Domnérus, Arne (alto saxophone) - Jazz at the Pawnshop (2LP)

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The recording features a quintet headed by Arne Domnerus on alto sax and clarinet, backed up by Bengt Hallberg on piano, Lars Erstrand on vibes, Georg Riedel on bass (acoustic), and Egil Johansen on drums. It features mainstream, "cocktail lounge" jazz. Not household names among jazz fans on this side of the Atlantic, these, but competent practitioners of their craft, one quickly learns. I can't tell you how many dozens of times I have listened to that record from start to finish over the past 23 years, but I quickly developed the deepest of affairs with this group's excellent rendition of Gershwin's "Lady Be Good" since I have always regarded it as one of several songs on the album that contains every sonic attribute audiophiles listen for most often. The tune happens to be one fine toe-tapper too. Since Proprius presents us with a live performance here, I assume that Mr. Palmcrantz spent a only little time adjusting his microphones (a few Neuman U47s, and one each KM 56.s and M49), twiddled with the gain and balance on his Nagra IV recorder (a 2-track quarter-inch machine running at 15 IPS) before the band started playing, and then just let the tape run. Winston Ma of First Impression Music was good enough to recount the story to me of these recording sessions in a recent e-mail, noting there that the club was so cramped for space, Palmcrantz had to rest the recorder in his lap during the sessions. He had no alternative. These session tapes were then used to make a recording master tape, employing Dolby A 361 x 2 NR through a Studer mixer.