CTI was a great label! The Sunflower album by Milt Jackson was one of my favorites, along with George Benson's White Rabbit. Marvelous array of artists!
I really liked the CTI label. I don't have enough of their product. One thing I really liked about them was the 'all' in approach. All available artists played on each other's albums = most records had an 'all-star' quality. The in-house orchestra didn't hurt either. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't have enough CTI product. You have given me something to shoot for in the future. Great video - as always!
Hi Kenny - once again, your exquisite collection reflects your exquisite taste. I am the same age as you. I’ve been collecting West Montgomery, Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66 among other others since I was in high school. CTI is a label that I have just discovered in the last couple of years. It really does have a different take on jazz and other labels of the time. I’m so glad you brought all of this out because once again no one is talking about West Montgomery or CTI among the VC on TH-cam.
I've had that box set for about 40yrs. There is also a 3 volume set of CTI Summer Jazz at The Hollywood Bowl. It's all okay, but my tastes have changed a great deal since 1984. But they will remain in the collection. Carry on.
Hubert Laws' "Afro-Classic" (1970) is by far my favorite CTI album out of all the releases I've heard from the label. I consider it to be the ultimate headphone trip. Milt Jackson's "Sunflower" (1973) is another favorite. 💿
Morning Kenny. Just renewed my library card after many years since my children grew up. We went there a lot in their youth. Every album you have mentioned that I have listened to has been found in the library's online audio collection. If many here can't get or don't have an album mentioned can easily be found in most libraries.
Creed Taylor's CTI label gets a lot of flack for being too commercial, however, I recently saw a doc on Creed and his approach was to elevate JAZZ and it's musicians by creating his classic formatting and appealing to a younger and different audience. The intent was to make it commercial without losing the Jazz musicians edge. He was an a&r guy who took this initial idea to Herb Alpert, who thought it was a good business move (Hence, why A&M and CTI shows on a lot of those earlier Wes, and Benson albums) If I find the link on his doc I'll posted here. It's quite good.
Good morning Kenny. CTI is a great record label, great performances but were a little more on the commercial side. The first time I heard one of my favorite guitarists George Benson was on "Bad Benson" on CTI which remains one of my favorite recordings by him among some of his other CTI recordings. I found that most of the Cti recordings I have sound decent but certainly not as detailed as Blue Note, ECM, etc. How about a video on underrated and out of print jazz labels?
I didn't know CTI was ignored always liked the few I heard from them sound amazing but commercial. Got my fav albums by Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson. I should get into more Bob James since growing up with rap can hear where so many samples come from. I don't know much else from the label but will give this album a listen today.
Hey Kenny. Thanks for the heads up. I remember Sebesky's name, but don't have anything arranged by him. Back in '82 when I first moved to Japan (from North Carolina with a couple of years in Arizona between), a fellow ex-pat from New York visited my apartment for a bit of down time after work. At that time, I still had the remnants of a Carolina twang to my voice, so he assumed my cassette music collection would be Country Western, Bluegrass, etc. He was a bit shocked to see "BJ4", "Prelude", and "Feels So Good" among my CTI's, as well as a handful from ECM. At least for that night, he learned to not judge a book by its cover. ps. Just found several recordings of Giant Box on TH-cam. What a line-up. Much thanks!
Thank you very much for saying that I appreciate that someone in their 20s is watching my videos and enjoying jazz. Thank you very much for watching from Germany 😊 ✌️
I have this album too on vinyl! When I first got it I didn’t know what to expect, but when I first listened to it I was very impressed with it. Good call on CTI records, I have every one you showed in this video. Peace from Southern California ☮️ .
Hi Kenny, I bought loads of CTI stuff in the 70s, Prelude being the first, and what an album that is. Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard is another good album. I’m going to check White Rabbit out, I think I missed that one. Peace.
All three some of my favorites! Benson Deodato and Hubbard!!!! I only have Prelude on vinyl but I did recently pick up the Don Sebesky box on vinyl! Great line up😅
Love your videos, you always have the most interesting records... I was watching the Roy Hargrove documentary the other day and wondered if you could do a video on the subject. Stay healthy, stay blessed 🎺
I remember buying Giant Box when it came out just for the Birds Of Fire track but was pleasantly surprised that I liked the entire album, could have done without the vocals but still a CTI classic. Since I'm a little older, CTI was our version of smooth jazz back in the day. If it wasn't for CTI I might not never have gotten into Jazz.
I'm a bit different in that I love the vocals on the album. Good point that you made that CTI perhaps was a starting point for many just getting into jazz back then.
