From Scratch + A Tribute to Michael Jackson & Stevie Wonder

Michael Jackson? Stevie Wonder? Quincy Jones? Helge Adam (piano/Rhodes) and Simon Becker-Foss (saxophone) from "From Scratch" are big fans of these soul and pop legends, whose music still sounds like it was just written! Adam and Becker-Foss have long had it in mind to open up a new perspective to the songs of these composers or performers. What medium could be more suitable for this than jazz? This offers the perfect space to immerse the past in new colours. The bandmates of From Scratch, Dieter "Zipper" Schmigelok (drums) and Peter Schwebs (double bass), were immediately on fire for the concept! And because big ideas need big sounds, the band was expanded: The Hanoverians brought Sonja Bittner (vocals), Marvin Zimmermann (trumpet/flugelhorn), Georg Weisbrodt (trombone) and Andi Greiter (percussion), all top-class and internationally experienced musicians, on board and put together a wonderful homage to soul with "Tribute" - powerful, with loving arrangements, fresh grooves, crisp horns and direct live energy!
The cooperation between From Scratch and the Emil Berliner Studios began with a tribute to the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim. Two albums – "Quiet Nights (Full Stage Stereo)" and "Quiet Nights (One Point – Blumlein)" – also attracted a lot of attention outside the audiophile scene. The two LPs, on which the same musicians play the same titles but in different room arrangements with different microphones, not only give a unique insight into the world of recording technology: Although identical in terms of musicians and tracklist, different performances as well as different worlds of emotion and sound were created. For "Tribute", the BMS team around the managing directors, producers and sound engineers Rainer Maillard and Stephan Flock also relies on the most consistent of all recording processes: direct-to-disc mastering. The soulful vocals, the jazzy subtleties and beats that reach out to hip-hop, the fat brass sections and rousing solos... all of this was recorded directly on vinyl – without digital smoothing, mesh and double bottom. This is the only way to capture the pure energy and liveliness of the music that is being created in the moment.
"Tribute", the new sonic highlight of Berliner Meister Schallplatten, was recorded in the Emil Berliner Studios (Studio 1), is cut at 33 rpm and was of course pressed on extremely high-quality 180 gram vinyl at Optimal Media.
Equipment:
- Recording equipment: Custom DGG microphone preamp, ADT fader box, EMT 140 reverb plate
- Microphones: Neumann KMS 104 (vocals), Neumann TLM 170 (trumpet/flugelhorn, saxophone, trombone), Shure Beta 181-BI/piezo pickup (double bass), Sennheiser MKH 800 (piano), Sennheiser MKH 30 (drums), Sennheiser MKH 30 / AKG C414 / Audix D6 (drums)
- Tone head: Neumann VMS 80
- Cutting head: Neumann SX 74
- Cutting Amplifier: Ortofon Amp GO 741

Selections:

Side A
1. Ace (Stevie Wonder, 1976)
2. Human Nature (Steve Porcaro, 1982)
3. Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder, 1985)

Side B
1. Man In The Mirror (Glenn Ballard, 1987)
2. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing (Stevie Wonder, 1973)
3. I Can't Help It (Susaye Green / Stevie Wonder, 1979)