Reel to Real Recordings gives us Swingin' In Seattle: Live at The Penthouse (1966-1967) and it's really hard—no, it's damn impossible—not to feel on a cellar-level the celebratory joy these guys share and create, as they peak and peak, night after night. The sound is phenomenal, the repertoire is adventurous, and the personnel couldn't be better. Adderley and his brother Nat Adderley (cornet) were as musically symbiotic as it gets. The rest of the band - pianist Joe Zawinul, bassist Victor Gaskin, and Roy McCurdy on drums - was top-notch.

We want to thank Cory and Zev for selecting us to remaster this rare Cannonball Adderley recording and to release it on our 2xHD label in all high-resolution formats.
André Perry, President,
2xHD.com

REVIEWS:

Cannonball Adderley and his merry men—brother/cornetist Nat Adderley, bassist Victor Gaskin, backbeat king drummer Roy McCurdy and bursting-at-the-seams-with-new-ideas pianist Joe Zawinul—were having themselves a high time during 1966-67, that Renaissance time of adventure….These guys could do no wrong to whatever they brought their hearts to, and "The Girl Next Door" is mercurial proof of that. From slow romance to dance floor fling with sky-high solos and tempo shifts that defy any metronome, the quintet just flows on its own time, in its own space and we step into that river as true disciples and ride the tide. "Sticks," a then new Cannonball composition, barrels from the get-go and doesn't stop.
After a spirited, though pop-oriented, swing through the easy bossa nova of "The Morning of the Carnival" and Leonard Bernstein's elegiac "Somewhere," the band gets back to brass tacks and fires the cylinders for Zawinul's percolating spiral "74 Miles Away," with a for-the-ages Nat solo. A brazen run through Charlie Parker's "Back Home Blues" has Nat sitting out while big brother takes center stage. Julian and Nat keep being mentioned, but none of this sustained exuberance is possible with McCurdy, Gaskin, and Zawinul who take the task at hand and charge head on with it.
- Ron Netsky - RochesterCityNewspaper

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley was not only one of the greatest alto saxophonists in jazz, he also led one of the greatest bands. That's why the release of a newly discovered recording, culled from mid-1960's radio broadcasts, is such a welcome treat. The sound is phenomenal, the repertoire is adventurous, and the personnel couldn't be better. Adderley and his brother Nat Adderley (cornet) were as musically symbiotic as it gets. The rest of the band - pianist Joe Zawinul, bassist Victor Gaskin, bass and Roy McCurdy on drums - was top-notch.
- Jazzweekly.com

HARD BOP AT IT’S APOTHEOSIS…Cannonball Adderley: Swingin’ In Seattle

by George W. Harris • January 28, 2019
Was jazz really once this enjoyable?

Somehow found by the detective work by Zev Feldman and Cory Weeds, this album is from a series of radio broadcasts from Seattle, Washington’s Penthouse Jazz Club back in June of 1966 and October of ’67. Alto saxist Cannonball Adderley was with the band that had the mega hit “Mercy Mercy Mercy” of the same year of this gig, namely Brother Nat on cornet, pianist and future Weather Reporter Joe Zawinul, bassist Victor Gaskin and Jazztet alumnus Roy McCurdy on drums. The team is in soulful stride, and the joy of this session is not only the snapping tunes such as “”Hippodelphia” and “ Big ‘P’” but the hip little intros and conversations that Cannonball gives for each song richly adds to the atmosphere.
- George W. Harris, Jan. 28, 2019

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

The 2xHD proprietary mastering provides a unique listening experience as the process digs deep in original recordings to bring out all hidden information, without altering the music in any way, uncovering and bringing out nuances, warmth, depth of field and even the air around the musicians.

The 2xHD logo on an album cover indicates that the recording was carefully selected and the high-resolution mastering was done using the 2xHD process. Created by producer/studio owner André Perry and prize-winning audiophile sound engineer René Laflamme in collaboration with several high-end audio equipment manufacturers, the 2xHD music remastering system combines the best of vintage analog with state-of-the-art DSD and DXD digital technology – a ‘Back to the Future’ approach. Each musical project is treated with individual attention to the selection of equipment.

Some of the top flight gear used in the process includes a selection of cutting-edge A/D and D/A converters to obtain the most natural DSD or PCM sound, such as a NAGRA-T tape recorder - modified with all tubes playback electronics (With its four direct drive motors and the tape sensor head, The NAGRA-T is one of the best transports ever made), a modified vacuum tube NAGRA HD dac (DSD) to make it possible to obtain real analog sound from a digital master and in some cases even battery power is used so as to benefit from the cleanest power source possible. The 2XHD FUSION mastering system is powered by super capacitor power supplies with new technology that lowers the digital noise which is heard in the lowest levels, something that was not possible before. The resulting signal is then transformed to high resolution formats by recording it in DSD 256 kHz using the Merging Technologies’ Horus A to D converter - which is also powered by a super capacitor power supply. All analog and digital cables are the finest state-of-the-art available today. Also used in the process are Pyramix Masscore (records all high-resolution formats, allowing for great flexibility), an Atomic Clock for re-clocking, and Siltech & Shunyata cables (all digital and analog cables are reduced to a minimum optimal length in the digital conversion and mastering system).

The particular open sound and feeling of having no ceiling to the music are obtained through the 2xHD high resolution transfer. In the case of an original analog master tapes, transfer to DSD 256. In the case of an original 96/24 or DXD/DSD master, transfer is made to analogue using cutting edge D/A converters.

2xHD is an accurate and musical mastering system, earning recognition from peers and from the specialized trade publications around the world.