THE SENTIMENTAL 1970s...DONE EASY LISTENING STYLE

 

Sentimental 1970s Done Instrumentally…

The Popular Music of the 1970s produced exceptionally sentimental tunes – including some outstanding heartbreak songs – by many composers who claimed their best work in that decade. Of course, there are some who might disagree and insist instead that the best output of that era came in the areas of Funk, Soul, Disco and Rock. It is all a matter of opinion. But in Easy Listening world, no less brilliant were the instrumentalists who interpreted the compositions of many songwriters, and made signature versions out of the sung versions. So, this entry inaugurates another series of reviews that celebrate the achievements of the great instrumental albums of that decade.

The opening picture above makes a suitable statement. Ronnie Aldrich and his Two Pianos, backed for the most part by the London Festival Orchestra, were already tremendously popular before 1970. In 1976, he released an album titled REFLECTIONS, showcasing in sepia tones a lady sitting languidly in a long dress surrounded by cushions sporting brown and white floral motifs set against a country manor background. This album cover evoked timelessness as one might expect of a slightly faded photograph. It still does, looking at it again in 2020. Aldrich covered 11 numbers in a mix of hit parade ballads and evergreens from the 1960s and even one – Tomaso Albinoni’s ‘Adagio’ – from the Baroque era several centuries before. Why? Aldrich cleverly keeps his listeners guessing at the start, but not for long! Reflections begin with the almost mournful flute and harp solos at the start of ‘Summer’s End’, continuing with this introspection into a mixture of regret and yearning with Eric Carmen’s ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again’ and Paul Anka’s ‘Times of Your Life’. The latter two tracks alone captured the contrasting shades of romantic disappointment and warm nostalgia so widely threaded in the 1970s pop charts. ‘Times of Your Life’ is interpreted with Aldrich’s devastating legatos hanging in the air accompanied by the choral group, The Ladybirds, providing a wordless operatic touch to lift the tune into a different universe altogether. ‘Spanish Eyes’ is an uptempo number that takes wistfulness into a mid-tempo waltz, while on ‘On Days Like These’ (a Manuel and the Music of the Mountains signature too) and ‘All by Myself’, the raw emotion of the end of summer returns through superb musicianship wielded by Aldrich’s piano playing and masterly slow arrangements. Literally, the majority of these tunes adhere to the spirit of the classical music world’s ‘Adagio’, meaning play slowly. The only discordant arrangement is ‘Love is a Many Splendoured Thing’ from a decade earlier that Aldrich adapted into a disco tune – why? One might never know. Was ‘amour’ found also on a head throbbing disco floor, under the ever-spinning crystal ball? I’ll leave this subject for the next blog on 70s music! And then I’ll provide my review of Aldrich’s WITH LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING LP from a year later.

Another tremendously gifted pianist and arranger who captures the sentimentality of the 1970s is none other than Peter Nero, a legend still based in Philadelphia USA. Sadly, many of his albums were not widely promoted in Asia during the decade under review. It was only earlier this year that I got my hands on the million selling 1971 LP SUMMER OF 42 remastered on CD by Oldies.com, along with the 1969 LP, I’VE GOTTA BE ME. Much like Aldrich in REFLECTIONS, Nero is a master of the adagio style with his finely honed, restrained piano stylings. Listening to Nero on these two albums, one is reminded of epic love stories instead of a collection of assorted love songs pulled conveniently from the charts at the time. My focus is on SUMMER OF 42 since it was released squarely in the 1970s.

 

The ‘Summer of 42’ is a scorching and poetic opener to an LP conceived with tunes that tell something of the screenplay emotions of the Francis Lai scored film of 1970, simply titled LOVE STORY. Nero’s piano takes on a mystical tone with its carefully conveyed touches on the ivories. One hears the deliberateness in every pressed key on the piano, much in the way some emotions spill forth spontaneously while others – regret, conflict, relived pain and the yearning of an ideal that can never be – cannot be conveyed with maximum pressure on the ivories. ‘Love’ by John Lennon is one such sensitive rendition, with the Carpenters classic ‘Close to You’ following in the same mode and ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?’. If someone produced another biopic of Karen Carpenter, Nero’s rendition ought to feature for sheer prescience! The happiness and sorrow were intuitively rolled into ‘Close to You’. The more hopeful ‘You’ve Got a Friend’, ‘Make it with You’ and ‘For All We Know’ are surprisingly not arranged in an uptempo manner – the use of strings to gently weave a steadily rising melody in many lush passages sets Nero’s piano up for a spectacular, heart-warming story telling role. Not for a moment will the listener think these were just pop songs that put up the reputations of Carole King, James Taylor, Bread or the Carpenters. Nero wrote almost all the arrangements on this album and the LP’s carefully designed collage of impromptu sketches in light pastel hints at the inspiration of something on the order of the soundtrack of SOMEWHERE IN TIME which was incidentally produced much later by movie maestro John Barry. 

