclusion of the powerful I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, poignant and fearless Four Women and Simone’s hauntingly beautiful performance of Ne Me Quitte Pas.

A spine-tingling version of Janis Ian’s searing and potent Stars, which Simone covered for the very first time during her 1976 Montreux performance, sits alongside her bold and electrifying re-imagine of Bob Marley’s ballad No Woman No Cry in 1990. The collection closes with the encore of Nina Simone’s final Montreux Jazz Festival concert and one of Simone’s most-loved and best-known recordings, the exuberant My Baby Just Cares For Me, showcasing the deep and multidimensional facets of Simone’s life and music.

The CD edition of ‘Nina Simone: The Montreux Years’ will also include Simone’s 1968 landmark concert in full, the first time the full concert will be available on CD.

The post Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG Set to Release Brand-New Live Albums As Part Of “The Montreux Years” Series appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

World News

Nina Simone’s The Montreux Years On MQA-Mastered Vinyl and Expanded CD Sets

Posted on by Mark Smotroff

A fantastic musical event seems to be happening: The Montreux Jazz Festival is beginning to open its archives again, this time on vinyl, compact disc and probably streaming.

And before I get to talking about the fabulous new Nina Simone releases from BMG called The Montreux Years, I think it is important provide a bit of perspective on the how and why these recordings have come about. 

I found a useful paragraph on the website for The Claude Nobs Foundation website — the organization carrying on the legacy of the festival founder — which offers some good insight into this incredible team of a passionate music lover and tremendously talented technologist:

“A lover of music and cultural diversity, tireless talent spotter and staunch defender of freedom of expression and improvisation, which are in integral part of jazz. Avant-gardist and collector at heart, he is committed in the early years, then in 1987 with his life partner and associate, Thierry Amsallem, to recording and preserving all performances with state-of-the-art audio-visual technologies and thus began experimenting also high definition as early as 1991. More than 5,000 concerts have been recorded both in audio and video, since the creation of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1967 until 2012.”

Mr. Amsallem’s contributions are massive and I encourage you to click here to jump to his amazing bio on the foundation website. 

So here on Nina Simone’s The Montreux Years we actually have two releases to consider. The vinyl version is a wonderful two-lp retrospective of Nina’s numerous appearances at the festival dating back to its earliest days.  

From her classic 1968 debut there to returns into the 1990s, Simone is engaging, compelling and even a bit edgy at times, keeping the audience entertained but also challenged. Some of my favorites on this include a wonderful take of “Someone To Watch Over Me” and a lovely version of “Just In Time.”  

Her take on Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” is uplifting and “Little Girl Blue” from her first album remains a haunting masterpiece. 

The vinyl pressing is excellent here on both LPs in the two-disc set, each well centered on dark quiet (probably) 180-gram vinyl.

As good as this is you’ll want to get the CD set as well because it includes a bonus disc of the entire landmark 1968 performance.

Overall the sound quality is excellent throughout these recordings, which according to engineer Tony Cousins brought with them numerous challenges:

“The audio quality of some of these recordings was extremely variable. Added to that, the different formats of the original recordings included: 1/4″, 1/2″, DAT, U-matic, 1” Betacam, and sometimes to multi-track for mixing later, some from a feed to the mixing desk, others were taken from Swiss radio broadcasts. The analogue audio was mostly transferred to the archive at 96k, but sometimes there were completely different artists to what was labelled on the boxes – the archive is so massive, there are obviously going to be mistakes.” 

So they have a lot of different tape formats to consider each delivering audio with distinctive characteristics. Curiously, the vinyl master lacquers were cut using MQA’s technology. 

Not quite clear on how that would be used, I reached out to the company and learned that all mastering for this project has been done digitally. And, according to them, the process of digitization (whether historic or recent) introduces artifacts such as time smear, or “blur.”  Apparently, the MQA encoder ‘cleans’ or ‘de-blurs’ the recording and then the MQA decoding and rendering in the DAC provides a clean path to analogue, preventing any artifacts being reintroduced during conversion.

Clearly there is something to this. Bruce Botnick, legendary engineer for The Doors, remastered the vinyl for the current run of 50th anniversary deluxe editions using MQA (I hope to write about my experiences listening to The Soft Parade set at some point, in fact, and will no doubt explore this further).

Whatever the case, the end result is solid and indeed the end-to-end listening experience when playing this album on vinyl is very positive.  Nina Simone’s The Montreux Years is one of those albums you’ll keep flipping over to play again or hit the repeat button on your CD player or streamer.  Classic and even essential listening.