Paul Chambers Quartet – Bass On Top

Flat record. Reasonably quiet vinyl, but I hear little ticks and clicks throughout; an essentially quiet record like this will brutally spotlight any surface noise on a record. I guess there is controversy about how this sounds. It is not a great-sounding record; I think anyone would acknowledge that. One cannot really speak of soundstage because you hear some instruments coming out of the left speaker and others out of the right speaker without a realistic sense of space. On the back cover there is a warning that there is distortion on the cymbals and you will definitely hear that as a sibilant noise. For me, it is not particularly disturbing, but it's there. I do not hear distortion on Chamber's bass; the bass is clear and distinct and musical. Burrell's guitar sounds occasionally glassy but mostly good. I am unusual in that I am not a fan of Burrell's playing, so I am probably not a reliable source for critiques of his records. The piano sound is the type of old-sounding plinking you get on many Blue Notes, poor piano sound.

It's a good record, not great. Bass and guitar is an unusual combo and I guess that's my favorite aspect of this album. If you want to hear a really amazing bass record, try "This One's for Blanton", the reissue from Analogue Productions.

Unfortunately it looks like I got a bad pressing. A lot of weird hissing artifacts, particularly with the crash (and not the overload mentioned in the notes). The start of Dear Old Stockholm has a crazy amount of hissing for the first 15 seconds or so. Distortion even on the bass at times too throughout. Very odd clicking right in the center in a lot of tracks too. Very frustrating!

Musically it’s just amazing! Sonically, it’s good but not the best sounding tone poet. I was comparing this to another cello based jazz album, blow up pressed by Impex and that is god tier. This is allright

FINALLY!!!!!!! after a wait and a long journey from Ohio, US, its areived and now I have a copy! Its sounds fabulous, deep, rich and soooo engaging! Very happy boy now going into the weekend!

Fantastic. Out of the 20 or so Tone Poets I own this one gets the most play. Great sound all around. A beautiful release I’m grateful for.

I love this album, a total shift in style from so many of the other Tone Poet releases. This album is cerebral, the sort of music you should listen to while sitting in a window box at a coffee shop on a rainy afternoon. Outstanding chemistry among these four musicians. Lovely pressing and gatefold album cover too. Well worth it.

Shouldn't there be a separate listing for the recent reissue of this Tone Poet?

Picked up today at my local record store!!!! As perfect as I had imagined. Yes and high five!!!!

Picked up the repress. Excellent! Some of the first recordings in stereo at Hackensack. Awesome reissue. Thanks BN

for me the record is worth the money just for the first song - Yesterdays. Paul Chambers' bass solo is hauntingly beautiful.