Finally, I need to dwell on Nero’s treatment of one of the truly greatest love songs of the decade: ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’. A solo flute opens the song gently and alluringly up to a symphonic spectacular in an all embracing even tempo rendition. Nero’s piano scores the suppressed happiness of starting a romance (or a marriage) with unimaginable subtle tones. Where the piano needs to take on the bridging parts in the melody [‘sharing horizons that are new to us…’], it soars but never grates in trying to imitate the Carpenters’ famous ‘soft rock’ arrangements for that bridging segment. Unsurprisingly, Francis Lai’s ‘Theme from Love Story’ gets a slight Baroque treatment with harpsichord and violin quartet in the background as Nero’s piano rides the wave of stringed feelings. A love story told the Nero way.

While I am on the subject of ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’, another truly unforgettable rendition produced around the same time is one provided by Art Farmer, a trumpeter better associated with jazz. But in that decade, there was great music – period. No one cared if instrumental music were categorically jazz or easy listening. Farmer’s 1972 LP, aptly titled GENTLE EYES, provided an equally lush and breath-taking reading of the Carpenters’ hit. Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu_Uw6xYdLo. If this link does not work search ‘Art Farmer We’ve Only Just Begun’ on YouTube. There are multiple uploads in there. Close your eyes, and just hear the beauty of the melody led along a magical forest path by a muted yet airy trumpet carried on a wall-to-wall string arrangement…

Slipping into a velvety string-tinged mood is Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra whose 1970s releases deserve a more glowing appraisal in the light of the wonders of digital remastering. Digital remastering has not artificially altered Chacksfield’s brilliance in arranging for a large, almost symphonic orchestra. In fact, it has revealed textures to his 1970s output that are exceptional in their own right. He scores primarily for a film like, melodic, soft hued sound, as opposed to perhaps a Paul Mauriat or a Caravelli who will add dynamic bridges and riffs to well-known pop hits of the decade.

Chacksfield in the 1970s embodies a different sound characterized by plentiful use of brass, especially trumpet, clarinet, bassoon, and light touches of Fender Rhodes keyboard sounds. The result is actually quite sublime and brings out the deeply romantic side of 70s sentimental pop. Think of a trumpet solo, set against empathetic string arrangements that evoke spaciousness of sound – a wide lounge area perhaps – and the broad extensity of emotion. This is how the 1970s Chacksfield sound appeals. This is evident on ‘Bluer than Blue’, ‘Sometimes When We Touch’, ‘After the Lovin’, ‘Almost Like a Song’, ‘How Deep is Your Love’, ‘Looks Like We Made It’, ‘Just the Way You Are’, and ‘Torn Between Two Lovers’.

In closing my first review of the instrumental 70s, allow me to draw your attention to another under-appreciated artiste – Ray Conniff, his orchestra and singers. Conniff is perhaps the ultimate genre-bender! The idea of organizing a chorus to sing 1970s hits, or swing them in the fashion popular two decades earlier, might not instantly appeal to many fans of Beautiful Music universally. But Knight Records UK have put together an intriguing collection of Conniff’s 70s output saluting everyone on the hit parade from Perry Como, Roberta Flack, Harold Melvin, Bread, Carole King, Isaac Hayes, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees, and the Carpenters.

Give it a listen, you will be surprised how Conniff’s arrangements and choruses accentuate the harmony in the prolific songwriting in the sentimental 70s. Listen to ‘It’s Too Late’ and ‘Where is the Love’ and you’ll want to listen to the rest…but I was somewhat disappointed with the excessively swinging version of ‘Close to You’ which worked well enough for ‘Clair’. But who knows, with a little ageing, Conniff’s swinging sound might be back in vogue in the next appraisal of the transition from the 1960s into the 1970s in the world of easy listening!

