Click Here for Sound Samples! Numbered, Limited Edition Ultra High Definition 32-Bit Mastering Import CDs Produced Using PureFlection Process! This Ultra HD 32-Bit Mastering CD will play on ALL CD players!
This is an Audiophile Must-Have! A Fantastic Meeting of 3 Extraordinary Guitarists is one of the Most Influential of ALL Live Acoustic Guitar Albums! Spectacular Sonics!
Friday Night In San Francisco is a 1981 live album by Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia. It was described by jazz author and critic Walter Kolosky as "a musical event that could be compared to the Benny Goodman Band's performance at Carnegie Hall in 1938...[it] may be considered the most influential of all live acoustic guitar albums." All the tracks except Guardian Angel were recorded live at The Warfield Theatre on December 5, 1980 in San Francisco. This debut recording on Columbia Records became a landmark recording that surpassed the two million mark in sales. The three virtuosos in the Trio toured together from 1980 through 1983.
Ah the Mediterranean... Filled with fine foods, wines, beautiful people, and the inspirational style of music that descended upon the able fingers of these guitar giants. This is by far one of the hottest guitar albums ever to bless sweet vinyl. Al Dimeola, John McLaughlin, & Paco Delucia play classical guitars (the kind with the nylon strings) in a flamenco / jazz style that will blow your socks off! Recorded live in concert in San Francisco this album has spectacular sonics and musicianship to boot! An audiophile must have!
Paco de Lucia was a Spanish flamenco guitarist, composer and producer. A leading proponent of the New Flamenco style, he helped legitimize flamenco among the establishment in Spain, and was one of the first flamenco guitarists to have successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz. De Lucia was noted for his fast and fluent fingerstyle runs. His collaborations with guitarists John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola saw him gain wider popularity outside his native Spain.
Al Di Meola is an acclaimed jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist, composer, and record producer. With a musical career that has spanned more than three decades, he has become respected as one of the most influential guitarists in jazz to date. Albums such as Friday Night In San Francisco have earned him both artistic and commercial success with a solid fan base throughout the world. A prolific composer and prodigious six-string talent, Di Meola has amassed over 20 albums as a leader while collaborating on a dozen or so others.
John McLaughlin is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer. His music includes many genres of jazz and rock, which he coupled with an interest in Indian classical music to become one of the pioneering figures in fusion. In 2010, guitarist Jeff Beck called him "the best guitarist alive." In 2003, McLaughlin was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." After contributing to several key British groups of the early sixties and making his first solo record, he moved to the US where he played with Tony Williams' group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his landmark electric-jazz fusion albums: In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, A Tribute To Jack Johnson and On The Corner.
"Loose and spontaneous, this (mainly) live album is a meeting of three of the greatest guitarists in the world for an acoustic summit the likes of which the guitar-playing community rarely sees. Broken up into three duo and two trio performances, Friday Night in San Francisco catches all three players at the peaks of their quite formidable powers." - www.allmusic.com
"I was there and can testify that it was the most exciting guitar concert I have ever heard. It was an unusual setup, with just three acoustic guitarists and nothing else. This far predated the MTV “Unplugged” series, and the audience obviously went wild during all the selections... the concert is absolutely jaw-dropping. The non-stop friendly guitar dueling starts with the very first track and only lets up briefly for breathing space during some of the other tracks. All three guitarists throw off machine-gun fast runs up and down the strings that have the audience going crazy at times... It was certainly a very great night and is beautifully preserved on these recordings." - John Sunier, audaud.com
A Better CD Production Process - The Pure Reflection (PureFlection) Process:
FIM UHD CDs now sound undeniably better than ever! FIM's first priority is to locate a factory that at offers the latest technologies throughout its entire production chain, from the best A-grade polycarbonate materials, to testing and accurate quality control tools. The factory must produce a detailed specification sheet which ensures the discs produced demonstrate the same quality as the original recording.To assure us of the best results, FIM has enlisted the help of one of the most experienced mastering engineers in the industry to craft the glass disc for the final replication process. Winston Ma continually maintains close rapport with him, as well as the original recording engineers, the mastering engineers and the manufacturer to achieve consensus regarding musicality and the sound spectrum.
