Lonnie Smith Turning Point UHQCD

Numbered, Limited Edition UHQCD!
Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!
"Dr." Lonnie Smith, who is undoubtedly considered one of the most brilliant and creative organists of all time, first came into contact with Blue Note thanks to alto saxophonist Lee Donaldson. He had participated in some of the most important soul-jazz albums he recorded in the late 1960s – including "Alligator Bogaloo", "Mr. Shing-A-Ling" and "Midnight Creeper", all three of which became immortal classics of the genre. Smith didn't take long to be asked to sign the contract with Blue Note and immediately began recording, starting with "Think", the album with which he made his debut for the American label in 1968. In January of the following year, Smith returned to Rudy Van Gelder's recording studio to record his second album for Blue Note, "Turning Point" – with a dynamic six-piece band that included a high-profile frontline including trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Julian Priester and tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin. The rhythm section was reinforced by guitarist Melvin Sparks and rousing drummer Leo Morris, who went down in jazz history under the name Idris Muhammad.
The five tracks of this album, produced by Francis Wolff, begin with a polished reinterpretation of Don Covay's "See Saw", a piece that was made successful the year before by Aretha Franklin. Other classics on "Turning Point" include the laid-back "People Sure Act Funny" by Titus Turner and Bobby Robinson and an imaginative, soulful reimagining of "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles. The program is completed by two original pieces by Smith, including the smoky "Slow High" and the epic title track.
As part of the hugely popular Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series, Universal Music Japan presents the sonically stunning remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US's analog reissues such as "Tone Poet" and "Classic Vinyl" – as a limited Japan-exclusive UHQCD with OBI Stripe. The original recording session for "Turning Point" took place on January 3, 1969 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. UHQCDs, unlike conventional CDs, are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. To protect the softer photopolymer from scratching, another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied. The combination results in a significantly reduced reflection of the laser light inside the CD and an unrivalled precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with normal CD players. Musically, the result is a sound that is strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.
While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now being released with increasing popularity. Typically, the master tapes of the Universal Archive are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not have a SACD player.

Features:

• Numbered, Limited Edition
• Made in Japan
• Superior Crystal Sound
• Ultimate High Quality CD
• XRCD-Like Luxury Digipak
• Playable on conventional CD players

Musicians:

• Lee Morgan, trumpet
• Julian Priester, trombone
• Bennie Maupin, tenor sax
• Melvin Sparks, guitar
• Lonnie Smith, organ
• Leo Morris, drums

Selections:

1. Seesaw
2. Slow High
3. People Sure Act Funny
4. Eleanor Rigby
5. Turning Point