An important chapter in American music has now been restored by one of the UK's leading restoration engineers, Ted Kendall, who used his CEDAR Cambridge system to rescue recently discovered live recordings of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie performing at the Town Hall, New York on June 22, 1945.
Described by the New York Times as "A staggering find", these recordings had until recently languished as acetates that weren't even known to exist in their entirety. Kendall explains, "Enthusiasts the world over search for Charlie Parker recordings and sometimes they emerge, but usually of terrible quality. The acetate that I received was very rare because it was professionally recorded. Someone - it's unclear who - recorded the concert in superb sound on twin acetate disc recorders, capturing complete performances in the seven-minutes range, with chorus after chorus of brilliant playing. The timing is significant too, because the first bebop themes had just been composed, and these acetates contain two seminal performers playing and improvising over these before they had become stale through repetition."
Along with clicks and crackle (which were removed using the latest CEDAR declickle process) the seven 12" acetates - unearthed at an Elks Lodge in Chelmsford, Mass - had a major problem of a crunching noise caused by a faulty fader during the original recording, and which occurred every time the level was changed. With meticulous use of CEDAR Retouch v3, Kendall was able to remove this noise completely. The result is a piece of history.
CEDAR Audio Limited, 20 Home End, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB21 5BS, United Kingdom. t: +44 1223 881771 f: +44 1223 881778 e: info@cedaraudio.com
Ted Kendall e: sound.restoration@virgin.net
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