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NEW YORK CITY, August 2001 - Sean Smith's beautiful compositions
and well seasoned quartet are captured by Sony's new Direct
Stream Digital (DSD) recording technology on the composer, bassists
second solo CD "Poise".
"The quartet recorded this CD live all
in the same room which has a beautiful, warm, natural sound",
said Smith. "It's all captured by the recording. We didn't have
to wear headphones and had great sight lines to see one another.
These are luxuries in the studio. There is so much air and life
in the result for you to hear".
This recording is one of a few
direct to DSD recordings to date, and represents a continuing
commitment by Ambient Records of Stamford, Connecticut to make
fine recordings of important music available to music listeners.
"I can think of no better way to showcase Sean's composing and
bass playing skills than with this revolutionary new technology",
said Ambient Records President Mark Conese. "Sony's DSD draws
the listener into the music in the same way as a great LP played
back on a good turntable used to. The resolution is far beyond
that of conventional compact discs and even DVD audio discs".
Songful
and melodic compositions, reminiscent of the "Cool School" of
the 1950's.
The Sean Smith Quartet is Sean Smith on bass, Allen Mezquida
on alto saxophone, Russell Meissner on drums, with Bill Charlap
on piano or Keith Ganz on guitar. The members of the quartet
have played together for many years sharing a similar passion
and vision for music, helping define a very distinctive group
sound noted for a rare lyrical quality. With Sean's songful
and melodic compositions underscoring the quartet, their unique
acoustic sound, at times reminiscent of the "Cool School" of
the 1950's, has developed out of a mutual respect and love for
the jazz tradition and beyond.
"Poise" on the Ambient label
(CD-002) is the Sean Smith Quartet's second recording. This
CD documents some of the music of a very prolific composer played
by a band at ease with one another.
Direct Stream Digital, the technology behind Super Audio CD, represents a significant leap over PCM, the current CD standard. The DSD system uses a 1-bit delta-sigma modulated word, sampled at 2.8224 MHz ń thatís more than 2 million 800 thousand samples per second. It is a much simpler analog to digital and digital to analog conversion process than PCM and therefore is really more analog-like in sound.
These new Super Audio CDís are available in two versions according to Mark Conese. A ěhybridî version that contains two signal layers ń one for CD and one for Super Audio CD. They are playable on all CD players including the new Super Audio CD (SACD) playback equipment, and a single layer Super Audio CD playable only on SACD players. Both types of disc are capable of two-channel stereo and six-channel surround on the SACD layer.
At Ambient Records we have chosen to go exclusively with the hybrid version due to itís backward compatibility with existing CD players. Although we do recommend to anyone interested in the best sound quality to invest in a Super Audio CD player to hear the full potential of these recordings.
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