Tickle Toe

I recently obtained a copy of this Benny Carter assortment of tunes and saw that they had been "re-mastered with 24 bit" technology and that the packaging mentioned it being purportedly "stereophonic". Needless to say, I had pretty high expectations. This un-released material was essentially taken from the archives and put out under the venerable Vee-Jay label.Who can fault Benny Carter? The musicianship is great as are the arrangements, but the marketing of this particular recording needs to be criticized for some slightly misleading advertising. Let me be very specific.The recording is not really stereophonic. The bulk of these tracks are basically monaural with very little separation at all. So the bold label "STEREOPHONIC" is not entirely truthful. I listened carefully, but only noticed very minimal separation while at times, the content wavered back and forth a teensy bit between channels. That was all. Hardly a spectacular audio recording with depth and separation, but rather quite an interesting document from the past. It would have been far better if they had simply left off the bold statement of "STEREOPHONIC" in the first place.These recordings could also have been much improved upon with the correct audio restoration tools. I normally do not care if 24 bit technology is used. Honestly, the engineering done in the remastering process is minimal and it shows, particularly if you listen over headphones.So, if you expect ultra high-fidelity and channel separation, based on the premise of the packaging, think again. The product does stand on the merit of its rarity and its place in the career of this outstanding musician and his sidemen.The cd is also rather short in length, due to the selections. Did Vee-Jay only have this much material available? If so, what's up with nearly upper-level pricing?Richard LinksLinks SoundBerkeley, CA