Hey Kenny…Thank you very much for addressing my question and providing your thoughts on CTI records. I appreciate it! I think you nailed it when mentioning that CTI played its own role in the spectrum of Jazz and that it had a vision aimed potentially at trying to attract a younger audience looking to groove. After all…that was me! A young Todd was heavily influenced by Earth, Wind and Fire through the 70’s and it was those EWF instrumental jams that introduced me to CTI recordings like George Benson’s White Rabbit album which was my first and (like you) favorite CTI recording. I also appreciate your take on the Sebesky double album and specifically how well that CTI release sounds on your elite system. I’ve always felt the CTI albums really focused on maximizing sound output but was not sure as my system is good but not great. Really enjoying your channel Kenny and learning about new music and sound technology components. btw…my favorite CTI albums are: George Benson White Rabbit Freddie Hubbard Skydive Carlos Jobim Wave Paul Desmond Pure Desmond Joe Farrell Moon Germs *that Deodato album you mentioned is a big seller primarily because it includes his version of the theme to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey which was a ground breaking film at the time. In this sense, it could be mentioned in your most overrated album category much like the Getz album you mentioned with Girl from Ipanema.
Thank you very much for your comments and giving me the inspiration to do the video. I have the first three albums that you mentioned. The Jobim "Wave" album has always been one of my favorite Jobim albums.
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviewsI meant above that I appreciated your take on how the Sebesky album did NOT sound all that great on your home sound system. That puts my own thinking on CTI recordings in perspective for me. Thanks Kenny
@@williamcampbell3868 Thanks William. I have and love Red Clay! I could have easily included that in my top five but have been listening and grooving on Skydive lately and it was top of mind. Freddie is SO good. 👍
He Kenny my man! Season's Greetings to you and your family.🎄🎀🕎✝️✡️ I have that Giant Box LP in my collection. I haven't listened to it in a while and need to pull it out again. The CTI sound varies, I think because unlike the Bluenote, Prestige, Verve and other lables Rudy Vangelder recorded, CTI would use more "plugged in" instruments. Creed Taylor was trying to crossover to popular markets. Your are correct, The Deodato LP was CTI's biggest seller. It was in fact multi platinum!! However to me their best LP was Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay. Music and sound wise it's their masterpiece and I've listened to it often. I purchased it back in 1987. I have a deluxe cd copy that looks like a miniature LP in that it mimicks the gatefold and art work. I also have a limited edition red vinyl version that sounds fantastic!
CTI is a label that I pick & choose from. For every Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard or Smokin' at the Half-Note by Wynton Kelly & Wes Montgomery you more often than not get great Jazz musicians drowning in what was little more than Muzak. I think Creed went too far to be commercial in many cases but he did hit the occasional home run.
I appreciate and respect your point of view...I do agree that CTI had a different and unique approach that was a simi shock to the traditional jazz world.
Hey Kenny. I have that box set as well and many other CTI offerings. I remember attending a CTI All-Star concert in Seattle back in the early '70's and it was really good. The albums, as mentioned, were very commercial and aimed at the mainstream jazz listener or those just getting into the genre. The outer jackets had innovative photography and the photos were offered for sale, which was rather unusual. I'm surprised no one mentioned Hubert Laws' Afro Classic, which was one of my favorite CTI releases. Party on and many thanks!
OMG! No mention of Sugar by Stanley Turrentine? All I have to do is think about that song and it’s instantly stuck in my head again even without listening!
Man, I won't watch your channel until you sell me those Kindels. lol. Once again thanks for putting me up on something new to me. Fortunately, I was able to get this in DSD64.
I listened to the Don Sebesky album Giant Box album and the Deodato Prelude album. A lot of the sound on both those albums come across as soundtrack songs for movies from that time period. All though I had heard it before, I relistened to George Benson's (White Rabbit) album, and this album probably was the one that stuck out to me the most as being a 9 rating. I don't know if you remember, but Deodato was still a sensation among pop music hits in the 80's. You probably remember the song (Are you For Real) by Deodato?
I remember the Deodato music. The White Rabbit album along with the Freddie Hubbard "Red Clay" album are probably among the best that CTI had to offer.
I have a love/hate affair with CTI Records. I have not heard a great many CTI Records but those few I do have either sound really great (Bob James 3) or they were totally overproduced in their arrangements by Creed Taylor (Bad Benson by George Benson is an example). And then their albums were a bit noisy.