ALAN

November 2020  

BOUTIQUE EASY LISTENING INSTRUMENTALS BY GREENHILL MUSIC (USA) - BOSSA NOVA & SENTIMENTAL

BOUTIQUE EASY LISTENING INSTRUMENTALS BY GREENHILL MUSIC (USA)

When was the last time you paid close attention to a solo violin, or a piano in concert with a violin? Greenhill music draws your attention to the simplicity of each instrument easy listening style. This label does not feature ‘grand orchestras’ or large symphonic set ups. There are instead Duos, Trios, Quartets, Sextets, Septets and Octets. But these are arranged so magically that they have the desired effect of taking you from your sofa or plush chair to a truly beautiful place even though you may be physically at home, or in an office. One of their most prominent artists outside the USA is pianist Beegie Adair who deserves a review in her own right. But in this musical entrée of a review, I’d like to focus on a few unexpected and very pleasant discoveries. [As this is being written amidst the global coronavirus pandemic of 2020, I hope this modest review can trigger positive memories of travelling through music]

BEAUTIFUL STRINGS is a 24 tune compilation of two or more of violinist David Davidson’s work with the label. For fans of Helmut Zacharias and the early Franck Pourcel, this is a treat with a twist. Davidson takes what he calls ‘timeless melodies’ from film and standard popular song books and gives them his own heartfelt interpretations. The pace is never very fast even where he takes liberties with the arrangements such as the featuring of partial bossa nova rhythms on ‘Shadow of Your Smile’ and ‘The Sound of Music’. Instead, he goes for the big revelation of the romance of long passages played ‘adagio-style’, like in ‘Evergreen’, ‘Lady’, ‘Chances Are’, ‘Summer Me Winter Me’ and the truly unforgettable ‘The Way We Were’. Disc Two is poignantly patterned after the candlelight moment, showcasing just piano and violin. To me, this is a formula that works very enchantingly even though I am not a complete devotee of pure classical music. This is simply beautiful music!

ITALIAN NIGHTS works its charm by blending musical instruments like guitar, flute, mandolin, piano and violin to deliver an evocative mental picture of all things Italian. The delicacy of the cuisine, the celebration of family, friends and life, and the humanity in the simplest acts of kindness, and definitely of love, are finely conveyed in Grammy-nominated David Arkenstone’s arrangements. If you can picture yourself within the sensational movies CINEMA PARADISO, IL POSTINO, or even the whimsical THE TOURIST, this album puts you right there. Savour a cup of freshly brewed coffee in the late afternoon, a slice of pizza straight from a village oven, and some chianti from the local wineries, and this is the only soundtrack you’ll need at sundown on a beautiful country plain or by the Amalfi, Ligurian coasts…now let’s clink to that!

PARISIAN CAFÉ was the album that started it all for my attraction to Greenhill Music! I heard the track ‘C’est Magnifique’ on an online jazz channel simply titled ‘French café’ and decided this was the sort of music that has to accompany a good book or a beautiful sunrise, coffee/tea moment. And if you’ve visited Paris before and stayed in any one of the many quaint little hotels tucked in any number of narrow streets leading from L’Tour Eiffel, you will get that feeling back. The lyricism of Beegie Adair’s piano and David Davidson’s empathetic fiddle works magic without words. One recalls through the voicing of the arrangements the glories of Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Aznavour and Yves Montand. At the same time, you are spontaneously memorializing your imagined Paris through the piano-violin duet. In just under an hour, this incredibly talented duo takes you to the City of Light and back with enough of a sweet tangy aftertaste to get you through your day – guaranteed.

In my fourth feature, I’d like to highlight what is probably a deleted part of the Greenhill catalogue. But if you search eBay, you can still find it! VINTAGE ROMANCE played by versatile guitarist Jack Jezzro and the Mason Embry Trio. Never mind if you have never heard them before. Put this disc on, and you’ll be transported to somewhere balmy, semi-tropical perhaps, an era where evening dances took place in homes with large patios and ballrooms featuring trios, quartets, or mini-orchestras performing only for the assembled guests. A few big names from the 1930s-60s jazz scene come to mind: Django Reinhardt, Tal Farlow, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and those from the same vintage are given a lavish tribute by Jack and Mason. This is an album arranged for the moments when the bubbly is poured and the lights are dimmed. But of course, in today’s stressful office moments, you can put on this disc anytime for an instant trip to moonlight dancing land. Every track is a winner but my favourites are their refreshing interpretations of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed’, the Carpenters hit ‘I Won’t Last a Day without You’ and the more mainstream ‘It Could Happen to You’, ‘The Very Thought of You’, ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’. This collection truly oozes old world charm in first class stereo sound!

