SHELLY MANNE Checkmate CONTEMPORARY RECORDS (STEREO) 2 x Lacquers 1962 cut (NM)

$

20

SHELLY MANNE & His Men Play "Checkmate" CONTEMPORARY RECORDS S-7599 (STEREO) Lacquers x 2 (1962 edition)
Shelly Manne & His Men Play Checkmate (full title Shelly Manne & His Men Play the Music of John Williams from the TV Series Checkmate) is an album by drummer Shelly Manne's group Shelly Manne & His Men performing John Williams' score from the TV show Checkmate, recorded in 1961 and released on the Contemporary label.

Tracklist

A1 Checkmate 8:01 A2 The Isolated Pawn 6:10 A3 Cyanide Touch 7:46

B1 The King Swings 5:31 B2 En Passant 5:45 B3 Fireside Eyes 3:50 B4 The Black Night 6:38

• Recorded At – Contemporary's Studio
• Copyright (c) – Contemporary Records, Inc.

• Bass – Chuck Berghofer
• Drums – Shelly Manne
• Piano – Russ Freeman
• Producer – Lester Koenig
• Sounds – Howard Holzer
• Tenor Saxophone – Richie Kamuca
• Trumpet – Conte Candoli
• Written-By [All Music] – Johnny Williams

Notes

(C) 1962 Contemporary Records - Printed in U S A 
Music composed by Johnny Williams from the score of Revue Studio's CBS TV series,"Checkmate"

• Matrix / Runout (LP Side A):  LKS 221 D2
• Matrix / Runout (LP Side B): LKS 222 D1

Label: Contemporary Records Catalog Number: S 7599 Product Condition: nm
You're bidding on the Shelly Manne's "Checkmate" (STEREO) Original Master Lacquers which were cut from master tapes provided to Contemporary Records for the LP reissue. (1 per LP side - 2 sides: S1, S2) 
Lest Koenig, the founder of Contemporary Records was known to save everything and in this case fortuitously.  The Contemporary Records Lacquers listed here come directly from the stash of things left over when Contemporary was sold to Fantasy Records in 1984.  The lacquers were kept in their original sleeves (date stamped) after processing which produced the masters and stored in temperature controlled storage until they were obtained by TheMusic.com.  The original 14" discs have been professionally trimmed to 12" discs which allow these super rarities to be played on a normal turntable and packaged in new sleeves that include the original dated sleeves to provide additional authenticity. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a true piece of history directly from the Contemporary Records studios were Roy DuNann and Lester Koenig made all those great recording and LP's from same!
Contemporary Records History: (excerpted from Wikipedia) Contemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in Los Angeles. Contemporary was known for seminal recordings embodying the West Coast sound, but also released recordings based in New York.  Koenig maintained extremely high audio standards. He hired Roy DuNann from Capitol Records in 1956, who, out of the label's shipping room turned studio, turned out some of the best sounding records of the time. DuNann provided some details of his techniques in a Stereophile article nearly 50 years later. He said Koenig provided him with German (Neumann/Telefunken U-47) and Austrian (AKG C-12) condenser microphones and he immediately noted the very high output of these microphones, especially close-in on jazz musicians' dynamic playing. DuNann achieved his signature sound—crisp, clear and balanced without distortion or unpleasant "peak presence"—by keeping his microphone setups very simple (generally one per musician) and avoided the use of pre-amplifiers for them. He built a simple passive mixing system that directly fed the electronics of his Ampex 350 and 351 tape machines. 
One of a kind original master lacquers cut from the original master tapes and used by Contemporary Records to produce stampers that pressed their vinyl reissue editions.  Here's how it works: In real time, the master tape was running along with the cutting lathe cutting the groove modulations in the master lacquer.  The master lacquer was then electroplated and produced a Master plate used ultimately to make stampers that press vinyl records.  Once the master lacquer has made its metal master it can still be played like an LP and represents the CLOSEST transfer to the original master tape used to cut it! A "lacquer" of an LP is simply the original 14"-diameter, nitro cellulose-coated aluminum disc that the LP mastering engineer "cuts" with a heated stylus assembly from either the master tape, or in the case of a "direct-to-disc" recording, literally from the live microphone feed. If any mistake is made when cutting the lacquer, it must be thrown out and a new one started. The lacquer is then used to start the plating process for making standard PVC LP records, and then stored for possible future use. Lacquers are actually playable on a standard phonograph system if trimmed to 12" in diameter to fit the turntable, as they are a "positive" of the recording, just like the final finished LPs that come from them. HOWEVER, they are VERY fragile, as nitro cellulose is a very soft material. The process of hand trimming the 14" processed lacquers is very delicate and can result in small chips around the trimmed are which generally does not affect playback using a standard cartridge. While fragile by nature, processed lacquers are the highest-fidelity source of the music except for the original master tape itself.  The sound of lacquer is as close to the sound of the master tape as you can ever get - with the least amount of information lost in the transfer and the highest fidelity.   For these special sets, the master lacquers have been delicately trimmed down from 14" to 12" in diameter so that they can be played back on any modern turntable.  Each disc is single sided and perfectly flat for playback sound that is nothing short of breathtaking. This is a rare opportunity to procure a collectible that will only grow in value over time! 
Each lacquer is packaged in a white jacket to preserve their collectibility.
ULTRA RARE item
AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow      This LP from Shelly Manne is a bit different than his other recordings of scores. In the past, it was his trio with pianist Andre Previn that performed music from hit plays (most notably My Fair Lady). For this date it is Manne's regular quintet (with trumpeter Conte Candoli, tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca, pianist Russ Freeman and bassist Chuck Berghofer) that play seven themes from a now-forgotten television series (Checkmate) composed by Johnny Williams. None of the melodies caught on but at least they gave these fine musicians some fresh material to improvise on. However, this album is not essential despite some strong solos.
Penguin Guide " ... very competent and thoroughly enjoyable jazz .... "