FIM's glass mastering-disc engineer maintains expertise in the latest technologies: he currently uses a special blu-ray recordable mastering thermal process technique to create small smooth grooves which result in precision fidelity. He is meticulous in ensuring the best track pitch and the distance between the spiral of the pits, to reduce the amount of noise the tracking servo in the drive picks up from adjacent tracks, thus ensuring the best parameters on Cross Talk (XT) by minimizing the servo noise of the Drive during playback of the replica results.
To further ensure the best quality, FIM stipulates the most extensive test specification requirements. Pure Reflection (PureFlection) discs show in every CD booklet the full spectrum of specification of a given CD in the following categories:
BLER (17 items), BERL (9 items), Physical (6 items), Jitter (6 items), E22 Graph and BLER Graph
The concept of UHD 32-Bit PureFlection is the transformation of a superior sound into something truly exceptional, enhancing the experience without interfering in it. Sit back, relax and listen to the new sound of a UHD 32-Bit PureFlection CD!
Ultra High Definition 32-Bit Mastering!
Ultra High Definition 32-Bit Mastering is a proprietary ultra-high-quality mastering system. This leading-edge system has achieved unprecedented sonority and musicality, reproducing as closely as possible the sound of the original master tape! This format employs what is currently the highest attainable resolution bit depth (word length) in the professional audio field, i.e. 32-bit. 32-bit resolution makes possible maximized, undistorted dynamics, and the lowest noise floor, allowing even the quietest musical information to be heard more clearly. This breakthrough results from the development, through years of experience and application of advanced digital technology, of a sophisticated A/D and D/A processing system.Ultra HD 32-Bit Mastering does not specify a sampling rate; this allows flexibility in meticulously choosing the appropriate bandwidth for a particular recording. The higher the sampling rate -- for example, 192 kHz -- the greater the bandwidth. However, merely employing the greatest bandwidth may not guarantee the ultimate sound. With some recordings, a lower sampling rate -- 96 or 176 kHz -- may offer better musicality and more homogeneous harmonics. This determination requires careful and discerning auditioning and professional judgment. In the end, the human beingÂ’s hearing and emotions should be the final arbiter, rather than the print-out of testing equipment or technical measurements.
Recognizing these variables, FIM nevertheless tries to use 32-bit depth and 192 kHz bandwidth whenever the original analog master is at hand. Alternatively, if the original recording is on 24/96, the 32/96 may eventually be used to maintain the integrity of the sonority particular to that recording. With this flexibility, First Impression Music believes that preeminent sound is only achievable when the chemistry of the recording, mastering, glass-stamper making, replication, and quality control is right. As always, listening is believing.
This recording has been mastered by the new Ultra High Definition 32-Bit Mastering process, which creates an unbelievable sound surpassing other formats!
The benefits of Ultra HD 32-Bit Mastering:
• Ambience of Analogue Sound
• Higher Resolution
• Undistorted Dynamics
• The Lowest Noise Floor, allowing even the quietest musical information to be heard more clearly!
• Richer Sound Field
• Master-Tape Quality Sound!!!
• Delivers what musicians originally intended!
Features:
• Numbered, Limited Edition (Only 1000 Copies)
• Produced using PureFlection (Pure Reflection) Process
• Ultra HD Mastering
• Beautifully packaged
• Playable on ALL CD Players!
Musicians:
Al Di Meola
John McLaughlin
Paco de Lucia
 | 1. Mediterranean Sundance / Rio Ancho |
| | 2. Short Tales of the Black Forest |
| | 3. Frevo Rasgado |
| | 4. Fantasia Suite |
| | 5. Guardian Angel |
