Reissue roundup: Audio Fidelity's first reissue plus some Concord Jazz reissues from Groove Note and Pure Audiophile.(The Music)

Although the name "Audio Fidelity" has been used on record labels in the past, this new company bears no relation to those predecessors. It is the brainchild of former DCC president, Marshall Blonstein. As was the case with the original company to use the name, the new Audio Fidelity seeks to provide recordings with the best sound quality possible. To that end, Steve Hoffman, legendary audio engineer, has been put in charge of the company's first remasters, and apparently will be responsible for the lion's share of their future releases, if not all of them. The company has chosen to release their offerings in both heavy vinyl LP and hybrid SACDs.

Mr. Blonstein has priced his nine initial SACD releases at $15.99, which is as much as $9.00 lower than those of competing audiophile-targeted market labels with similar products. While I appreciate the rationale that many of these other companies take in arriving at their pricing policies for such niche products, Audio Fidelity demonstrates that there is enough profit to go around--even after paying for one of the most highly recognized engineers in the business. You might say that it's something like buying your wife a flawless diamond for the price of a cubic zircon on one of those cable channels. Hoffman has discussed the steps he takes to produce his remasters on his own website, www.stevehoffman.tv.

For their first nine releases, the label gives us a taste of vintage blues, rock classics and some interesting jazz sessions. All of these are even more rewarding than I would have thought. They include The Zombies' Greatest Hits (AFZ 001), no stranger to Steve Hoffman, having mastered a CD version for DCC some years ago. This new release reveals that the WAVAC amplifiers Hoffman has used on all of his AF work are more life-like, with what seems to me as a more realistic tonal balance than I hear on the DCC release. These recordings from the early to mid sixties have never sounded better.

Mel Torme's The London Sessions (AFZ 002) is probably the best sounding of these releases from an audiophile's point of view. Although the selection of songs is unusual for The Velvet Fog, his voice comes across with such transparency that you would think he was in the room with you.

Other current releases include, The Best Band I Ever Had, Buddy Rich, (AFZ 003), Latin + Jazz = Cal Tjader, Cal Tjader Quintet, (AFZ 004), Boogie Chillen', John Lee Hooker, (AFZ 005), Sonny Clark Trio, (AFZ 006), Ritchie Valens" Greatest Hits (AFZ 008), Bob James In Hi-Fi (AFZ 009) Man of the World: Reflections on Peter Green AFZ 011), a various ...