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Re: Creative Improvised Music Projects (CIMP)

Posted by applejack (A) on November 21, 2002 at 22:22:25

In Reply to: Creative Improvised Music Projects (CIMP) posted by D on November 20, 2002 at 05:30:35:

I would have to wholeheartedly disagree--to my ears they don't sound much like what I hear in a live club. From what I've read, CIMP's Spirit Room is akin to Bob Rusch's living room (he actually sits on a couch in the room listening to the performances), which is obviously much smaller than most jazz clubs. I have no doubt they are faithful to that environment, but with CIMP's minimalist techniques and lack of post production, there is simply no way to make these sound like a normal sized club because they aren't recorded in a venue that is anywhere near that size. While the phrase "it sounds like the musicians are performing in my living room" gets bandied about often times in audiophile circles, I think it really does apply to the CIMP recordings, as that is the acoustical environment they are recorded in. But I wouldn't confuse that with what an ensemble sounds like when playing in an average sized club. And for many listeners therein lies the problem--a jazz trio/quartet/quintet/whatever playing full bore in a small room just doesn't sound all that good to most people, especially when their reference point is a larger jazz club. Forget all the audiophile lingo like instrumental decay, bloom, air, etc. (which these recordings don't have); on most of these it's tough to follow the interplay among the musicians when you can't hear what half of them are doing half the time, particularly the drummers & bassists. I am acquainted with a few musicians that have recorded in the Spirit Room, and they say it takes time to figure out how to play correctly since it is such a different environment. This correlates to my own listening experience of CIMP discs, which is that the more recordings an artist has under his belt at the Spirit Room, the more they seem to be able to coax a cohesive and balanced sound out of the place. I prefer Mapleshade's sonic presentation in the few discs I've heard as compared to CIMP's, but IMHO the music isn't nearly as good. But to each their own--I know a few people who find the sound quality of CIMP to be refreshing, but the majority think they sound amateurish. But I do really like the musical content in CIMP's catalog--it is certainly one of the finest independent American jazz labels around.

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Kimber Kable

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