Bobby Hutcherson Oblique UHQCD

Numbered, Limited Edition UHQCD!
Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!
With "Dialogue" from 1965, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson made his debut for Blue Note. Hutcherson had already made a name for himself as a versatile backing musician on Blue Note albums from Grant Green's "Idle Moments" to Jackie McLean's "Destination Out" to Eric Dolphy's "Out To Lunch". In fact, Blue Note boss Alfred Lion had brought Hutcherson into the studio in 1963 as the leader for a session with straightforward hard bop, which he did not want to release at the time (it was finally released in 1999 under the name "The Kicker"). A similar fate befell "Oblique", one of only two quartet sessions by the great artist: The album was recorded in 1967, but was not released until 1979! One wonders why, after all, it was considered one of the best albums in Hutcherson's long career. "Oblique" features pioneering pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Albert Stinson, and drummer Joe Chambers. Hutcherson's breezy opener "'Til Then", Hancock's grandiose "Theme From Blow Up" and Chambers' adventurous "Oblique" are highlights of a session that is altogether an incredible journey from hard bop grooves to experimental sound poems.
In the course of the extremely popular "Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series", Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for the analog reissues of Blue Note US such as "Tone Poet" and "Classic Vinyl" - as a limited Japanese UHQCD with OBI Stripe. The original recording session for "Oblique" took place on July 21, 1967 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:

• Bobby Hutcherson, vibes
• Herbie Hancock, piano
• Albert Stinson, bass
• Joe Chambers, drums

Selections:

1. Til Then
2. My Joy
3. Theme From "Blow Up"
4. Subtle Neptune
5. Oblique
6. Bi-Sectional