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This became apparent on yet another classic recording already in my collection - Count Basie’s Chairmen of the Board on Roulette [Birdland Series]. This 1958 date reveals the power and grace of a classic big band. Propelled by Basie’s finest players including Frank Foster, Thad Jones, Frank Wess, Ernie Wilkins, Freddie Green and Sonny Greer, we’re talking state of the art deluxe edition top notch players at the height of their powers. And with Basie that doesn’t mean displaying your chops like a hip-hop mogul flashing gold teeth. It means true grit controlled by grace and power through nuance. Again and again Basie and Co. blast you out of your seat, then gently lift you up further on a pillow of air.
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The 3XLs express this dynamic masterpiece as well as any speaker I’ve heard, sorting out every musical nuance, jumping to attention when bass drum blasts, trumpet splats and sizzling cymbals call for it while Basie’s nimble piano fingers bring it all back to terra firma. This record is alive! As important the 3XLs get the tonality of the crusty LP dead on. The 3XLs are super fast and super refined so as the band jumps into high gear you ride along bedazzled by the music, never its aggression. It’s all about controlling and releasing energy and the 3XLs excel.
Back to the music, Basie is such a blast, his music a constant revelation of shifting dynamics. It’s also the sound of American history, of swing and jazz and superior musicianship. Incredible PRaT. Center stage, Walter Page’s boomy upright bass swings a 4/4 groove. Flutes whistle, piano dances delicately behind the band as it jumps and jumps, suddenly there unleashes a brisk brass ensemble roar, then it settles down behind Cootie Williams' wonderful muted trumpet solo. |
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In today’s era of canned music it’s hard to imagine a trumpet player bringing an audience to its feet but Williams—all of Basie’s musicians really—were masters of crowd control. From whisper beats to full-throttle ensemble blowouts, Basie’s big band remains the standard.
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African influence 50 years on, Group Doueh’s Beatte Harab [Sublime Frequencies] is all belly dancing beats and hand drum excitation, an acoustic band enthralled by modern technology. Digital tomfoolery may be at play but Group Doueh sounds like an all-acoustic live instrumental group caught up in the heat of the performance and if there’s not a gorgeous belly dancer somewhere in the vicinity, I’ll download Chicago’s The Box set to you gratis.
Unlike the Basie recording where you can hear the hall, all that glorious room ambience of perfectly placed big band instruments, Beatte Harab is a compact condensed but very focused digital recording defined in a Pro Tools space. Odds on recorded to a Zoom recorder then mixed in Pro Tools, the LP is tactile and dynamic, chattering instruments dotting circles above, with resonant hand drums below. But the LP’s tiny soundstage reveals the backwards direction digital technology has cornered us into. The 3XLs are only the messengers, delivering the 111s and 000s with crystal clarity, Pro Tooled hand drums kicking my shins like a little girl with punk rocker’s boots.
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In conclusion the DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 3XL is an extraordinary speaker of refinement, power, projection, delicacy, nuance and detail. If the recording possesses these characteristics, the 3XLs will deliver them, no editorializing, no coloration.
Is it neutral? Probably not. Is it rich and overly romantic? Definitely not. The 3XL is über detailed, its crystalline treble, warm midrange and full bass response making almost every LP a delight to listen to (sorry no digits this time, I need a new DAC first). The 3XL casts a wide deep soundstage even in my tiny New York walk-up apartment. And its unerring sense of refinement translates into a sense of relaxation.
At $3.700 (plus $595 for its essential stands which extend the speaker infinite-baffle style for denser midbass and lower reach), you have many speakers to choose from. If this Blue Moon award winner is not on that short list, you are only cheating yourself. And all those LPs you plan to buy in the years ahead.
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