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The Altons - Summertime

Before the widespread use of magnetic tape in the late 1940s, sound engineers recorded audio tracks directly onto discs. In order to identify specific performances, they assigned to each recording a unique matrix number, sometimes also with the number of the take. These numbers were inscribed on the non grooved area of the disc, close to the label affixed to the center. Because each side of a 78 RPM disc typically contained different recordings, the matrix numbers varied accordingly. With the advent of magnetic tape, sound engineers no longer assigned matrix numbers, but simply wrote identifying information on the tape box.

Over the past century, jazz has charted a fascinating and unpredictable course full of diversions and deviations, from the infectious syncopations of ragtime to the exhilaration of big band swing, through the awesome flights of bebop, the boundless explorations of free jazz, the electrifying power of fusion, and the more recent examples of international modernism, and the story is nowhere near complete. This vibrant music, led by unique, brilliant individualists, recreates itself unceasingly. Countless developments and contributors from across the globe have built an indelible body of recorded work that has woven itself into the history of the past century and will enrich centuries to come.
Sources: Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings


The Altons - Summertime
  • Released on: The Altons EP
  • Released: May 13, 2016
  • Genre: Indie, Soul

"Based in Los Angeles, members Gabriel Maldonado, Carlos Canovas, Bryan Ponce, Joseph Quinones, and Adriana Flores came together from disparate musical backgrounds to bring The Altons unified energetic sound to audiences everywhere."

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Location: United States

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