Hey all, Zenph Studios has just reached another great milestone: Our second album with Sony BMG hits the streets today. This album marks the first time Zenph Studios has analyzed and re-performed a jazz artist, and not just any jazz artist. the legendary pianist Art Tatum.

From the press release:

Art Tatum’s “Piano Starts Here” album contains material that has been in print for more than 50 years. Yet the original, an incomparable jazz album that highlights the mastery of this singular musician, had been marred by nominal sound quality and other imperfections — until now.

Zenph’s unique technique turns audio recordings into live performances that precisely replicate the original recording, but offer vastly improved sound quality. Listeners are transported back to the moment of creation and experience Tatum’s playing as if they were in the room when the original recordings were made.

Last year, Sony BMG and Zenph Studios re-recorded Tatum’s 1949 concert at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. They placed the piano on the same stage in the same spot that Tatum played and recorded a flawless re-performance on modern equipment before a live audience.

SONY BMG’s new disc is a hybrid surround-sound SACD/CD disc, which plays on all traditional CD players and sounds magnificent on Super Audio (SACD) players. It also includes a binaural version of the re-performance that provides an immersive experience. When listened to with headphones, it replicates what Tatum would have heard while he sat on the piano bench.

The Zenph re-performance also corrects several problems with the original album. For one thing, playback speed was too slow on 12 of the 13 tracks, so after Zenph fixed the tempo, you hear that Tatum actually played faster than has been thought.

And, thanks to Tatum discographer Arnold Laubich, Zenph has restored about two minutes of lost material. The original album omits excerpts from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” which Tatum performed at the concert during the track now titled “The Man I Love.”

I have had the privilege of working on this album from start to finish: it has been an intense and insightful process involving the cutting edge of both computer algorithms and musicology. My name is in the credits for the research and production team, so technically, this is my major label debut :-).

You can purchase the album at Zenph’s online store, Amazon.com. iTunes, or any major music retailer. Please comment back and let me know what you think of the new album, or if you have any questions about the Zenph re-performance process. Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Zenph Studios. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.