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Title: Wonderful music wonderfully reproduced
Review: Well I guess there's a wide range of tastes when it comes to remastered 78-era recordings. I have thousands of recordings from this era and if I had to pick one of the best remastering jobs it would be this set (incidentally, if I had to pick one of the worst it would be the Sony/Columbia "Okeh recordings" set praised by another reviewer!). The set was remastered by Stephen Lasker, one of the best in the business in my opinion. Surface hiss is audible, but that's the price to pay for having music that retains its full range and dynamics. Most of the recordings I have heard that have had this hiss removed sound flat and sometimes even muffled (again, the Sony/Columbia "Okeh recordings" set sounds particularly lifeless). However, I'm willing to concede that this is a matter of taste. As for the music, it is truly wonderful - some of the best of Duke Ellington's early work.
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