I liked a lot of CTI albums back in the 70s and 80s but when I listen to them now I don't think the added orchestrations aged as well as the actual jazz performances.
I agree on some of the albums because the orchestrations were done in the style of the 70s and that does not always stand the test of time...a similar thing can be said of the movie soundtracks from that era.
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviews Then I listen to Freddie Hubbard's First Light and the orchestrations blow me away. Freddie is great as usual on that song but George Benson's solo is otherworldly wonderful.
Rudy Van Gelder was a legendary recording and mastering engineer, who was preferred by many jazz artists and producers, including Creed Taylor and Alfred Lion. You can tell if Rudy did the vinyl mastering if “RVG” appears in the deadwax (the unrecorded part of the vinyl just peripheral to the label). Rudy was considered an outstanding recording engineer for both analog and digital recordings. He thought that digital recording was superior to analog and stopped making analog recordings. However, not everyone liked Rudy’s recording technique. He used a lot of “compression” (increase volume of soft sounds; decrease volume of loud sounds). In fact, he has serial number 1 of the original Fairchild 660 compressor. Some people thought that he used way too much compression. The Fairchild 660 (mono) and 670 (stereo) were extensively used on Beatles recordings and was an important component of the Beatles sound.
![[Live สด] การออกรางวัลสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล งวดวันที่ 16 ธันวาคม 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dNTiBBthKgQ/mqdefault.jpg)
CTI was a great label! The Sunflower album by Milt Jackson was one of my favorites, along with George Benson's White Rabbit. Marvelous array of artists!
CTI - THUMBS UP. Giant box - a mint $1 find.
Great find 😁✌️
I really liked the CTI label. I don't have enough of their product. One thing I really liked about them was the 'all' in approach. All available artists played on each other's albums = most records had an 'all-star' quality. The in-house orchestra didn't hurt either. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't have enough CTI product. You have given me something to shoot for in the future. Great video - as always!
Hi Kenny - once again, your exquisite collection reflects your exquisite taste. I am the same age as you. I’ve been collecting West Montgomery, Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66 among other others since I was in high school. CTI is a label that I have just discovered in the last couple of years. It really does have a different take on jazz and other labels of the time. I’m so glad you brought all of this out because once again no one is talking about West Montgomery or CTI among the VC on TH-cam.
Thank you for your comments and watching and I agree that CTI as a label is overlooked in the VC.
I love CTI and Wes Montgomery! Will be sure to highlight on my channel
Yay, some familiar vibes
I own the Giant Box, and Wes Montgomery A Day in the Life
Great stuff
Great thought as usual 👍
Thank you very much ✌️
My favorite CTI record is Gula Matari by the Quincy Jones orchestra. Beautiful vocals by Valerie Simpson on Bridge Over Troubled Water.
That vocal performance is great....there is a all star cast on that album.
I've had that box set for about 40yrs. There is also a 3 volume set of CTI Summer Jazz at The Hollywood Bowl.
It's all okay, but my tastes have changed a great deal since 1984. But they will remain in the collection.
Carry on.
Hubert Laws' "Afro-Classic" (1970) is by far my favorite CTI album out of all the releases I've heard from the label. I consider it to be the ultimate headphone trip. Milt Jackson's "Sunflower" (1973) is another favorite. 💿
Morning Kenny. Just renewed my library card after many years since my children grew up. We went there a lot in their youth. Every album you have mentioned that I have listened to has been found in the library's online audio collection. If many here can't get or don't have an album mentioned can easily be found in most libraries.
I used to have a library card and I would check out CDs and make CDR copies for myself 😊
Creed Taylor's CTI label gets a lot of flack for being too commercial, however, I recently saw a doc on Creed and his approach was to elevate JAZZ and it's musicians by creating his classic formatting and appealing to a younger and different audience. The intent was to make it commercial without losing the Jazz musicians edge. He was an a&r guy who took this initial idea to Herb Alpert, who thought it was a good business move (Hence, why A&M and CTI shows on a lot of those earlier Wes, and Benson albums) If I find the link on his doc I'll posted here. It's quite good.
Good morning Kenny. CTI is a great record label, great performances but were a little more on the commercial side. The first time I heard one of my favorite guitarists George Benson was on "Bad Benson" on CTI which remains one of my favorite recordings by him among some of his other CTI recordings. I found that most of the Cti recordings I have sound decent but certainly not as detailed as Blue Note, ECM, etc. How about a video on underrated and out of print jazz labels?
