Live at Smoke is a live album recorded by jazz drummer Al Foster at the Smoke Jazz Club in New York. It features a high-level quartet composed of Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau, and Joe Martin.
The recording faithfully captures the atmosphere of a jazz club, with a close and immersive sound. The repertoire blends jazz standards with compositions from the modern jazz tradition. Al Foster s drumming shapes the overall sound and drives the constant interaction among the musicians.
This album is among his final public recordings and stands as a major testament to the art of an iconic drummer, renowned for his collaborations with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and many others. This posthumous release was recorded for his birthday, just five months before Foster passing in May at the age of 82.
The video can be found on the Smoke Jazz Club YouTube channel.
For this review, you will find 3 versions tested:
Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.
The synthesis of the review are available here.
The album is composed of 9 tracks:
- Amsterdam Blues (Live at Smoke)
- Unrequited (Live at Smoke)
- E.S.P. (Live at Smoke)
- Old Folks (Live at Smoke)
- Pent-Up House (Live at Smoke)
- Simone s Dance (Live at Smoke)
- Everything Happens to Me (Live at Smoke)
- Satellite (Live at Smoke)
- Malida (Live at Smoke)*
* not available on the vinyl record.
Summary, scoring and Samples
Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025
Presentation
This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus (768 kbits/s) or AC-4 (link).
Spatialization 9.1.6:
The spatialization of Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 version varies from track to track, with values between 1.5 and 2.1.
Spatialization : ●●oooooooo (1.7)
Below the spatialization for all tracks. Click on the images to zoom in.
Waveform and Spectrum: DR16
The waveform of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 shows a very high range confirmed with DR16. The Dolby Atmos version fully preserves the recording s dynamic range.
The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track in 7.1.4 is limited to 20kHz with no signal above. This limitation is due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding, which is a lossy encoder that limits bandwidth to optimize data size for a bit rate of 768 kbits/s.There is no signal in the LFE channel.
The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025.
The spectrum of Tidal s Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that only front and side channels are used. The LFE channel is not used. The white arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding. The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 24 kHz due to encoding at the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.
Synthesis and listening
The Dolby Atmos version is surprising, not because of its soundstage spatialization, which remains largely front-focused, but due to the highly detailed and precise reproduction of all the instruments with the full dynamique of the recording sessions.
It offers a wider and more defined soundstage than the stereo version. However, in terms of tonal balance, it is recommended to apply the Dolby Atmos Music calibration curve to achieve a balance closer to that of the stereo version. However, it remains less refined than the stereo version due to the use of lossy Dolby Digital Plus encoding (768 kbps), compared to a lossless PCM encoding at 24-bit / 96 kHz (4608 kbps).
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●●●●● (5)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
- Spatialization: ●●oooooooo (1.7)
- Restitution: ●●●●o (4)
Sample : E.S.P. (Live at Smoke) 7.1 Dolby Atmos (Downmixed in 7.1) :
The sample is in 7.1 wav format, if you can not play the sample in your navigator, you can save it, right button menu and Save Audio As and play it with an external player.
Sample : E.S.P. (Live at Smoke) Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :
Ed 2: Tidal MAX – 2025
Presentation
This is the Tidal Max version presentetd in 24 bits 96 kHz (link).
Waveform and Spectrum: DR11
The waveform of the Tidal MAX – 2025 version shows a good dynamic range confirmed with DR11. Despite a DR11, the use of a limiter is clearly noticeable, reducing the overall dynamics of the album. A regrettable choice, especially for a jazz recording where dynamics are naturally present.
The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow) with signal up over 30 kHz (white arrow) due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.
The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Record – 2025 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2025 (blue curve).The curves of the two spectra overlap almost perfectly from 30 Hz to 20 kHz. Above 20 kHz, a higher noise floor can be observed on the vinyl record compared to the digital version (yellow arrow).
Synthesis and listening
The stereo version recreates the live recording of the four musicians with a strong sense of realism and the natural sound of the concert performance.
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
- Restitution: ●●●●o (4)
Sample : E.S.P. (Live at Smoke) 24 bits 96 kHz:
Ed 3: Vinyl Record – 2025
Presentation
The vinyl edition consists of two 33? RPM LP records. It includes one fewer track (Malida) than the digital versions (ref : SSR 2506 1)
Waveform and Spectrum: DR12
The waveform of the Vinyl Record – 2025 version shows a very good dynamic range confirmed with DR12. It is difficult to determine which master was used for the vinyl release. The higher DR12 value may be due either to a less dynamically compressed master or to the vinyl cutting process itself, which can mechanically increase the measured dynamic range (see article Does analog media force a dynamic on music?).
The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow) with signal above this frequency (white arrow) containing musical information and distortion due to the vinyl record s operating principle.
The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Record – 2025 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2025 (blue curve).The curves of the two spectra overlap almost perfectly from 30 Hz to 20 kHz. Above 20 kHz, a higher noise floor can be observed on the vinyl record compared to the digital version (yellow arrow). This is a very fine lacquer cut.
Synthesis and listening
The sonic rendering of the vinyl record is very close to that of the digital version. The same tonal balance is preserved, with a slightly wider sense of spatialization. Surface noise is also audible at the beginning of the excerpt; this is not one of the quietest records.
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
- Surface noise: ●●●●o (4)
- Restitution: ●●●●o (4)
Sample : E.S.P. (Live at Smoke) 24 bits 192 kHz:
With these three formats, three distinct listening experiences emerge of this Al Foster’s album. The high-resolution stereo digital streaming version delivers excellent sound quality and remains more precise than the vinyl edition.
The real surprise comes from the Dolby Atmos version, not because of its immersive qualities, the mix remains largely front-focused, but due to its impressive ability to separate instruments. It offers a very wide soundstage, making effective use of the wide channels in a 9.1.6 setup, even though it does not match the finesse of the high-resolution stereo version.
Dynamic Range measurements are shown below.
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Measurements
Dynamic Range comparaisons
Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).
For our 3 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :
| Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 | Tidal MAX – 2025 | Vinyl Record – 2025 | |
| Global | DR16 | DR11 | DR12 |
| Min | DR15 | DR11 | DR12 |
| Max | DR17 | DR12 | DR13 |
| Amsterdam Blues (Live at Smoke) | DR15 | DR11 | DR13 |
| Unrequited (Live at Smoke) | DR15 | DR11 | DR12 |
| E.S.P. (Live at Smoke) | DR16 | DR11 | DR13 |
| Old Folks (Live at Smoke) | DR16 | DR11 | DR12 |
| Pent-Up House (Live at Smoke) | DR15 | DR12 | DR13 |
| Simone s Dance (Live at Smoke) | DR16 | DR11 | DR13 |
| Everything Happens to Me (Live at Smoke) | DR17 | DR11 | DR12 |
| Satellite (Live at Smoke) | DR16 | DR11 | DR13 |
| Malida (Live at Smoke)* | DR16 | DR11 |
As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.
Detail of the ratings :
- Dynamic :
- Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
- Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
- Correct piece DR >=10
- No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
- No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
- Spectrum :
- Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
- Spectrum cut at 15 khz
- Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
- Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
- Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
- Surface noise (only for vinyl):
- Continuous audible noise
- Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
- Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
- Low surface noise, very good quality
- Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
- Spatialization :
- Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
- Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
- For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
- Restitution :
- Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
- Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
- Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
- High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
- Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.