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J*zz A* Th* P*wn Sh*p

Neil P

Neil P

pfm Member
Hi, I've edited the title as I know this album may trigger people as I have heard it is over used as a demo album at hi-fi shows etc!

So my question ... is it any good as an album? Is there a particular version I should get? I need CD, or ideally hybrid SACD. Thanks!
 
It’s a nice recording of a fairly decent jazz band playing in a Swedish bar back in the late ‘70s and has all the atmosphere that suggests. Arne Domnérus, the sax player and band leader, had a very long career dating back to 1949 (Discogs), so not just some random muso plucked off the street in the way of many audiophile recordings.

JATP gets a lot of hate for some reason, but not from me. I am certain it has acted as a gateway and helped thousands of folk who heard it in hi-fi shops, shows etc transition on to becoming serious jazz buyers. I can’t remember my exact timeline, but it is certainly one of the first jazz albums I heard/bought (the other key one being the anniversary ‘A Sample Of Blue Notes’ compilation which really was my spring-board off into jazz history).

Things have changed hugely over the past 40 years and music is more accessible right now than at any other point in history. Would I start with JATP now? No, I’d go hunting around YouTube for Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Monk and then dive headlong into what is happening right now in London and New York, but I’d never slag JATP. It’s a decent album that punched far above its weight in its day. I still dig it out for a spin now and again.
 
All you say is correct Tony, but once you get past the impressive 'in the room' sonics, the performances are quite average and uninspiring. I still have my copy too, but I don't think I've played the whole thing for 20+ years.
 
Tony L said:
It’s a nice recording of a fairly decent jazz band playing in a Swedish bar back in the late ‘70s and has all the atmosphere that suggests. Arne Domnérus, the sax player and band leader, had a very long career dating back to 1949 (Discogs), so not just some random muso plucked off the street in the way of many audiophile recordings.

JATP gets a lot of hate for some reason, but not from me. I am certain it has acted as a gateway and helped thousands of folk who heard it in hi-fi shops, shows etc transition on to becoming serious jazz buyers. I can’t remember my exact timeline, but it is certainly one of the first jazz albums I heard/bought (the other key one being the anniversary ‘A Sample Of Blue Notes’ compilation which really was my spring-board off into jazz history).

Things have changed hugely over the past 40 years and music is more accessible right now than at any other point in history. Would I start with JATP now? No, I’d go hunting around YouTube for Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Monk and then dive headlong into what is happening right now in London and New York, but I’d never slag JATP. It’s a decent album that punched far above its weight in its day. I still dig it out for a spin now and again.
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Thank you - could you give me some pointers for "what is happening in London & NY" - always keen to expand my awareness and listening habits. I randomly bought a CD recommended on youtube (Continuum by Nik Bartsch's Mobile). Is that even jazz!?!?
 
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Neil P said:
Thank you - could you give me some pointers for "what is happening in London & NY"
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Emma Jean Thackray, Nubya Garcia, Maisha, Sons Of Kemet, Shabaka Hutchins, Comet Is Coming, Kokoroko, Binker Golding, Moses Boyd, Ill Considered, Makaya McCraven, Mathew Halsall, Portico Quartet, Mammal Hands, GoGo Penguin, Marc Cary, Irreversible Entanglements, Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble, Nala Sinephro, Nubian Twist etc etc. There really is a ton of stuff happening right now. Jazz is finally back on the streets and in the hands of young folk! It is even political again!

From a record label perspective think Brownswood, Gearbox, Night Dreamer, International Anthem, Gondwana etc.

PS Nik Bartsch is great! It may well be jazz. Tons of other great stuff on ECM too, obviously.
 
sideshowbob said:
No, it's well played and well recorded, but there's absolutely no reason to listen to it when there are literally thousands of mind-bogglingly brilliant jazz albums to hear.
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As this^. Nothing wrong with it, well played by a decent sax player who has other recordings. Very good simple miked recording, like the other Proprius Audiophile warhorse - Cantate Domino that I got ‘back in day’ when you needed these and certain others like Dafos on Reference Recordings to show your Audiophile credentials. I haven’t played any of them for years.