Till the next review, do check out www.greenhillmusic.com for listening samples, and more! You might even find their prices cheaper than elsewhere J To leave you in the happy clouds of musical pleasure here’s another album I am currently sinking into: Bossa Nova Romance – and listen out for the outstanding arrangement of that popular Italian melody ‘Senza Fine’ (YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooGE3xemTNo) – which sums it all up for me…

ALAN

May 2020

Latin Continental Sound of the Sixties – Part Three: Three Soloists – Chet Baker, Kai Winding and Pepe Jaramillo

Our tour of great Latin instrumental productions continues with a focus on three very different artistes in the same genre. Soloists can just as crucially predetermine a style as much as the maestro or an arranger. Soloists usually develop a penchant for playing notes with particular accents, or they may creatively reimagine their instrument breaking out of their conventional moulds. To set the mood, let’s imagine a picturesque piazza/plaza somewhere in 1960s Italy, Spain, Corsica, Mexico, Peru, Argentina or Brazil…

Chet Baker’s two LPs – A TASTE OF TEQUILA and HATS OFF – performed with a specially assembled Mariachi Brass was a chance discovery on eBay.com following a random search using the term ‘Latin instrumentals’. In fact, after getting hold of the disc, I realize that I could have gone straight to their online label, ACE RECORDS (www.acerecords.co.uk), and its online retail site specializing in music of many genres from the 1960s. As most music fans would know, Chet is better known as a ‘jazz artiste’ specializing in a ‘West Coast kind of sound’ that is lush, full of long passages, and mostly laid back and evocative of an extended daydream. Improvisations can take on very long notes just as often, with bridges built into familiar verses and chords of an original song written by someone else. The Chet Baker sound epitomizes West Coast jazz as most fans of his would swear by. Yet in the 1960s, Chet was equally caught up like his trumpeter contemporaries Herb Alpert, Horst Fischer, Kenny Baker and Doc Severinsen in partaking of the fusion of Latin rhythms with the danceable pop music rhythms (rock and roll, a-go-go and others) of the decade. This is musical territory shared with easy listening for sure! Just look at these ‘exotic’, and mildly titillating covers of the original LPs:

TRACK LISTING (tracks 1-10 belong to ‘A Taste of Tequila’; 11-22 from ‘Hats Off’ with the last track a bonus remaster):

01 Flowers On The Wall

02 Tequila

03 Mexico

04 Love Me With All Your Heart (Cuando Calienta El Sol)

05 Hot Toddy

06 Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

07 Speedy Gonzales

08 Come A Little Bit Closer

09 El Paso

10 La Bamba

11 Happiness Is

12 Sure Gonna Miss Her

13 Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

14 The Phoenix Love Theme (Senza Fine)

15 These Boots Are Made For Walking

16 On The Street Where You Live

17 Armen's Theme

18 Spanish Harlem

19 Chiquita Banana

20 When The Day Is All Done

21 You Baby

22 It's Too Late

23  Colonel Bogey March

Arranged By, Conductor – Jack Nitzsche

Art Direction – Woody Woodward

Engineer – Bruce Botnick

Featuring, Trumpet – Chet Baker

Liner Notes – John Tynan

Producer – Richard Bock

Chet Baker’s trumpet style relies heavily on drawing out the notes of each composition in a languid way even where he plays in tempo with his jazz ensemble on fast numbers like ‘La Bamba’, ‘Tequila’ and ‘Speedy Gonzales’. The latter track is as cheesy as one can get in the easy listening Latin songbook. I expected to cringe at the thought of a jazz genius trying to interpret what was already a tight, jaunty pop hit from that decade of mod beats and a-go-go sounds. Instead Chet springs a surprise by keeping to that laid back trumpet, imitating the carefree rhythms of a stereotyped Mexican small town neighbourhood where everything slows down in the mode of enjoying each of life’s many moments of love and passion in performing daily routines.  This is a tilt towards the Mariachi Band rather than Cuban and Brazilian salsas and sambas. The same alluring pattern threads itself through the Latinized pop standards ‘Love me with all your heart’, ‘El Paso’ and Bacharach’s [surprise] ’24 Hours from Tulsa’. ‘Hot Toddy’ is a less well known gem that will easily get you off your feet. There are no cultural shocks on these two albums even if you encounter the Mexican side of easy listening Latin for the first time. You’ll simply need to break into that 1960s mode of experimenting with ‘These Boots are Made for Walkin’, ‘On the Street Where you Live’ and that unforgettable Italian love theme ‘Senza Fine’ done the Latin way. In fact, if you enjoy this Chet Baker excursion into Latin, try doing some research into the ‘huapango’ dance and music rhythms - as I have while writing up this review – and you’ll appreciate why these Chet Baker albums deserve to be in every easy listener’s library.

Kai Winding is a Danish-born American trombone player. Like Chet, more music fans would identify him as a jazz artiste that anything else. But on the 1961-2 release titled KAI OLE, the trombone goes into Sixties glam mode. Oozing grooviness at every change of note, Winding adapts the Cuban cha-cha influences to suit a smoother but harder driving trombone sound. Consider Winding’s version of ‘Amor Amor’ (strangely spelt in French in the track list as ‘Amour’ although this is a thoroughly Latin-Spanish album!)  for example. Winding follows closely to the cha cha but ensures that the familiar repeating chorus of this classic number tempts you to get on your feet in no time. What is engrossing is that remarkable trombone sound in Latin – it is all soulful and never awkward, misplaced or too slow. How does the trombone compare to the trumpet? An apple versus orange contest – both are unique and cannot be decisively compared. If you ask me, the trombone lends emotion a bigger body of sound and brings more air to very recording. Wait for Kai Winding to lead you through ‘Them There Eyes’, ‘Autumn Leaves’, ‘Esto Es Felicidad’ and Besame Mucho’, you will never want to say ‘Adios’ to this album ever!

