Years ago, I bought Marc johnson's 'Shades of Jade' when it first came out on iTunes and almost always played it on my iHome clock radio or ear buds. Fast forward years later when a friend played a cut off it on his big system. I literally did not recognize this wonderful recording that I've played dozens of times over the years... it was so much more powerful. I immediately ordered it on CD, I buy most of my music on vinyl and, when I have to, CD now, other than the occasional high resolution download. Little by little, I'm replacing my lower quality downloads with the highest quality I can find. Buying lower quality downloads is a thing of the past for me. 'Shades of Jade' is a wonderful recording... Especially if listened to on CD!
There's no three and half stars, and three might be a bit harsh, so it's four stars from me. I feel guilty. I don't like this album as much as I'm supposed to, and in fact hoped I would. I came in expecting to be blown away, but was instead able only to detect a gentle breeze.
These musicians are all seriously good whenever they play, and the compositions are very nice indeed. Love the gospel-ish 'Raise', and there seems to be half a discful of nice ballads. Despite all of the right ingredients being here, I just find this album low on energy. There seems to be little spark happening, and in the end it's kind of anaemic.
Sco is definitely not in top gear at all, and it all seems so polite. Let me say I am a huge ECM fan and love their sonic genius in the studio. I am also an admirer of everyone involved in this project, but this album doesn't move me. It's a very nice album, to be sure, but for me it doesn't deliver the magic that it could have.
NOTE: This recording is NOT "discontinued by the manufacturer" as stated, but is sadly the victim of someone somewhere who can't be bothered to make it available. It IS available in other parts of the world, and it's a shame that you can't buy it here at Amazon.com at a reasonable price.