Gene Russell – New Direction

I am shocked that no one has commented on or changed the fact that Tony “William” links to Tony Williams on this Discogs page, even though the reissue insert clearly says it’s unlikely him, in 1984 he even said “I’m a drummer. I don’t play maracas; I don’t play congas”. This is the extent to my research however.

Agree with the review below that the drums sound thin and arguably too loud in the mix but I’ll also diverge and say that the separation is phenomenal and the bass sounds full and immaculate.

Great tunes and performances, but the recording and possibly the mastering is not quite up to the rest of the Black Jazz remaster standards - too much Van Gelder style "dual mono" with the drums hard panned to the left with a too-quiet bass in the right channel, and an overall tinny and thin sound to the album. As it is, this version feels like it is not quite living up to the music's potential.

Does anyone know if there are any plans to do a regular black vinyl press of this? I now have 3 of these Black Jazz reissues and each one I love more than the last. Bummed I missed this one.

Edit: It looks like some places have a preorder up for the black vinyl release! Looking forward to adding this one! And I have a lot more than 3 of these now...

Nice looking lp sound is great, the music is awesome, glad to grab this one!

Is anyone elses backside cover completely upside down? Not sure if that's a manufacturing mistake or purposeful.