Collectors of Sixties’ instrumentals should also acquire this remaster simply because it is an integral part of the ‘Beat Generation’ sound. Kai Winding does it in style, it really does sound like he’s got a 20-30 strong studio orchestra to accompany his playing! According to the JAZZ MESSENGER (www.jazzmessengers.com) CD liner notes, these musicians played on the LP:

JOE NEWMAN, DOC SEVERINSEN, JIMMY MAXWELL, trumpet
CLARK TERRY, flugelhorn
BILLY BYERS, second trombone
PHIL WOODS, also sax
TONY STUDD, GEORGE WEST, bass trombone
EDDIE WASSERMAN, tenor sax & flute
DANNY BANK, baritone sax & clarinet
ROSS TOMPKINS, piano
HAL GAYLOR or MILT HINTON, bass
unknown, drums
WILLIE RODRÍGUEZ, bongo.
Arranged & conducted by BILLY BYERS and AL COHN.

TRACK LISTING:

From the LP ‘Solo’:

1. How Are Things In Glocca Morra?

2. Recado [Bossa Nova]

3. Playboy`s Theme

4. The Things We Did Last Summer

5. The Sweetest Sounds

6. Hey There

7. I`m Your Bunny Bossa Nova

8. Days Of Wine And Roses

9. You`ve Changed

10. I Believe In You

11. Capricious

From the LP ‘Kai Ole’:

12. Hacia El Fin De La Tierra (To The Ends Of The Earth)

13. Amour [Amor, Amor]

14. Them There Eyes

15. Caribe

16. Esto Es Felicidad

17. Manteca

18. Hojas De Otono (Autumn Leaves)

19. Dansero

20. Que Pasa?

21. Besame Mucho

22. Adios

23. Kai Winding - Surrey With The Fringe on Top

As we sit back and lounge into a South American sunset, our final artiste for review is easily one of a handful of pianists from the continent who achieved rare worldwide fame – including in Asia – for his trademark piano chops. According to his biography found on most EMI LP covers, music as a career was an accidental discovery and the realization of a childhood yearning. His parents wanted him to develop a stable career in the professions. He studied dentistry in Mexico but found it a painful process which held little interest for him. All this while he was inspired by his sister’s passion for playing the piano. He took music lessons as a hobby and played whenever time allowed. He tried his hand at a full career in mining in the Mexican state of Chihuahua but that too held short-lived fascination. One night out with friends in Mexico City, he was persuaded to celebrate one of their birthdays in a hotel restaurant where a piano was available in the corner. He gamely showed off what he had picked up since young and the rest became his life story – as an instrumentalist like no other. The Jaramillo sound was born: a memorable melody was made even more so when he speeded it up, wove the rhythms of some of the percussive instruments in an orchestra into his ivory leads, and unfolded the melody in pulse formation.

Many listeners would describe his style as honed in Cha-cha, Samba, or Bossa nova. But it was more than that. He found a way to evoke the ambience of a quiet evening (or afternoon) as a mood or an imagined, contented backdrop, and then mysteriously eased in a tantalizing fast rhythm. I would best describe this mood as quiet speed in relaxed tempo.

The 1979 LP ‘Just for You’ was sufficiently popular in Southeast Asia in its heyday for EMI (Singapore and Malaysia) to justify remastering it for release as a full CD in 1996 as part of the record label’s 100^th anniversary celebrations. Jaramillo’s signature style is still evident in his selection of pop favourites from the hit parade of the day. The title track, along with ‘Love is in the air’, Paul McCartney’s ‘My Love’, the Bee Gees’ ‘How Deep is Your Love’, Boney M’s ‘Rivers of Babylon’ and Manhattan Transfer’s ‘Walk in Love’ are all tastefully done to the extent that you might think they were composed specially for Jaramillo’s style. In the liner notes, it is stated that the famous British arranger and brass band leader Tony Osborne conducted the orchestra on this album. Alan Lockey is credited for producing the album for the Norman Newell Organisation.