Plenty of really great Jazz easily available now in well recorded, new masterings and with good pressings from the Blue Note Classic Jazz, Tone Poet and AS Verve series etc.

Edit. These are on vinyl. I see you want CD or SACD. You can get high res downloads of some the above reissues or look for earlier S/H Ron McMaster CD versions.
 
Tony L said:
Emma Jean Thackray, Nubya Garcia, Maisha, Sons Of Kemet, Shabaka Hutchins, Comet Is Coming, Kokoroko, Binker Golding, Moses Boyd, Ill Considered, Makaya McCraven, Mathew Halsall, Portico Quartet, Mammal Hands, GoGo Penguin, Marc Cary, Irreversible Entanglements, Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble, Nala Sinephro, Nubian Twist etc etc. There really is a ton of stuff happening right now. Jazz is finally back on the streets and in the hands of young folk! It is even political again!

From a record label perspective think Brownswood, Gearbox, Night Dreamer, International Anthem, Gondwana etc.

PS Nik Bartsch is great! It may well be jazz. Tons of other great stuff on ECM too, obviously.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I found Emma Jean Thackray randomly (very good), not heard of the rest. Lots to investigate :)
 
I had an amplifier building period last year as covid set in, I used the both the pawn shop albums to evaluate them.
Far from being a sound that's a 'good on everything', type of recording, I found both albums highlighted differences in my amplifiers very well.. the back ground detail, tone and room filling 3d sound are there in the recording, and become more lifelike with kit improvements.

And I like the music too..
 

Here’s an instruction manual for the Nik Bartsch. Annoyingly due to ECM’s refusal to acknowledge educational fair-use he has to recreate much of the track in a DAW, but the full track is on ECM’s own channel. It is fascinating stuff.
 
A truly stunning recording of a perfectly decent band playing some jazz standards (and some original stuff IIRC). IF sound quality was not the be all and end all then there are better interpretations of the standards available by more (and less!) famous bands but overall.... Recommended.
 
Thought I had the original JATP but I’ve actually got Jazz At The Pawnshop 2. Proprius PROP 9544.
Front cover says “Another eight tunes from the 1976 remarkable Pawnshop recording.”
Sticker on the sleeve says imported by Rega, Westcliff, Essex. Think I got it at the Penta HiFi Show at Heathrow in 1993.
So there you go. I’m gonna give it a spin tomorrow.
 
There's a write up somewhere on the recording of it that goes into some detail (google it. I read it on the web maybe 5 years ago so all IIRC) and it's surprising (maybe shouldn't be) that some relatively prosaic gear was used and the set up etc was limited to some degree by it being a live performance with an audience maybe limiting the places they could put mics...

IIRC... Nagra portable R2R was used, small 6 -8 channel portable mixing desk (I have Studer in mind but IIRC), and it was multi miked with a mix of a few top condenser mics and a few "good but second line" ones.. prob a main crossed pair or similar plus a few "fill in" "spot light" mics mixed in.

It's not "only hand built custom valve electronics with zero feedback was used blah blah..." etc etc, yet it must be one of the most impressive recordings I've ever heard!

....Nice:cool:
 
Fuller said:
Thought I had the original JATP but I’ve actually got Jazz At The Pawnshop 2. Proprius PROP 9544.
Front cover says “Another eight tunes from the 1976 remarkable Pawnshop recording.”
Sticker on the sleeve says imported by Rega, Westcliff, Essex. Think I got it at the Penta HiFi Show at Heathrow in 1993.
So there you go. I’m gonna give it a spin tomorrow.
Click to expand...
The recordings were done over the course of a few nights. Over the years, various selections from the full set have been released as albums.
 
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