The David Angel Jazz Ensemble – Out On The Coast – CD Review

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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:

Instrumental Line Up:

The ensemble is composed of fourteen musicians playing:  Sax, Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet, Trumpet, Horn, Flugel Horn, Trombone, Tuba, Guitar, String Bass and Drums.

Background:

The album was recorded January 23rd, 24th, 30th & 31st, 2020. It was engineered and mixed by Talley Sherwood at Tritone Studios, Glendale, CA. and mastered by Peter Doell at Aftermaster Studios, Hollywood, CA. The album was released by Basset Hound Music, catalogue number BHR 102-18, on February 19th, 2021

“The David Angel Jazz Ensemble is a Los Angeles based 13 piece jazz band, “Out on the Coast” is a TRIPLE CD set and all of the music is composed or arranged by David Angel. The style is described as “Gil Evans meets J.S.Bach” with all 13 musicians playing polyphonic lines. The band members are among the finest jazz musicians on the west coast. It is swing and Latin music reminiscent of the 60′ west coast jazz scene with impressionistic classical elements.”

I was a little taken aback when I opened this three CD pack. Comprising twenty-two tracks, fifteen original compositions and seven standards, I wasn’t too sure if I could sit through some three hours of listening twice! Well I did. This is not a high energy, high dynamic mix, most, if not all these numbers, are what I would term laid back easy listening. There are lots of brass and woodwind breaks and solos, several from the guitar and a couple from the double bass and kit.

As with many studio recordings instruments appeared panned into position within the stereo image. In this case this “panned mono” resulted in a stereo image with little depth or height, many instruments being pushed towards the front, with the stereo kit image being placed just slightly towards the rear. All images appeared well spread between my stereo speakers and none hard panned to either. Many solos were placed front dead center but several did appear right of center like sax, guitar just left of center and trombone and tuba well left of center and slightly setback. The double bass was always dead center and imaged just in front of the kit. All images appeared mostly in the same horizontal plane with little depth or height delineation with only the cymbals showing some height information.

Instrumental placement was generally stable, see below, even if a little cluttered and occasionally difficult to isolate due to the stereo images lack of depth. There was no obvious compression or hum.

Despite the individual musical parts being very enjoyable and all instruments sounding natural, having good detail and being quite open, I unfortunately found a certain “sameness” to many of the tracks. Great for late night or party background listening but they weren’t going to get my foot tapping or raise the hairs on the back of my neck. General dynamics were good overall, and instrumental solos and breaks abound on all tracks for many of the instruments.

Due to the number of tracks and associated solos and breaks I leave it to the listener to find those solos that stir them, like the string bass D3T5, kit D3T6 and sax D3T5 and of course the tuba solos D1T8 and D3T1.

The kit was barely sat back and during the more lively performances almost appeared at the front, providing a notable presence in many of the mixes like D3T4. The cymbals and hi-hat were bright and well detailed with no signs of a hard edge, the snare and toms were well damped with a short hollow ring with well detailed brush work throughout. The kick drum rarely raised its head but when it did so it was a solid, well damped, deep thud, exhibiting no beater noise even during the breaks/solos on D1T1, D1T2 and D3T6.

The string bass was tight and clean with no coloration or boom, lacking just a little in body, never getting lost in the mix, and providing a couple of impressive solos on D2T7 and D3T5.

Instrumental presence was good, but never stellar, and I never felt as if any of the parts were actually “in my room”, despite several solos creating a very realistic representation of the instrument, in particular several of the sax, trumpet, trombone and bass solos. Overall the sound was warm and mellow with brass instruments having a pleasing bright clean edge and woodwinds a smooth reedy tone. None of the brass or woodwind instruments exhibiting any degree of stridency or a hard edge. The electric guitar providing a clean, warm and mellow tone with little finger or fret noise and numerous solos, to include D1T1, D2T1, D2T6 and D3T5.

Overall reverb, which I assume was synthetic, was easy to hear on many of the instruments, it was short and low level providing just sufficient ambience to fill the sound out and provide a pleasing warmth.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention the barking dog closing at the end of the third CD, a nice nod to the record label.

While the musical compositions, their execution and tight musicianship were very enjoyable, I found the less than stellar depth perspective and instrumental separation a slight distraction to the music.

Despite my technical concerns I am sure that those listening to the music will thoroughly enjoy Out On The Coast and the performance of The David Angel Jazz Ensemble.

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 Mouthpiece Music for my review. No financial compensation was provided.

Purchase the CD from Basset Hound Music or download from Amazon music.

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