[ARSCLIST] Still trying to nail down the first U.S. all-digital commercial recording

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry in advance for cross-postings of this message.

There seems to be conflicting history. Widely cited throughout the web-o-sphere is the Telarc 
recording of Fennell/Cleveland Winds, released in 1978.

For example see:
http://www.telarc.com/biography/bios.asp?aid=31

However, in this AES convention presentation:

-----------------------------------------------
An Historical Overview of the Development of PCM/Digital Recording Technology at Denon

It has been 17 years since Denon conducted the first commercial PCM/digital recording session. This 
event marked the beginning of a new era for recording engineers, studio operators, record companies 
and audiophiles. During that time, Denon has improved music recording techniques and developed a 
variety of digital audio products. This paper will outline some of the major achievements and 
contributions over the nearly two decades made mainly by Denon.

Paper Number:   7-004    Conference:   The AES 7th International Conference: Audio in Digital Times 
(April 1989)
Authors:   Anazawa, Takeaki; Hayashi, Hideaki; Inokuchi, Keizo; Oshinden, Kouichi; Takahashi, Yukio; 
Takasu, Akihiko; Yamamoto, Kaoru; Todoroki, Shigeo

E-lib Location: (CD aes16)   /procintl/1989to05/1175.pdf
----------------------------------------------

the authors claim Denon made some jazz recordings in New York in 1977 and released them on LP:

-----------------
quote
"At the end of 1977 the DN-034R was delivered to New
York where it was used in the recording of a jazz album,
the first commercial digital recording in North America."
-----------------

Can anyone give me some discography info on the jazz record? Probably be released under the Denon 
digital label. The article, unfortunately, doesn't list title or artists.

By the way, my continuing research Denon definitely wins the First Award for commercial digital 
recording. Even before their release of Mozart string music by the Smetana Quartet in 1973, they 
release a couple of earlier LPs made using an experimental PCM recording system developed by NHK. 
The Smetana Quartet record was the first one made with Denon's own PCM system.

If Denon did indeed make a digital recording of jazz for commercial release in 1977, they were ahead 
of Telarc. I have confirmed that the Soundstream recording made at Santa Fe in 1976 was not used as 
the master for the LP of that opera. It was a demonstration recording and was used to show off the 
Soundstream system at the subsequent AES convention. One thing I'm trying to track down is what 
happened to that recording.

-- Tom Fine