I didn't know CTI was ignored always liked the few I heard from them sound amazing but commercial. Got my fav albums by Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson. I should get into more Bob James since growing up with rap can hear where so many samples come from. I don't know much else from the label but will give this album a listen today.
Hey Kenny.
Thanks for the heads up. I remember Sebesky's name, but don't have anything arranged by him. Back in '82 when I first moved to Japan (from North Carolina with a couple of years in Arizona between), a fellow ex-pat from New York visited my apartment for a bit of down time after work. At that time, I still had the remnants of a Carolina twang to my voice, so he assumed my cassette music collection would be Country Western, Bluegrass, etc. He was a bit shocked to see "BJ4", "Prelude", and "Feels So Good" among my CTI's, as well as a handful from ECM. At least for that night, he learned to not judge a book by its cover. ps. Just found several recordings of Giant Box on TH-cam. What a line-up. Much thanks!
I appreciate you and your comments...and as your story suggests, we can't judge a book by its cover 😊
29 year old from Germany love all of this. It is like a Jazz lesson i would always wish for. But never gotten until now.
Thank you very much for saying that I appreciate that someone in their 20s is watching my videos and enjoying jazz. Thank you very much for watching from Germany 😊 ✌️
New favorite channel!
CTI records is one of my fave Jazz record labels
I have this album too on vinyl! When I first got it I didn’t know what to expect, but when I first listened to it I was very impressed with it. Good call on CTI records, I have every one you showed in this video. Peace from Southern California ☮️ .
Thank you for your comments and watching 😊 ✌️
Hi Kenny, I bought loads of CTI stuff in the 70s, Prelude being the first, and what an album that is. Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard is another good album. I’m going to check White Rabbit out, I think I missed that one. Peace.
All three some of my favorites! Benson Deodato and Hubbard!!!! I only have Prelude on vinyl but I did recently pick up the Don Sebesky box on vinyl! Great line up😅
Love your videos, you always have the most interesting records... I was watching the Roy Hargrove documentary the other day and wondered if you could do a video on the subject. Stay healthy, stay blessed 🎺
Thank you very much for your kind comments and suggestion, I appreciate that 😊 ✌️
I remember buying Giant Box when it came out just for the Birds Of Fire track but was pleasantly surprised that I liked the entire album, could have done without the vocals but still a CTI classic. Since I'm a little older, CTI was our version of smooth jazz back in the day. If it wasn't for CTI I might not never have gotten into Jazz.
I'm a bit different in that I love the vocals on the album. Good point that you made that CTI perhaps was a starting point for many just getting into jazz back then.
Hey Kenny…Thank you very much for addressing my question and providing your thoughts on CTI records. I appreciate it! I think you nailed it when mentioning that CTI played its own role in the spectrum of Jazz and that it had a vision aimed potentially at trying to attract a younger audience looking to groove. After all…that was me! A young Todd was heavily influenced by Earth, Wind and Fire through the 70’s and it was those EWF instrumental jams that introduced me to CTI recordings like George Benson’s White Rabbit album which was my first and (like you) favorite CTI recording. I also appreciate your take on the Sebesky double album and specifically how well that CTI release sounds on your elite system. I’ve always felt the CTI albums really focused on maximizing sound output but was not sure as my system is good but not great. Really enjoying your channel Kenny and learning about new music and sound technology components. btw…my favorite CTI albums are:
George Benson White Rabbit
Freddie Hubbard Skydive
Carlos Jobim Wave
Paul Desmond Pure Desmond
Joe Farrell Moon Germs
*that Deodato album you mentioned is a big seller primarily because it includes his version of the theme to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey which was a ground breaking film at the time. In this sense, it could be mentioned in your most overrated album category much like the Getz album you mentioned with Girl from Ipanema.
Thank you very much for your comments and giving me the inspiration to do the video. I have the first three albums that you mentioned. The Jobim "Wave" album has always been one of my favorite Jobim albums.
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviewsI meant above that I appreciated your take on how the Sebesky album did NOT sound all that great on your home sound system. That puts my own thinking on CTI recordings in perspective for me. Thanks Kenny
@@ToddCaponetto Hey my man! That is some good stuff. But definitely get Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay LP!👍
@@williamcampbell3868 Thanks William. I have and love Red Clay! I could have easily included that in my top five but have been listening and grooving on Skydive lately and it was top of mind. Freddie is SO good. 👍
He Kenny my man! Season's Greetings to you and your family.🎄🎀🕎✝️✡️ I have that Giant Box LP in my collection. I haven't listened to it in a while and need to pull it out again. The CTI sound varies, I think because unlike the Bluenote, Prestige, Verve and other lables Rudy Vangelder recorded, CTI would use more "plugged in" instruments. Creed Taylor was trying to crossover to popular markets. Your are correct, The Deodato LP was CTI's biggest seller. It was in fact multi platinum!! However to me their best LP was Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay. Music and sound wise it's their masterpiece and I've listened to it often. I purchased it back in 1987. I have a deluxe cd copy that looks like a miniature LP in that it mimicks the gatefold and art work. I also have a limited edition red vinyl version that sounds fantastic!