JUST FOR YOU - TRACK LISTING:

A1Just for You

A2Love Is in the Air

A3My Love

A4The Touch of Your Lips

A5How Deep Is Your Love

A6Distant Horizon

B1That's When the Music Takes Me

B2Walk in Love

B3I Only Have Eyes for You

B4A-Ba-Ni-Bi

B5It Must be Him

B6Rivers of Babylon

The same production/arrangement team of Osborn and Lockey worked on Pepe’s 1977 LP ‘Down Mexico Way’. This was another EMI LP on the Studio 2 Stereo series remastered in 1996 for EMI’s 100th anniversary celebration. Made and released in limited quantities in Singapore by EMI under catalogue number 7243-8-54913-2-0. In contrast to ‘Just for You’ , this is an even more traditional Latin album in the sense that Tony Osborne arranged for whistles and flutes in the background arrangements. This is of course evocative of the 1960s arrangements by Edmundo Ros, Percy Faith and Herman Clebanoff. This nice touch of neo-tropical exotica was accompanied by the crystal clear notes of Pepe Jaramillo’s piano magic. Even the David Soul pop standard ‘Don’t Give Up on Us’ gets an Italian motif with the employment of a mandolin in the second half of the song. ‘South of the Border [Down Mexico Way’ goes without saying as the quintessential signature sound to the Jaramillo sound on this one.

DOWN MEXICO WAY – TRACK LISTING:

1.      South of the Border [Down Mexico Way]

2.      What I did for Love

3.      Save your Kisses for Me

4.      Send in the Clowns

5.      Caranta Noches

6.      Cordoba Sunset

7.      Fernando

8.      Don’t Cry for Me Argentina

9.      Feelings

10. Don’t Give Up on Us

11. Natalie

12. The Homecoming

And so, on the sweet note of ‘The Homecoming’, we end another installment of the LATIN-CONTINENTAL SOUND OF THE SIXTIES. At this time, the Spanish record company VINTAGE FM has started remastering many of Pepe’s LPs from the 1960s. I have yet to sample them and this can perhaps serve as next rich serving of Part IV of the LATIN-CONTINENTAL SOUND!

ALAN

September 2019

SOUNDBOXES XI: WANT TO KNOW WHAT TRUE AUDIO LOVE IS? THE SANSUI AU-111 – THE VALVE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER OF SUPERLATIVES

SOUNDBOXES XI: WANT TO KNOW WHAT TRUE AUDIO LOVE IS? THE SANSUI AU-111 – THE VALVE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER OF SUPERLATIVES

Where do I begin? To tell the story of how great a vintage tube amplifier can be in your listening life…Everyone who’s into vintage gear has heard some gossip and rumour about the AU-111. This amateurish review will confirm everything good about this amplifier. To me, there is an X-FACTOR in this configuration of matching valves and transformers that is as mysterious as Love itself. I ought to have posted this review a year ago when it first arrived in my home, with a US$4,650.00 hole in my budget for that year (!), but it took a while for me to find that ideal ‘heavenly combination’ of cables, power cords and matching speakers to bring out the absolute best in the AU-111.

Before I begin, this particular sample of a 1965 model of the AU-111 was fully restored, with speaker terminal modifications made to order, by the famous Mr Sam Kim of Sam’s Audio Labs of Canada. A quick introduction to Sam Kim’s highly acclaimed restoration work is available on this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbfRNl56kL8. His work has been favourably mentioned by Peter Breuninger of STEREOPHILE magazine and the accolades go on, as they are tracked on his website: http://www.samsaudiolabs.com. This is also his shopfront which is managed by his business partner Steve. A number of amplifiers can be seen to be on sale, restored and ready for shipping upon payment, and then there are others awaiting orders for restoration. Mine was one of the latter – a somewhat dilapidated looking piece of kit until Sam transformed it. The only things he couldn’t do were the reprinting of the completely faded function labels on the fascia of the amplifier. Hence if you look closely below, a number of labels had to be printed and pasted on using permanent office-quality laserjet sticker sheets. A few by him, and the rest by me. These are negligible imperfections considering the infinite emotional highs you derive from listening to music on this amplifier!

And here’s a picture of Sam in his home laboratory turned workspace proudly tuning my Sansui AU-111, and note the Reader’s Digest LP collection titled ‘STARDUST – 108 All-Time Favourites’ brandished in the lower left and a Barbra Streisand CD within close proximity:

Listen to the video clip mentioned earlier, and you will notice that he says that tuning his modifications and restoration work by ear is his most important principle, even if he has the assistance of a battery of measuring instruments!

