FIM owner and producer Winston Ma recorded the album Autumn in Seattle in 2001, initially
releasing it in the audiophile XRCD2 processing format. In 2012, after hearing
a number of newer audiophile mastering processes like SACD, XRCD24, K2HD, and
DXD, Winston decided he had found one that genuinely improved upon the sound of
XRCD2. He calls it UltraHD, a 32-bit mastering formula that does, indeed, sound
different and in some ways better than his earlier release. We’ll look at the
sound in a minute; first, the music.
Pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto has been a jazz artist for
decades, and in ‘01 Winston persuaded him to do new renditions of some of his
most-popular material for the album Autumn
in Seattle. His accompanists are Ken Kaneko on bass and Toshio Osumi on
drums. Winston describes the title tune as “warm, peaceful, even romantic,” and
that pretty much sums all the music on the disc.
The first item is Marvin Hamlisch’s “The Way We Were” from
the 1973 movie of the same name. The manner in which Yamamoto plays it, it
sounds as laid back and friendly as most of us remember it from the film. Even
more easygoing is Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
which takes flight from the outset under Yamamoto and never lets go.
Then we come to the title tune itself, “Autumn in
Seattle,” which Yamamoto wrote specifically for the album. It’s sweetly
atmospheric, and like the other numbers, it is all Yamamoto and his piano,
which is lightly resonant and expressively lyrical. He follows “Autumn” with
“Misty,” a perennial favorite, only this time he takes it at a “more
energetic,” upbeat tempo than he says he usually does. His seeming
improvisations breathe new life into an old warhorse, and he allows his sidemen
to introduce the piece. Although it won’t be to everyone’s liking because the
cherished melody is often hardly discernible, it does take on a pleasant verve
of its own.
And so it goes through another half dozen tunes, mostly
music from motion pictures: “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,” the theme from Spartacus, a medley from The Sound
of Music, “A Time for Us” from Romeo
and Juliet, and one of own preferences, “As Time Goes By,” featured in Casablanca. Dooley Wilson, who couldn’t
play the piano, would have been proud.
Probably the best, and best-sounding, track in the album,
though, is “No Problem,” which Yamamoto says inspired him in high school to
become a jazz pianist after hearing a version by Art Blakey. The tune allows
Yamamoto to demonstrate a wide flexibility of tone and color and provides
opportunity for his accompanists to shine as well.
FIM made the recording in 2001 in Onkio Haus, Tokyo,
Japan, and audio engineer Michael Bishop remastered it in 2011 via FIM’s
UltraHD 32-bit processing system. The original analog recording, done on a
Studer A829, is extremely plush and very dynamic, with good air, ambience, and
transparency. The piano sounds especially lifelike in its transient response,
and the music exhibits taut bass and extended highs. Does the new version sound
better than FIM’s earlier XRCD mastering? Yes, in some ways, particularly in
its velvety smoothness. However, I also found it subtly warmer, slightly
softer, and a tad richer, which may or may not be a condition of the master
tape. Certainly, it makes the album easy on the ear.
