this is a very old label that i'm mostly interested in for old jazz releases, before it got merged into the major label latrine. columbia was bought by sony in the late 80s in a series of convoluted processes. the 7464 code is used for several types of columbia releases.
other sony labels:
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the contemporary jazz masters remaster series was a series of high quality remasters of records from the substantive columbia records jazz back catalog that were remastered from the mid 80s to early 90s and released in the 7464 4 xxxx series, before sony sadly shut it down as a symptom of the widespread decline in american culture that defined the 1980s. the purpose of this remaster series was to improve the sound quality of the existing for-vinyl masters for release on the then new digital cd format, which was able to retain a higher fidelity reproduction of the original tape recordings than the for-vinyl masters did. i want to be clear about this: columbia might have saved a lot of money by just transferring the existing for-vinyl analog masters to cd via a direct recording process, but it instead invested in remastering it's back catalog of even then classic recordings (and today even more classic recordings) for use with the new digital technology to do things like decrease noise and distortion in the master and improve the frequency range for use with digital reproduction.
it is not widely understood that record players are very bad at reproducing higher frequencies, and trying just produces hiss, so for-vinyl masters are often low passed at cut-offs well within hearing ranges, often around 15 khz v the 20-22 khz on the cd master, which removes very noticeable harmonics and interference patterns and actually results not just in lower grade reproduction but actually in a kind of synthetic sound on instruments in the higher range, like percussion. this is the primary reason many consumers reacted badly to cds - the absence of the low pass filter introduced a broader frequency spectrum and consumers didn't understand why so they said it sounded "tinny" or "harsh". this might matter less for boring pop music that has minimal or simple percussion (like disco or folk), but the fact that jazz and classical records often have complex percussion sections means that the for-vinyl masters completely cut important parts of the recordings out, which then eventually had to be mixed back in from the original masters during digital remastering to get a proper reproduction, in the absence of the aggressive low pass at 15 khz or even lower. but consumers still just complained it was 'tinny' or 'harsh' because they didn't understand. the vinyl playback mechanism also does more accurately reproduce a live experience in a small room, where the low frequencies bounce off the walls and dominate the sound. that's true, and it also affected how people responded, but that's the difference between a small room concert (v an open air concert, where the higher frequencies are more audible) and a studio recording, and musicians know that and mix accordingly and active listeners know that musicians know that and listen accordingly.
this release series was remastered from scratch for cd and brought back the full spectrum in the original tape recordings without the audio degradation introduced into the low passed for-vinyl masters to adjust for the playback mechanism being weak. however, the mixed consumer response (mostly by non-musicians) led to record companies revisiting the decision to remaster from source and reverting to the low passed vinyl mixes for re-release on cd, for profit. for that reason, releases in this series are highly sought after by audio-focused collectors that want the best possible release quality for their classic jazz recordings. you should instantly grab anything with the jazz masters logo on it, as you should expect it to be a recording that was identified as compositionally substantial, and then remastered with intent to maximize use of the new higher fidelity technology, with clean reproduction in the 15-22khz range, which is essentially impossible using vinyl playback technology and was subsequently just low passed out of the for-vinyl analog masters (generally). cds are also better at producing frequencies at the bottom of the frequency range, which are also often filtered out in the for-vinyl analog masters and which had to also be rebuilt from the master tapes for release as digital audio.
or you can listen to your crappy old vinyl recordings that you mortgaged your house to buy, and that anybody without shit both in their ears and between their ears can instantly tell sounds like garbage.
most record labels didn't and don't bother putting the effort into it. this release series did and is still identified by people that care for doing so. unfortunately, consumers are stupid people in aggregate, and didn't care then, let alone are they going to care now, so these releases are somewhat obscure all of these years later when they should be dominant and status quo. it's just yet another failure for american capitalism. but you're in for a treat when you do find them, if you have the equipment to enjoy them with.
contemporary jazz masters remaster series (7464 4-):
| # | artist | title | original label | original release date | remaster release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-5480 | antonio carlos jobim | stone flower | cti | 1970 | 1990 |
