Take One – Piltch & Davis + Friends (2015, DSD64) – 2xHD

Take One Piltch & Davis + Friends remastered in 2015 by 2xHD with DSD64 High-resolution audio. This is a truly intimate and personal acoustic Jazz album from two members of the Holly Cole Trio was recorded ‘off the floor’ on an analog 1/2” tape recorder at 30 ips.

The David Piltch & Aaron Davis duo has been appreciated by audiophiles since their early 90s’ performances as part of the Holly Cole Trio in the classic albums “Don’t Smoke In Bed” and “Girl Talk”. Piltch and Davis composed most of these tunes, either individually or together; the album is rounded out with a Steve Earle cover, Kirsty MacColl’s Last Day of Summer and the traditional folk song Black Is the Color (Of My True Love’s Hair).

Bassist David Piltch and pianist Aaron Davis, veterans of Holly Cole’s trio, recorded Take One, their first album together, in 1996 live off the floor with musical friends including David’s brother, the accomplished guitarist Rob Piltch and fellow Holly Cole band member Kevin Breit.

For the recording on this tape, the original 1/4″ 15ips CCIR master tapes were played on a Nagra-T tape recorder, modified with high-end tube playback electronics, wired with OCC silver cables from the playback head direct to a Nick Doshi tube head preamplifier. The Nagra T, with its four direct drive motors, two pinch rollers and a tape tension head, is one of the best transports ever made. A custom-built carbon fiber head block and a head damping electronic system permit 2xHD Fusion to obtain more transparency and better 3D imaging. Your copy was recorded on a Nagra IV-S 1/4″ at 15ips.