Questhate

Glad to see this thread on here. The first jazz album I bought in high school was Coltrane's Giant Steps. I HATED it -- especially the title track and Countdown. It sounded like random noise with no melody to latch on to. The only track I liked was Naima, but I rarely put the CD on just to listen to that track. Needless to say, I didn't understand it at the time. I was heavily into a Hendrix phase at the time, and loved blues guitar. A friend recommended that I give Grant Green's Idle Moments a shot. I was hooked after that. The title track is one of the greatest songs ever recorded, IMO. The hazy, contemplative, laid-back soulful playing was a perfect mood-setter for me. Any time I was feeling introspective, I'd throw that song on. Hell, I still listen to it to this day, over after hearing it for the first time, after a long day at work paired with a glass of Highland Park. Next up for me was Miles's Kind of Blue. An album that deserves all of the praise it gets, as it is essential listening. Such an amazing lineup, all contributing such inventive solos. Supposedly Mobile Fidelity is working on a re-issue of this album, which I'm impatiently awaiting. This is my go-to recommendation for anyone wanting a taste of good jazz, except for folks who I know like more uptempo music (as the lack of momentum in the modal arrangements makes this a "sleepy" album). To me, the pinnacle of jazz music is contained in the Village Vanguard recordings of the Bill Evans Trio (Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard). This session is one of the best instances of telepathy between musicians and the interplay between Motian, La Faro and Evans is ridiculous. I agree with others here that the Blue Note recordings from the 50's and 60's represent some of the golden era in jazz. They had such a talented stable of artists, and a strong brand and house sound that it's an easier jump to other artists on the same label (as opposed to say, jumping from Coltrane's to Mingus's Impulse recordings). It's sort of a golden age in jazz vinyl, as the likes of Analogue Productions, Music Matters, Classic Records, and ORG are doing very high quality (from a fidelity standpoint) reissues of tons of jazz classics. They are pricey, but do represent the definitive versions of the greatest jazz recordings (and are cheaper than finding mint first pressings on the gray market). But getting into jazz does NOT have to be costly. For some inexpensive stuff, look no further than the OJC reissues which are priced anywhere between $10-$15 (most are $12 at my local store). A great majority of them are mastered from the original analog tapes and sound damn good. Here are some cheap OJC recommendations for anyone wanting to get into jazz: Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus (Rollins's clinic on jazz improvisation. This uses the same stampers as the DCC reissue mastered by Hoffman/Gray) Sonny Rollins - Tenor Madness (uses DCC stampers as well -- contains the great Sonny Rollins / John Coltrane battle of the title track) Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard (essential jazz trio that manyjazz pianists afterward aspired to) Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby (same live sessions as the Sunday at the Village Vanguard recordings) Bill Evans - Portrait in Jazz (same trio as the Village Vanguard in a studio setting) Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar (possibly the greatest jazz guitarist ever in regards to technique) Miles Davis - Steamin'/Cookin'/Relaxin'.Workin' (from the famous Prestige sessions that Davis cut to get out of his Prestige contract. Excellent bop recordings with his first great quintet) Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (great recording from Coltrane's short stint with Monk's band. You can hear Coltrane developing some ideas that would be fleshed out later in his career) Art Pepper - Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (Art Pepper's smooth, cool jazz sax with the Miles Davis rhythm section backing him. Great stuff) All of those OJC's are less than $15, so it's easy to jump in and explore. As far as Blue Note recordings, there's way too many to name. Here are some of my favorites: Andrew Hill - Point of Departure / Judgment Art Blakey - Moanin' / Indestructible / Free for All (i love the lineups with Lee Morgan / Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter) Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else Dexter Gordon - Go! / A Swingin' Affair / Our Man in Paris Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch Freddie Hubbard - Open Sesame / Ready for Freddie Grant Green - Idle Moments / Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark / Matador Hank Mobley - Soul Station Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage / Empyrean Isles / Takin' Off Horace Silver - Song for my Father Jackie McLean - Jackie's Bag / Let Freedom Ring Joe Henderson - Page One Larry Young - Unity Lee Morgan - Search for a New Land / The Sidewinder McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib / Cool Struttin' Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil / Night Dreamer Alright, I'll shut up now.

Thanks for the responses, guys. I had a buddy come over to take a look over the weekend. The issue ended up being with the power amp afterall. Apparently, the switch to put the amp into "bridge" mode got faulty somehow so the amp was running in "bridge mode" no matter what setting the switch was on. That explains why it sounded okay in mono mode, or with mono recordings, but any sort of stereo image was throwing things out of whack. Anyway, glad to have sorted that out. I was having a conniption for a minute there.

That's very weird, as I have a very similar problem. When playing mono LP's, my system sounds just fine. Things get wonky when I play stereo LP's. Any musician mic'd in the right channel will have very low volume and sound like he's playing from way back in the room. When I hit the "mono" button on my pre-amp, it sounds just fine and everything plays balanced. I thought it may be a mis-tracking issue with my turntable, but when I plug headphones into my preamp, everything sounds just fine and balanced. It's only when playing through speakers that the volume is low on one channel. I swapped channels from my preamp to power amp, and the right channel information (now playing in left channel) sounds just fine, but left channel information (playing in right channel) sounds low in the mix. Somehow, my preamp is having an issue with a stereo image on the right channel when played through my speakers. Input seems fine, since it sounds great out of my headphones. The power amp and speakers are fine, since it sounds just fine when I swap the channels, or play in mono. The issue is specifically with the preamp transmitting stereo information out of the speaker output it seems (that is somehow bypassed when switched to mono mode, or playing mono recordings). Anyone ever run into a similar problem?