Review by Wojciech Pacula (highfidelity)
I know this recording very well, listened probably to every format available. The most times I listened to Mobile Fidelity version, but just few times less to vinyl Speakers Corner reissue. The latter has some advantages over MoFi, but the voices are too nasal. Reissue prepared by Mr Ma is different. It is much better than any version I heard so far. The sound is extremely clear, there are no nasal voices, and even Astrud's voice extra added to the recording finally doesn't sound like it comes from another record. Yes, the voices is recorded with totally different reverb and you can hear that, but it doesn't hurt so much as on MoFi version, where it sounds like it is coming from the small shoe-box. Resolution of the sound, natural softness, and brilliant differentiation of dynamics and timbre are very impressive. Gilberto's guitar is very strong but not too hard unlike all previous versions. The noise of master-tape is audible, but placed "behind" the music, exactly like on the vinyl records. Sound stage is really wide and deep and I've been discovering new small detail previously hidden or covered by something else. Here artistic concept and so on is in the first place, ahead of some flaws of the recording. Because of course there are some flaws – Gilberto's voice was taken very closely, which made him sound so nasal, dark. Winston Ma's version is clearer, but not until the moment, when SACD reissue, through overrated vividness, started to be difficult to perceive. Getz's saxophone is bit brighter than before but at the same time there is more of it and it is deeper so you don't have an impression of exaggerated brightness. There is no escape – I will listen to no other version any more, also because aesthetics of FIM's edition is unrivaled.
Preface Winston Ma
Spring, 2009
Numerous friends have recommended that I obtain this recording for my collection. Eventually, I yielded to their entreaties, and to temptation, and bought the album.
To be honest, I was not impressed at my first auditioning. The sound quality was clearly not five-star, though the music was very nice. My taste suggested that the two vocalists lacked in professionalism: the acoustic harmonics of the female voice, recorded in a separate chamber, were so dissimilar from the other elements of the recording that I was left with the impression her part was like a lump of ice-cream offered as a side-order to a hot entree. On the other hand, Stan Getz was in great shape, tip-top prime-time shape, and that was the best thing in the album.
On later occasions, I listened again and again to this album, at the request of visiting friends. I began to enjoy it for its very natural singing, and the group’s successful creation of an intimate, cozy atmosphere. I began to listen to the music, and forget the sound discrepancies.
Last year, I met with a senior executive of Universal Music to acquire a few titles from the Verve recording vault, and he recommended this album, along with We Get Requests. I gladly accepted his offer.
In the months since then, this album has been twice re-mastered at Flair Studios, JVC, Tokyo! I worked quite hard with Takeshi Hakkaman, the brilliant young engineer who is the master of the superb K2 HD sound. We tried to minimize the nasal quality and chattiness of the male voice, and the wiry elements of the female. At the conclusion of our first attempt, we thought we had succeeded. However, when I afterwards listened to the CDR at home, I felt we needed still further improvement. I asked Takeshi to return to the task. The version on this album is thus, finally, re-mastered to the best sound we could achieve.
Please listen to what we have done. I love it; I hope you will, too.
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