J-Soft Blog

Monday, December 16, 2002

Vibes

I never really liked vibraphones, but lately I've warmed up to them. A while ago I was digging through a bunch of records(yes vinyl) that were just collecting dust in the basement, untouched ever since we made the move to this place by the park. One of the jewels I happened upon was Bobby Hutcheson's Dialogue. Bobby Hutcheson being a vibes player, this album naturally has a lot of vibes on it. I originally picked it out because I saw that Freddie Hubbard played on it, and you can never get enough of that Freddie Hubbard sound. So big, so fat, so warm, and with a certain sweetness to it, from the very lowest note to the very highest.

So I picked up the record and put it on. It started, and I could hear the characteristic snap crackle and pop that preceded the music. Despite the background noise, records are possibly the most faithful reproduction of sound in existence. Digital, even at its very best can only hope to achieve finite precision, by which I mean it is limited to a finite number of samples per second. It is at best, approximately what you would have heard, had you been present when the sound was made. Analogue on the other hand achieves infinite precision. It's sample rate is infinite, it is a continuous flow, not a series of snapshots. It preserves the exact waveform of whatever sound you may be listening to.

Back to the topic at hand, the first piece on the record is called Caita. Right from the start I was drawn right into it. It has a driving rhythm, with a touch of a latin feel to it. The rhythm section is tight and relentless. And of course, it has vibes. The piano and vibes complement each other perfectly, their parts intertwined. I found that the vibraphones blended perfectly with the rest of the ensemble, and I really enjoyed what I heard. I found myself liking the sound a lot. And like that I became a fan of the vibes.
posted by Jesse at 2:30 PM #