And here are the Sansui’s specifications:

Power output: 40 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo)

Frequency response: 20Hz to 50kHz

Total harmonic distortion: 0.8%

Damping factor: 15

Input sensitivity: 220mV (line)

Signal to noise ratio: 70dB (MM), 80dB (line)

Channel separation: 45dB (MM), 50dB (line)

Output: 2.1V (Pre out)

Speaker load impedance: 8Ω to 16Ω

Dimensions: 460 x 170 x 345mm

Weight: 24.5kg

Year: 1965

Description of Features

This amplifier is extremely heavy! An inspection of the interior reveals three C-core type 1960s transformers of three different sizes, as far as I can discern. One of the three dwarfing the other two. This alone accounts for the fact that this is a monster of a sound machine, notwithstanding it’s bland exterior façade. I have seen such a big transformer – the size of a boxer’s ungloved fist – only in the highest end of the Sansui solid state models like the AU919, AU819 and the 881 tuner amplifier. Then the four majestic 12BH7 tubes which I guess are Toshiba originals, which I am told, should not be replaced (or rolled) since they are currently at 80% of their lifespan. Then as you can see, there are nine other smaller tubes arrayed all around the interstices between the transformers. Below, in the hidden lower deck would be the usual 1960s-era spaghetti bowl formation of wires connecting all the circuit boards. That layer is best left untouched unless one were a qualified electrical engineer, which I am not. Finally, I draw your attention to the controls for bass and treble. Not only can you adjust them for left and right channels, you can align the bass for 250 c/s, 500 c/s and ‘defeat’; for the treble, it can be arranged for 5,000 c/s, 10,000 c/s and ‘defeat’. These sound measures refer to the emphasis on various frequencies in the usual 20-20,000 Hz (Hertz) sound spectrum audible to the human ear. Going further into these explanations may require a whole field of expertise that I do not currently possess. But what matters is that the AU-111 allows you to fine tune the bass to a very sensitive degree. And the treble too. It matters in the era when only Vinyl and Tape ruled music reproduction but my listening experience below suggests that digital music sources also stand to be improved considerably when you tweak the sound by ear!

As with all Class A and Class B Tube amplifiers – this one is a Class AB according to what I have read – the AU-111 produces a lot of heat so it was recommended by Sam to take the lid off while listening. I did not want to mar the aesthetics of my listening area, hence I have compensated by turning on a powerful but quiet DYSON fan nearby, angled to blow the heat safely away during and immediately after operation of the amplifier. Moreover, I can always get the airconditioner running on an extremely hot day.

Cables and Speakers

My speakers are of course a matter of taste and legacy. I have invested in Emmespeakers for a reason: they are art objects that are also first class speakers. The Da Vinci Emmespeakers have proven after several tests with other amplifiers in my two listening rooms to be the ultimate Heaven-made match. Not only is the reproduction flawless in every twist of the bass and treble, it reveals that the AU-111 possesses an SACD quality way before the technology was invented. I did not bother trying to recreate a three channel set-up with woofer – even though the AU-111 provided for it – because the three dimensionality of the soundstage was immaculate. Plus the trademark warmth associated with vintage Sansui gear. Plus the engaging mid-range. One could listen for hours despite the heat generated by the 13 valves in the amplifier.

Better still, the Da Vincis ensured that the semblance of that three dimensional sound travelled all over the apartment as long as one’s room doors were not closed. In this way, one might say that the AU-111 is powerful beyond its stated 40 Watts per channel. In my particular listening space, I found myself needing to permanently turn the bass down to a few notches in the negative zone to avoid ‘rocking’ the neighbours.

Next, having invested in a handy set of Crystal Cable, SILTECH Classic Anniversary and assorted Straightwire and Totem interconnects and power cords, I tried them all out. At one stage, due to a speaker mismatch, I even had to resort to manufacturer supplied US$3.00 standard power cord to tone down the unbearable harsh upper frequencies. A few audio specialists advised me that perhaps ‘less is more’ for vintage gear. This was a hint I should have matched anything SANSUI to JBL and Tannoy speakers and stuck to plain-Jane copper wires. Well, no one was completely wrong. Now what I can say, is that the perfect combination for me lies in attaching the SILTECH Classic Anniversary 770i power cord between the wall mains and power block, then the Crystal Cable Micro (Diamond or non-Diamond) Power cord between the power socket of the AU-111 to the power block. I am using a ‘garden variety’ Chinese made HART power block. As for the speaker cables between the speakers and the amplifier, and cabling for the CD sources and others, one could use virtually anything according to one’s good sense and experience. In this review, I am using Crystal Cable Reference cables to link the Da Vincis to the AU-111, just like in my previous review for the Sansui AU-555A a few years earlier.

What you get after all these tweaks is a near perfect holographic vintage sound from the AU-111, almost magically like a warm analogue sound with a wide transparent soundstage, and very airy voices! If I can vouch for something like SACD quality sound from a vintage amplifier, it is the AU-111 – fully restored!