I love Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay, I agree that it's a excellent album, no doubt. Happy Holidays to you and your family 😊✌️
Dude, you’re so cool! I subscribed
I appreciate that, thank you ✌️
CTI is a label that I pick & choose from. For every Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard or Smokin' at the Half-Note by Wynton Kelly & Wes Montgomery you more often than not get great Jazz musicians drowning in what was little more than Muzak. I think Creed went too far to be commercial in many cases but he did hit the occasional home run.
I appreciate and respect your point of view...I do agree that CTI had a different and unique approach that was a simi shock to the traditional jazz world.
Hey Kenny. I have that box set as well and many other CTI offerings. I remember attending a CTI All-Star concert in Seattle back in the early '70's and it was really good. The albums, as mentioned, were very commercial and aimed at the mainstream jazz listener or those just getting into the genre. The outer jackets had innovative photography and the photos were offered for sale, which was rather unusual. I'm surprised no one mentioned Hubert Laws' Afro Classic, which was one of my favorite CTI releases. Party on and many thanks!
Thank you very much ✌️
The entire CTI portfolio is worth a decent remaster and reissue, I spoke with Chad Kassem in 2019 and he even agreed how many gems there are on CTI
That would be cool if Analogue Productions could reissue some of the CTI titles.
OMG! No mention of Sugar by Stanley Turrentine? All I have to do is think about that song and it’s instantly stuck in my head again even without listening!
I totally agree, the song "Sugar" is tremendous 👌 👏
Man, I won't watch your channel until you sell me those Kindels. lol. Once again thanks for putting me up on something new to me. Fortunately, I was able to get this in DSD64.
I listened to the Don Sebesky album Giant Box album and the Deodato Prelude album. A lot of the sound on both those albums come across as soundtrack songs for movies from that time period. All though I had heard it before, I relistened to George Benson's (White Rabbit) album, and this album probably was the one that stuck out to me the most as being a 9 rating. I don't know if you remember, but Deodato was still a sensation among pop music hits in the 80's. You probably remember the song (Are you For Real) by Deodato?
I remember the Deodato music. The White Rabbit album along with the Freddie Hubbard "Red Clay" album are probably among the best that CTI had to offer.
Hey Kenny, good morning ✌️ many thanks for your thoughts and review
I have a love/hate affair with CTI Records. I have not heard a great many CTI Records but those few I do have either sound really great (Bob James 3) or they were totally overproduced in their arrangements by Creed Taylor (Bad Benson by George Benson is an example). And then their albums were a bit noisy.
I liked a lot of CTI albums back in the 70s and 80s but when I listen to them now I don't think the added orchestrations aged as well as the actual jazz performances.
I agree on some of the albums because the orchestrations were done in the style of the 70s and that does not always stand the test of time...a similar thing can be said of the movie soundtracks from that era.
@@kennysaudiophilerecordreviews Then I listen to Freddie Hubbard's First Light and the orchestrations blow me away. Freddie is great as usual on that song but George Benson's solo is otherworldly wonderful.
In my humble opinion the best jazz is not the top 40 list usually suggested 😅
Guys who buys/sells used straight ahead Jazz CD’s ? I promise no Kenny G. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Rudy Van Gelder was a legendary recording and mastering engineer, who was preferred by many jazz artists and producers, including Creed Taylor and Alfred Lion. You can tell if Rudy did the vinyl mastering if “RVG” appears in the deadwax (the unrecorded part of the vinyl just peripheral to the label).
Rudy was considered an outstanding recording engineer for both analog and digital recordings. He thought that digital recording was superior to analog and stopped making analog recordings.
However, not everyone liked Rudy’s recording technique. He used a lot of “compression” (increase volume of soft sounds; decrease volume of loud sounds). In fact, he has serial number 1 of the original Fairchild 660 compressor. Some people thought that he used way too much compression.
The Fairchild 660 (mono) and 670 (stereo) were extensively used on Beatles recordings and was an important component of the Beatles sound.