David Manley, Recordings (High Resolution Audio)

1. CATANO S.Bunch M.Bambino "Sekou" 4'48" 

Tom MacMorran: piano Doc Powell: guitar Rayford Griffin: drums 

Bill Summers: percussion Keith Jones: fretless bass Sekou Bunch: tenor bass

2. B.B. Doc Powell "The Doctor" 8'24" 

Doc Powell: guitar Rodney Franklin: piano Reggie Hamilton: bass Michael Baker: drums

3. SO HAPPY R. Greenidge, S. Bunch, M. Jackson "Munyungo" 5’17”

Munyungo Jackson: percussion Frances Awe: percussion Lenny Castro: percussion Maurice Dosso: percussion Angel Figueroa: percussion Bill Summers: percussion 

Rabia Rayford: percussion & voice Todd Cochran: piano Michael O'Neill: guitar 

Sekou Bunch: bass Robert Greenidge: steel pans Rayford Griffin: drums & cymbals

4.  AMBIDEXTROUS Eddie Harris "James" 3’11”

James Leary: Hawkes-Panormo (England 1908) John Clayton: unknown French rarity Reggie Hamilton: Pollman (German- modern) Al McKibbon: Steiner (circa 1620)

Fred Tinsley: Bella Rosa (Italy-modern) Todd Cochran: piano Clayton Cameron: drums

5. BEHIND THE MASK T.Cochran "Todd" 6’29”

Todd Cochran: piano, vocal James Leary: bass Clayton Cameron: drums

6. DONT' SAY R.Freeman-Smith R.Strykert P.Hyde "Moonglow" 4’04”

Karen Knowles: vocals Frank Crawford: piano, keyboard Bruce Bishop: acoustic guitar Darek Oles: bass Josh Sklair: electric & acoustic guitars Efrain Toro: drums & percussion Sam Sklair: arranger, M.D. Vickie Leigh, Bruce Bishop: backing vocals

7.  JUST MAYBE S.Sklair "Virgo" 5’16”

Sam Sklair: arranger, M.D., clarinet Josh Sklair: electric & acoustic guitars

Reggie Hamilton: bass Frank Crawford: keyboards Jack Le Compte: drums

Efrain Toro: drums & percussion Larry Klimas: tenor sax Bob Summers: trumpet & flugel

8. CANTOS DE LOS GITANOS K.Briggs "Karen" 5’21”

Violin: Karen Briggs, Charlie Bisharat, Mark Cargill, Harry Scorzo Jimbo Ross: viola 

Milcho Leviev: piano David Romero: percussion Nedra Wheeler: string bass

Russ Henry: drums

9. BABY PLEASE DON'T GO J.Williams "Main liners" 3'06 " 

Brown Burnett: vocals, Mississippi sax Jim Christopher: guitar (1934 National Duolian)

Bruce Bishop: guitar Jack Le Compte: drums Bill Von Ravensberg: bass

Frank Crawford: keyboards Josh Sklair: guitar Sam Sklair: percussion Vickie Leigh: vocals

10. INTO THE NIGHT V.Leigh, B.Bishop "More Vickie" 3'31" 

Vickie Leigh: vocals Bruce Bishop: guitar Josh Sklair: guitar Frank Crawford: piano & organ Jack Le Compte: drums Bill Von Ravensberg: bass

Conceived, recorded and produced by Giulio Cesare Ricci

Recorded in ster4eo Direct Stream Digital (DSD) on the Pyramix recorder using dCS A/D

And D/A converters

DSD > PCM Signoricci Technology

The heart and soul of any recorded sound must surely be the acoustical properties of the room or hall itself, and the microphones being used within that acoustic. I designed the acoustics of the VITAL studio in Chino California, for 'purist' recording-techniques only, with all the music played 'live' and captured straight onto 2 stereo tracks … Measuring 40 ft x 30 ft with a cathedral - peak ceiling of 16 ft height, the entire acoustic treatment is finished in Oregon Oak and Douglas Fir timbers with continuous Helmholtz tuned resonance absorbing slots. The floor is rubber over high-density particle board over concrete with a resultant reverberation time of approximately 11/2 seconds, providing a totally neutral and resonance-free acoustic. Every single piece of equipment in the (entirely tube, entirely analogue) recording chain is of my designed is built in our factory in Chino. Somewhat unusually, this includes the microphones themselves. The MANLEY 'GOLD REFERENCE' STEREO CONDENSER microphone is the centerpiece for this recording. The Manley microphone is of the so-called 'large capsule' variety and has a diameter of 11/4 inches with 3-microngold-deposition My LA diaphragms.

The stereo version has one fixed capsule and one rotatable capsule which offers a continuously variable 'pick-up pattern'. I most of ten choose the 'figure of 8' in the classic Blumlein coincident crossed pair mode. For our own recordings we use custom versions of the 'REFERENCE GOLD' microphone. The entire vacuum tube amplification is built into the microphone body, (8 triodes in the stereo microphone!), and no transformer coupling or external amplifications used at all. The unity-gain mixer is based around the MANLEY REFERENCE pre-amplifier and can mix up to 10 microphones into 2 busses. Mixing of microphones is achieved by each in put having it's own dedicated grid, and not by the usual "pot and build-out resistor" methods found in every console in use in the recording industry. No equalization of any kind is employed. (although we do have MANLEY PULTECS and SHELF-PARAMETRIC Equalizers on hand to patch in if needed, say with electronic based instruments that might be played on a rock or pop session). All fixed wiring in the patch-bay studio and control room is VTL'Whitewire-3 x pure copper and 2 x silver core sin Teflon. We fully updated the mechanics in the 1/2inch 2-track Studer C37 analogue tape deck which contains only our Manley pure tube circuitry. At 15 Ip this machine is flat from 20 HZ to 20 KHZ ± 0.2 dB. AGFA type 468 tape was used at 200 nano- Webers. But run somewhat on the 'hot' side, (+5dB), without any kind of nosier education. Again, we chose to accept a small amount of tape hiss. In preference to the sterility and inherent phase-shift distortion produced by (solid- state) noise reduction.