Wrapped Emotionally in a Wall of Strings

Play Percy Faith, Manuel and the Music of the Mountains, Ronnie Aldrich, Peter Nero, Henry Mancini, Mantovani and Frank Chacksfield, and you’ll realize that you are not simply listening to another reproduction in your living room. The AU-111 gets the speakers to mimic the actual recording venue and the positioning of each of the players.  In this regard, there is no loss of fidelity even though sources originally recorded in analogue stereo were remastered onto Compact Discs, and theoretically for MP3, WAV and MP4 files too. I seldom play my sources in the latter format but have streamed Internet radio from my mobile phone into a Bluetooth receiver hooked up to the AU-111. The results are equally amazing but my ears tell me that CD still has an edge in quality sound storage. One ‘fail proof’ test is to play Los Indios Tabajaras or Manuel through the AU-111 and you’ll hear why their guitars were deliberately tuned to produce that quintessential 1960s Latin-Continental lilt that makes the Latin instrumentals of that era so special. It goes without saying that strings, pianos and other keys sounded crisply natural, as the recording engineers intended.

Stirring the Soul and Classics in Meditation Mode

To put the AU-111 through the paces with the rest of my musical tastes, I played next the British radio station JAZZFM’s compilation titled ‘BREEZIN’. The first track ‘Daydream’ by Soul-jazz artiste Mark Johnson blew me away instantly. Every run around the vocal notes, ad-libbing, and hyped pronunciation was projected as if I was at Johnson’s concert (or studio recording for that matter). The music oozed realism in every decibel, every second, it was almost a sensation of having heard soul music for the very first time. I ran through the next 12 tracks as follows and I could not believe what the AU-111 was capable of:

1.1 Marc Johnson - Daydream4:49

1.2 Richard Elliot - Who?4:20

1.3 Tower of Power - Keep Comin' Back3:49

1.4 Wayman Tisdale - Brazilia4:00

1.5 Colour Club - Save a Little Love4:38

1.6 Chris Camozzi - Curves4:01

1.7 Luther Vandross - Goin' Out of My Head5:18

1.8 Kim Waters - A Love Like This4:38

1.9 Pauline Wilson - Deeper & Deeper4:03

1.10 Jaared - Love's Taken Over6:51

1.11 Steve Winwood feat. Des'ree - Plenty Lovin'5:59

1.12 The Roberts Bros - Sooner or Later4:43

1.13 Jimmy Sommers feat. Coolio – Lowdow

All instrumentals shimmered with a lively edge to them, the horns becoming particularly ‘alive’ in every note. If you wish to acquire this disc to test, listen out for the almost religious experience of hearing Luther Vandross’ vocals caressing the feeling of ‘Goin’ Out of My Head’. Truly, he was one of the greatest soul singers of the 80s and 90s! Finally, that Steve Winwood and Desiree smooth jazz duet smacks of fire and chemistry between the two of them. Not a note out of place, and never any hint of harshness. I kept the bass and treble positions at the middle, i.e. 250 c/s for bass, and 5000 c/s for treble, and decided no more adjustments were needed.

What about the classics? Classical music is almost always recorded in a concert hall, chamber venue, and occasionally in a studio. Almost every recording has a concert like vibe to it. The AU-111 performed every aria, concerto and minuet effortlessly. If you listen occasionally to sung opera of the likes of Renee Fleming, Katherine Jenkins, or Sumi-Jo, this is the only amplifier you’ll ever need. I was almost reaching for the handkerchief when listening to Katherine Jenkins rendering ‘I’ve Dream of You’ and ‘Pie Jesu’…if music was meant to move the soul first rather than just the ears, the Sansui engineers – and Mr Sam Kim – got it right with no degrees for error!

To end this review, I want to add that the day before posting this, I listened to another easy listening great Andy Williams, and his under-appreciated 1974 LP THE WAY WE WERE remastered for CD by BGO records in the UK in 2017. This was not an album to test for dynamics, speed and upper registers in the AU-111.

But it brought out the harmony and layering invested by Williams’ musical arrangers for every song on that album. Although it was a collection of mostly covers of songs popularized by Streisand, Ross, Carpenters, Roberta Flack, John Denver and Gladys Night, this was Andy Williams singing as if he were the original performer, soaking every note in sincerity and heartbreak where needed. The AU-111 lifted the rich orchestration off the background and placed it right there alongside Williams’ holographic presence. Truly, an unforgettable way to remember and cherish an exceptional artiste.  The Sansui AU-111 – made for musical preservation forever – and without peer for holographic realism!

ALAN

September 2019

[By the way, if anyone has experience listening to the limited run 1999 edition of the SANSUI AU-111G, please share your stories in a comment to my blog post.]