[78-L] Miles Davis etc [was Thelonious Monk [was Leonard

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

Since you have raised the issue of Van Gelder’s engineering style, I 
will say I am not a fan of his. I can’t stand reverb and he adds when 
it is not needed and it distorts the  sound.  Collectors and listeners 
who start with his digital reissues on Blue Note and other labels, will 
never know what the instruments really sounded like. After I bought the 
first three Parker 12-inch “Memorial” Savoys, I was disappointed with 
all the reverb. I then went back to collecting the original, 
reverb-free 78s. Something critics generally avoid when discussing 
Miles is all the fluffs he made in recorded performance. In his Capitol 
recording of “Move,” I counted at least six obvious ones, and much of 
his early recorded work is seldom fluff-free. Quite frankly, if he had 
to audition to get his union card, I wonder how he passed. Even 
trumpeters in territorial bands had better execution!

Regarding the recorded interview with Van Gelder: It is available at 
the Institute but I don’t know what their dubbing policy is.