I’m aways on the look out for Contemporary Records releases. Some great musicians recorded for Contemporary and the sound engineering Roy DuNann did during his decades of work for the label is absolutely stupendous.

Fantasy Records bought the rights to Contemporary’s catalogue in the early 80’s and reissued quite a few of their titles, and it’s these “Original Jazz Classics” remastered versions that are most common in the marketplace. Original pressings of Contemporary titles are less common but still turn up with reasonable frequency.

My experience with “OJC” reissues and OG Contemporary releases has been that they tend to inhabit opposite ends of the sonic spectrum. The OJC pressings tend to sound thin and edgy with squaky horns and an emphasis on clear, sharp highs but often lacking a weighty bottom end to provide balance and warmth. Contemporary OG’s can sound wonderful, but when they don’t they have an opaque, flabbiness that I find hard to listen to.

Contemporary remastered and reissued a number of their titles in the late 70’s and it’s with these I’ve had the best luck. My 70’s pressing of Sonny Rollins’ classic Way Out West (one I’ve written about here if you care to read it) sounds as good as I can imagine this record sounding, pairing the weighty, full bodied sound found on the OG with the sharpness, clarity and bite found on the OJC version.

Another 70’s Contemporary reissue that’s recently blown me away is that of Benny Carter’s  Jazz Giant. It shares another appealing quality with my copy of Way Out West which is a big, open dynamic presentation that extends WAY beyond the confines of the speakers. This is a quality so important with jazz records in particular because it means the listener hears the musicians playing together in the same room, rather than playing out of different speakers.

This “live in the studio” sound is incredibly appealing, but also very natural. When you hear a record like this you initially appreciate it’s greatness, but then you quickly begin to expect every other jazz record to sound this way and soon realize most of them don’t.

Jazz Giant does! At leasts this 1979 reissue does, and this was made even more apparent to me when I played an OJC reissue of Jazz Giant I happened to pick up a few days before buying the earlier pressing. Usually I find that OJC reissues, even the not so great ones, do sound appealing at first before they reveal their shortcomings upon further listening. In this case, after playing the ’79 Contemporary just a few short minutes before playing the OJC the OJC was rendered unlistenable in seconds!

The band on this record, which includes Contemporary mainstays Shelly Manne, Leroy Vinegar, Barney Kessel and Andre’ Previn as well as Ben Webster, Frank Rosolino and Jimmie Rowles, are swinging heavy. It’s a pleasure to hear a group of jazz musicians so well tuned to each other, and a thrill to hear their performance reproduced so well.

The ’79 reissue of Benny Carter, Jazz Giant is not a rare and expensive record, but for some reason there aren’t a lot of them available in the US. I paid less than $15 for my copy and consider it a bargain at that. If you’re a fan of hearing tight, swinging be-bop jazz that’s extremely well recorded and just as well re-produced I’d strongly encourage you to pick up a copy.