Sweet Caress

... a flawless recording captured in stereo and immersive surround sound by engineers Jim Anderson, Ulrike Schwarz, and Steven Sacco... Ambrosetti's heartfelt solos on Soul Eyes and Portrait of Jennie -- the latter song a holdover from brownie's album -- sets the stage for a recital of unmatched beauty and tenderness. The title tune is a true act of kindness, as Ambrosetti lays out to feature his accomplished violinist. Caswell's glorious tone is spectacularly recorded (...) and her performance of the melody will bring tears to the most jaded eyes.

Ambrosetti's profound, mature statements on this album proves that the ballad album is still a viable form with lots of room for creativity.

Get a copy of this album -- in surround if your home stereo can handle the additional audio information -- and settle in for a wondrous hour of glorious music.

I’ll get right to the heart of it: this is one of the most gorgeous records I’ve ever heard, musically and sonically.

It’s aptly titled: the music of Sweet Caress by Franco Ambrosetti and Strings is sublime, reminding me of the great 1950s and 1960s soundtracks by Henry Mancini and others. And the sound, whether heard in stereo or immersive audio, is ravishing.

Following their first encounter together on Nora, Broadbent pointed out how collaborating with Franco was like “two musical souls finding each other.” That truth is even more apparent on Sweet Caress, which continues that intimate, intuitive chemistry between the two musical souls.

For me, Franco is among the finest flugelhornists around today, and Alan is easily one of our most treasured arrangers. The album is deeply moving and one you won't take off once you put it on. A must-own on all levels and one that deserves Grammy consideration.

This is a new recording being released this week featuring Franco Ambrosetti on flugelhorn, John Scofield on guitar, Peter Erskine on drums, Scott Colley on bass and Sara Caswell on on violin and concertmaster all backed by an orchestra by conducted by Alan Broadbent.

Anyone familiar with recordings by the likes of Diana Krall, Jane Monheit and Paul McCartney should know of Mr. Broadbent. The album was recorded at Sear Sound in New York in December 2023 by renowned engineer Jim Anderson, with assistance from Steven Sacco and Ulrike Schwarz.

The stereo release was mixed at Anderson Audio New York in Brooklyn. The immersive mixing engineers were Jim Anderson and Ulrike Schwarz with assistance from Dann Thompson. Immersive mastering and authoring was by Morten Lindberg at 2L in Siggerud, Norway. There is the Morten Lindberg guy again.

When I was informed about this forthcoming release and the technical team behind it, I was expecting great things. I was not disappointed. Jim Anderson is well known in both the recording and audiophile worlds as is his wife Ulrike Schwarz.

As one would expect, the sound here is superb with great tone, timbre and dynamics. Mixed at 7.1.6, the sense of space is wonderful. Pinpoint imagining of the main individual musicians is spot on in the front of the room. You can just “see” them before you, even with your eyes closed.

In the past with mass string arrangements in Jazz recordings, they tended to be on the shrill side. Not here. The strings are full bodied surrounding you in sound with not only a sense of space but height, more like real thing, with separation between each set of strings. One can clearly follow each instrumentalist.

Sweet Caress is yet another reference immersive mix from the team of Anderson, Schwartz and Lindberg.