Grachan Moncur III

Evolution Grachan Moncur III Japan Import edition

Although he began working with Blue Note in 1963 and contributed to Herbie Hancock's album “My Point Of View”, trombonist Grachan Moncur III made his official debut on the renowned American label a year later with the albums “One Step Beyond” and “Destination... Out!” by legendary saxophonist Jackie McLean. These two innovative sessions presented a broad and completely new sound that moved eclectically between avant-garde jazz and post-bop, with McLean interpreting Grachan Moncur III's very personal compositions. A few months later, Moncur returned to Rudy Van Gelder's recording studio to record his remarkable debut album “Evolution”, which remains one of the most valuable gems in the Blue Note catalog to this day.

For this record, the trombonist assembled an extraordinary band that included several jazz greats, including McLean, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, and drummer Tony Williams, complemented by trumpeter Lee Morgan and double bassist Bob Cranshaw. The Penguin Guide to Jazz describes the album as “a refreshing and intellectually stimulating set,” commenting, “The entire record has a dark, mysterious quality that the deeper trombone sound... strongly accentuates”.

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US's analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Evolution” took place on November 21, 1963 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan's first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.