HiRez Poll Washington, Grover - WINELIGHT [DVD-A/SACD]

JonUrban · Nov 14, 2004

Please post your thoughts and comments on this 5.1 release from Grover Washington, "Winelight", mixed for 5.1 by Elliot Scheiner, originally available from Elektra on DVD-A (March 2002), and later released by Audio Fidelity as an SACD in February 2015.

When commenting on this disc after January 2015, please note which format you are using to base your vote.

DVD-A Scans:

SACD Scans:

Cai Campbell · Nov 15, 2004

A guilty pleasure! What can I say, I love the smooooth jazz experience every once in a while, and for the genre, it doesn't get any better than this! Also, I LOVE the super-discrete presentation. However, the soundfield is a bit disconcerting at times... coulda been a 10, but I'll have to settle for 9.

Guy Robinson · Nov 21, 2004

Cai Campbell said:
A guilty pleasure! What can I say, I love the smooooth jazz experience every once in a while, and for the genre, it doesn't get any better than this! Also, I LOVE the super-discrete presentation. However, the soundfield is a bit disconcerting at times... coulda been a 10, but I'll have to settle for 9.

Voted 9 as well. Great smooth jazz disc and for this kind of music it doesn't get any better.

Cosmic Debris · Nov 28, 2004

Great Relaxing Smooth Jazz, Commercial Jazz or Whatever you wanna be calling this type of Jazz Music. I always liked Grover's early stuff and the collaboration he did with Bill Withers "Two Of Us". This album sounds great in Surround and I rated it at 9. It uses all channels wisely and sounds full and rich. A nice album to relax to when you fell like something a little mellow.

Eggplant · Nov 30, 2004

Had the vinyl since its December 1980 release, very familiar with it. Brings back memories of my first job in Compton, CA. (uccgh) Never a favorite album, but I enjoy the genre.

That said, the surround sound is terrific. As Cai noted, the "super-discrete" presentation (generally my preference anyway) works very well here. One of the most effective uses of surround is the isolation of subtle percussion in rears (also done effectively in Captain Fantastic's title track and ***** Cat). It's not only dramatic, but simply allows you to hear with a clarity not possible in two-channel.

An 8 for me.

fzappa · May 27, 2008

Very clean and clear. Great content. Get a copy if you like jazz sax.

callmez · Feb 6, 2009

Not my favorite genre, but a great sounding surround disc. I find that it's a good one to put on when I have some work to do and aren't listening intently. A 9.

Very hard to find these days.

Mark Z

ClarkNovak · Mar 25, 2009

Beautiful, beautiful job on the mix. Especially on the title track, where the intro just pops at you from all four corners... lovely work. I'm not a fan of "smoove jazzz", but Grover predates that genre, from a time when jazz and soul were very much intertwined, and so his work is very accessible to me. Plus he blows a mean axe!

JonUrban · Mar 25, 2009

Elliott Schiener did the mix on this, and on many of the Acura TL demo discs, he introduces this track by doing a track by track introduction. Just like the old quad demo's, you get "Here's the jazz guitar in the front left, now some percussion in the rear right" as he plays each track individually building up to the full, 5.1 surround mix. It's very cool!!

Ge Someone · Apr 6, 2009

Very nice sound and mix, also the collaboration with Ralph McDonald and Bill Withers spawned the Grammy winning hit "Two of Us".

Ick · Apr 8, 2009

"Just the two of us" has probably the best kick drum EQ of any album. It really stands out in high rez.

Love the whole album. Get it if you can!

Eggplant · Apr 8, 2009

Ick said:
"Just the two of us" has probably the best kick drum EQ of any album.

The epitome of the "wet" kick sound popularized in the late 70's.
Don't know who invented it -- I'd guess that engineer who worked for Doug Sax that loved close-miking drums.

Too bad, like all good things, it went out with the times.

OTOH, I could really do without the obnoxious snap-bass.

dbmay75 · Jun 4, 2009

One of my most commonly played discs. Gorgeous fidelity, discrete in just the right places. Short, but very sweet. Scheiner strikes again! A 10!

Dan

fredblue · May 29, 2012

A "10".. all the way..!!

If I could be buried with this DVDA I would.

Absolute demo material mix, the fidelity is incredible too!

I used this recently to help calibrate a new 5.1 system for someone, they loved it and were only sad it's now so hard to get for sensible money!

Firmly in my Top 10 All-Time surround music discs! For all-time! Ever!

LizardKing · May 31, 2012

fredblue said:
A "10".. all the way..!!

If I could be buried with this DVDA I would.

Absolute demo material mix, the fidelity is incredible too!

.....

You need to make it official in this thread

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...will-they-put-in-your-coffin&highlight=coffin

fredblue · May 31, 2012

LizardKing said:
You need to make it official in this thread

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...will-they-put-in-your-coffin&highlight=coffin

haha! Brilliant!

The Bright Side · May 31, 2012

Actually, the Winelight DVD-A is still among the cheaper ones! Got it for ~40 Euros in March (well my brother and sister gave it to me as a belated xmas present), and it's currently on amazon.com for 65 bucks. Very beautiful album, had it on CD for quite a while and am really glad about this update, not just for the great sonics and mix (Scheiner! ahh), but also for the fact that "Just the two of us" was missing a few bars in the middle (before the instrumental break) on my CD version.

fredblue · May 31, 2012

The Bright Side said:
Actually, the Winelight DVD-A is still among the cheaper ones! Got it for ~40 Euros in March (well my brother and sister gave it to me as a belated xmas present), and it's currently on amazon.com for 65 bucks. Very beautiful album, had it on CD for quite a while and am really glad about this update, not just for the great sonics and mix (Scheiner! ahh), but also for the fact that "Just the two of us" was missing a few bars in the middle (before the instrumental break) on my CD version.

very true but I'm in jolly old England ya see, where the Winelight DVDA seldom comes up cheap.

there are 3 copies of the Winelight DVDA on Amazon UK right now, priced at a whopping £83.75, £83.76 and £226.83.
(that works out at anywhere between $129.70 and $351.29).

Plus I didn't want my friends' first experience of buying into Multichannel music to be a potentially fraught import purchase with possible customs charges/hassles, etc...

So, I steered her towards the more readily available (all 4 of them..!!) high-res MC SACDs/DVDA/V's in this country, that you can pick up in HMV, etc.

Those, for the record, are Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon SACD, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms SACD, Jeff Waynes' The War of the Worlds SACD and Queen's A Night at the Opera DVD-V .

fredblue · May 31, 2012

I've omitted to mention, i didn't recommend the also readily-available King Crimson DVDA's or Steven Wilson-related stuff to my friend, nor the recent Who/Tull box sets, or the ELO/Freehand Quads as none of that music is her thing.

JonUrban · Jan 23, 2015

Interesting 'Winelight' tidbit: The song "In the Name of Love" from this album was modified by removing most of Grover's Sax and replacing it with a Bill Withers vocal, then released by Ralph MacDonald - who played on the Winelight album.

Never knew that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GjXfDdhhnw

HiRez Poll Washington, Grover - WINELIGHT [DVD-A/SACD]

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Rate the DVD-A/SACD of Grover Washington - WINELIGHT

10: A Classic Disc - A must have!

9:

8:

7:

6:

5:

4:

3:

2: Forget it, Get the CD

1: Waste of plastic

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