One great jazz album is Concierto by Jim Hall. It was recorded in 1975 and released on CTI. Paul Desmond, Chet Baker, Rolland Hanna, Ron Carter, and Steve Gadd put in beautiful, driving performances. Side 2 is a single cut that may be familiar: Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, arranged here by Don Sebesky. Everyone should have a copy. This is a decent review.

I have five copies. And all five sound like different mixes to me. Instrument placement, balance, spread, and reverb all differ. Here are the different characteristics of the mixes of the song Two’s Blues:

Without a doubt, the Legacy CD is a different mix than the rest: Chet Baker’s trumpet is totally isolated from the other instruments, way out to the right. It sounds real. It also sounds like there is a lot of reverb on it. The cymbals have extra high frequency shimmering unlike the other copies where the cymbals have a more bell-like tone. The snares on the snare drum are prominent and sound like they echo too. More reverb again? Jim Hall’s guitar amp has more tube overdrive-type distortion. I think this is my favorite version, even if these things are synthetic and engineered into the remix. The original LP is my second choice.

The Legacy CD is out of print, but Amazon has a 2008 CD from SBME Special Markets. If this is a budget-priced reissue of the Legacy, I’d grab it if I were you.