OJC LP Reissues???

Viridian-How do know that the current OJCs aren't pressed by Scorpio? If not Scorpio, who? Evidence?

And do you mean that 'the older OJCs sound better than the current pressings of the same titles'? i.e, they've always been 'OJCs'-reissues of jazz titles that Fantasy owned the rights to-but Fantasy originally did the pressing.

I recently bought an OJC on the Riverside label, Bill Evans Waltz for Debby that sounds fantastic. I bought one just the other day from the Prestige label, Miles Davis Walkin', haven't had a chance to hear it yet.

The OJC's are generally very good value keeping in mind that they are available at reasonable prices. Many, if not all of the post '86 OJC's are from digital masters though and, while they are still pretty good, they are not the equal of the all analog earlier OJC's which, IMO can be really, really good.

If you want to avoid the digital masters, avoid OJC's with a barcode and/or info relating to being re-mastered by Phil De Lancie from about 1986 onward.

In a pinch the post 86's will do; I have Gene Ammons' Boss Tenor and Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus, but they are a bit thin/etched and present a much less lifelike soundstage than the earlier all analog OJC's.

Nothing wrong with OJCs. But the should cost no more than $10 or $12. There's some jerk on e-bay who's trying to charge $50, $60 and even $70 for them. I can't remember is name but every one of his ads says "the nicest thing you can do for your ears" or something like that. All of his pictures are taken so you can't see the whole cover and can barely see the OJC obi.

Personally I like them. They sound very good. Not as good as say, the 45rmp reissues, but very good. The pressings probably have better QC than some of the originals. If you're interested in listening, as opposed to testing the outer limits of hi-fi you can't go wrong.

I have over a dozen of them and like them a lot. At $10 you get more than you pay for. Not as good as the best Speakers Corner and Analogue Productions reissues, but not $35-50 either.

I got my first taste when I ordered 5 or so LPs from Acoustic Sounds including Speakers Corner reissue of Kind of Blue and a nice reissue of the Impulse Count Basie and the Kansas City 7. Since I saw a "Count Basie and the Kansas City 3" for $10 I threw that in. I was blown away at how good it sounded relative to the cost, so soon after I ordered 11 more OJC LPs for $110 and none has disappointed me and I am very fond of some of them, particularly the Miles Davis ones and that Count Basie.

I second Rushton's post.

I am listening now the OJC Gene Ammons Bossa Nova / Bad ! and it is very good, recorded by Rudy Van Gelder in 1962. I am usualy very pleased with all the OJC records in my collection. I would be interested to know who did the pressings, anyway very good reissues.

The OJC issues are mostly "flat transfers" from second generation tapes. As a result, the sound has not been mucked around with very much and they typically they sound pretty good. Until recently they've also been pretty inexpensive. In my experience, OJCs have been a reasonable cost way to get a lot of great music on vinyl in pretty decent sound.

You'll largely be fine with any of them as long as you don't expect them to begin to sound anywhere close the sonics being delivered on the various 45rpm reissue series mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray for Music Matters and Analogue Productions. :-)
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