Florida Rays – The Flying Horse Big Band – CD Review

Plastic – CD

Surface noise: N/A

Dynamic Range: 4

Stereo Imaging: 4+

Image depth/perspective: 4

Overall frequency response: 4

Please see here for my comments on reviewing albums.

Track List:

1. One Mint Julip
2. Let The Good Times Roll
3. Hallelujah I Love Her So
4. I’m Movin’ On
5. It Should’ve Been Me
6. Lonely Avenue
7. What’d I Say
8. You Don’t Know Me
9. (It’s Not Easy) Bein’ Green
10. Hit The Road Jack
11. Busted
12. Unchain My Heart

This instrumental lineup is mostly formed by students from the University of Central Florida (UCF) jazz studies program. The production is directed by Jeff Rupert, the Director of Jazz Studies at the university and is supported by six established professional musicians providing vocals, piano, percussion and harmonica.

This 7th album is a largely a tribute to the late Ray Charles and all proceeds benefit the Jazz Studies program at UCF.

It was recorded by Kendall Thomsen at Starke Lake Studios, Ocoee, Florida with additional material recorded by Steve Jankowski at Jankland Studio, Wall Township, NJ. It was mixed and mastered at the Starke Lake Studios by Kendall Thomsen.

The lack of surface noise is only broken by the faintest changes to the noise floor as the tracks were faded up and down. Even with this non-existent noise floor the recording dynamics never reached the full potential that can be achieved on a CD. This isn’t to say it was poor, just not stellar.

While the stereo imaging was good and filled the entire space between my speakers it lacked in depth and height. The overall band sounding set back behind my speakers. The kit was clearly set back and appeared raised while the brass and all other instruments appeared at the same height and with minimal depth perspective. Clearly there were layers of instruments spanning the entire image and while they could be cleanly delineated horizontally showed little vertical separation remaining in the same horizontal plane and height between the speakers. Lead vocals were all center front, well defined with plenty of presence. They showed no sibilance but the male vocals tended to have a slightly hard edge in the upper registers.

All instruments sounded clean and natural providing a realistic representation of each instruments natural sounds, with some excellent solos and breaks from sax, trombone, trumpet, piano, harmonica, guitar and double and electric bass. The double bass and electric bass both sounding a little boomy and lacking in punch and impact. The kick drum was rarely prominent providing a dull well damped thud, the snare was well damped with a short ring, brush work was well detailed, toms tight with a short well damped ring, while the hi-hat and cymbals were well detailed and clean but lacked sparkle.

All brass instruments had a clean edge to them but sounded restrained in their dynamics, almost as if the entire mix was either compressed or recorded at some distance. Many solos and breaks faired better with more punch and a brighter edge to the instrument giving them more presence and the feeling of actually being there.

Solos from the harmonica and guitar were open and clean with the sound of the finger fret noise being clearly audible. Piano and organ parts were all well executed.

General levels of reverb were quite low and short, filling out the sound stage and creating a warm atmosphere, with sounds clearly decaying into an inky black silence.

Even though the band was tight with no apparent bum or fluffed notes or poor entrances, provided some excellent instrumental solos and breaks, it possessed a certain flatness to it. Almost as if the players were all being a little cautious in order to “get it right”, rather than pack a whole boatload of emotion into the playing and “letting it rip”. The overall effect creating a slightly restrained and muffled performance slightly lacking in life and punch and feeling a little distant.

Despite the above comments this was a very tight and enjoyable musical jazz performance with some excellent solos, breaks and vocals, providing a well balanced mix. However, it lacked sparkle, punch and that ‘joie de vie’ that you get from a professional jazz band like Harry James et al. Yes I am being hard in this review, but all my reviews are subject to the same requirements, whether the recording is from professional performers and studios or not. Remember that these are students, not professional musicians that have been together for decades and can ‘read each others minds’ having a band leader that knows how to drive them and extract every bit of energy, in or out of a studio.

Is it possible that the microphone techniques, recording, mixing and mastering produced this less than dynamic sound? Absolutely. You only need to compare albums of yesteryear that are re-mixed and re-mastered using the original multi-track or stereo mix masters to understand what can be achieved with good practices. Take a listen to some Sheffield vinyl D2D recordings from 40+ years ago to hear what a pristine uncompressed all analog signal chain can do.

Playback note: Reviewed using my Denon DBP A100 over Denon Link 3. Speakers; a stereo pair of Genelec 1038’s and four SVS subs.

Disclosure: This CD was provided by Kari-On Productions for my review. No financial compensation was provided.

Purchase this CD from The University of Central Florida.

For more on UFC Flying Horse Records and the Big Band click here.

See my other Kari-On Productions reviews here.

See here for my introduction to Kari-On Productions.