The arrival of Lyn Stanley‘s latest album, Black Dress Ballads, just so happened to coincide with the arrival of an impressive new vinyl rig–the J. Sikora Initial Max turntable with two 12″ tonearms. Whenever I make a radical change in my analog playback chain, I often ask that familiar question, “What LP will I play first?” In this case, I chose Lyn’s new album for several reasons. First, the software and the hardware showed up within a couple of days of each other so it seemed like an obvious choice, and second, Lyn’s albums always sound so spectacular, and yet so natural. This might be one of the most accomplished analog rigs I’ve hosted, and I wanted to christen it with something I’ll always remember.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
Lyn sent me the “SuperSonic One Steps” deluxe version of Black Dress Ballads, a three-disc 45rpm box set pressed using a one-step mastering process. (I have #178 out of 300 of this very limited edition, but other formats are coming.) Most of the album’s 22 tracks have appeared on other Lyn Stanley albums, but in this case these jazz standards have arrangements that should evoke romance. “Each track on this album has been meticulously selected to create an intimate atmosphere,” Lyn explains in the liner notes, “perfect for a romantic dinner or a night of introspection.”
Black Dress Ballads is fully committed to this theme, so much so that the enclosed color booklet includes a section devoted to Lyn’s romantic dinner recipes–rack of lamb, steak au poivre, fresh salmon and even a vegetarian quiche. The instructions are beyond thorough, focusing on the unique importance of this night, and they even include diagrams of table settings–with and without salad. There’s even a metric conversion table for overseas fans who want to try the recipes.
Your average audiophile may not care about checking the lamb for doneness while listening to Black Dress Ballads–“it should bounce back a little”–but rather how these jazz standards were laid down. First of all, Bernie Grundman is once again Lyn’s mastering engineer, and the all-star cast of recording and mixing engineers include Al Schmitt, Allen Sides, Tommy Vacari, Bill Schnee and Spencer Guerra. As usual, Lyn has selected the cream of the crop when it comes to her band members, everyone from pianist Mike Garson, guitarist John Chiodini, drummer Bernie Dresel, bassist Chuck Berghofer and many, many more–even the Budapest Scoring String Orchestra.
That’s the magic of Black Dress Ballads. There is so much variety in the arrangements–“The Man I Love” is given the big band treatment, “Blue Moon” and “Body and Soul” are captured live, and every other song seems to feature something new in terms of accompaniment. You’ve heard almost all of these songs before, but Lyn always finds something new to add. Even George Harrison’s “Something” is delivered in a unique, upbeat and energetic manner–even though I usually shy away from Beatles covers like the plague, I sat through this one to the end.
There are two sides to reviewing Black Dress Ballads, however. There’s the sonic side, where I talk about the incredible sound quality of this LP pressing (I still get endless thrills from listening to her direct-to-disc Live at Bernie’s and consider it as one of my ultimate demo discs). In addition to the Sikora turntable and tonearms, my system also included a Koetsu Urushi Black on one arm and a ZYX Ultimate Airy X on the other, an Allnic Audio H-6500 phono pre, the Burmester 909 Mk. 5 power amplifier and 088 preamplifier, and the YG Acoustics Sonja 2.3 loudspeakers. It’s the most ambitious review system I’ve built. The sound quality of Black Dress Ballads is nothing short of tremendous, as all audiophiles suspect, and more than once it occurred to me that this might be the best sounding Lyn Stanley LP of them all.
I had another thought as well, that this might my favorite performance from Lyn as well. When I reviewed her last album, Novel Noel, I thought I heard a more serious side to her voice. The playfulness was still there, but tempered with the weight of everything that was going on in the world in 2022. On Black Dress Ballads, I hear something more than seriousness. I hear focus. I hear Lyn reaching deeper than before to deliver something that’s truly memorable. I’m sure I’ll be using Black Dress Ballads for a reference in the next score of equipment reviews, and I’m also sure my opinion of it will evolve over time as I discover new things. But after a few days of listening and comparing and doing the equipment reviewer schtick, I’m already highly impressed. I know this will stay in the rotation for a long time.
Looking forward to a more in-depth review. I have all her vinyl albums…#4 Ballads (from the lottery)