Joe Pass: "For Django"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Blue Note Records B0033158-01/Pacific Jazz ST-85
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ***½
Overall Enjoyment: ****½
By the time Joe Pass began his recording career in 1962, he was 33 years old. A heroin addict through much of the 1950s, he had kicked the drug with the help of the controversial Synanon rehab program. His debut LP for Pacific Jazz Records, Sounds of Synanon, featured musicians who were fellow clients. During the five years that Pass was associated with Pacific Jazz, he appeared on recordings by other artists on the label, including Les McCann and Gerald Wilson.
The Genesis and History of the Legendary Michell GyroDec Turntable—Dawn of a New Era
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: In Good Company
On January 17, 1982, the very first Michell GyroDec turntable, serial number 001, rolled off the Michell Engineering production line in Borehamwood, England, and was shipped to Anglia Audio of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Nothing quite like it had ever been seen before—it was breathtakingly beautiful, but more importantly, it rewrote the rule book for all time on how to extract maximum information from a vinyl record.
The Reference Audio System
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
Reviewers have reference audio systems. Audiophiles have reference audio systems. Dealers have reference audio systems. Manufacturers have reference audio systems. Cue up the internet meme: Oprah shouting from the stage, “Reference audio systems for everyone!”
Audiovector R 6 Avantgarde Loudspeakers
- Written by: Aron Garrecht
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Audiovector, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been producing high-end loudspeakers for over four decades. And, as you can imagine, a company that has been producing speakers since 1979 must have an impressive product selection. I chose one of their newest models to review, the R 6 Avantgarde.
The Soundsmith Journey or Waste Not Want Not
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
My neighbor and fellow audiophile, Ron, let slip that he had a busted Shelter 901 cartridge sitting in a box. Seems that the cleaning lady was dusting his turntable a bunch of years ago, and she got a little too aggressive with the cloth. Ripped the cantilever clean off.
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: "First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Blue Note Records BN 2801/B003372801
Format: 2 LPs
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ***
Overall Enjoyment: ***½
Don Was, president of Blue Note Records, penned the short introductory essay for the booklet that accompanies First Flight to Tokyo: The Lost 1961 Recordings, a newly released set of live recordings by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Was describes Blakey’s importance to Blue Note, both as band leader and accompanist, and goes on to praise his focus and inspiration, which drove the musicians he played with to do their best.
Onkyo's Classic Integra Power Amplifiers
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
Most of my friends are not audiophiles. In other words, most of them don’t care all that much about the actual sound of the music they play in their homes. Or their cars. Or at the gym. They care about the music, of course, but the sound of it—whether it passes a certain threshold we’ll call, um, audible—is of little consequence to them.
The Biggest Problem with Audio Reviewers (and Manufacturers)
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
My wife, Andrea, and I have two kids, Abigail, 17, and Ian, 15. The two of them grew up training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), a grappling-based martial art that I studied and taught for many years. Abigail started at age seven, Ian at six. Abigail still trains BJJ—mostly with me—but Ian transitioned to the sport of wrestling at the ripe old age of ten. He wanted to do a sport that he could pursue in college one day, and he loved life on the mat.
ATC SCM40 Loudspeakers
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Deep in the Gloucestershire countryside, nestled in a pretty country lane between wild hedgerows, lies the headquarters of perhaps the world’s most respected manufacturer of professional loudspeakers. Since 1974, ATC—the Acoustic Transducer Company—has designed, engineered, and built professional monitor systems for a client list that seemingly includes most of the leading recording or mastering studios on Earth. ATC speakers hang in the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Festival Hall, and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. ATC speakers were used by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab while he was cutting many of his vinyl masterpieces. The company’s client list reads like an A–Z of the world’s most beloved artists, including Enya, Kate Bush, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler, and Pink Floyd. In short, if you want to hear Pink Floyd the way that David Gilmour does, you’d better use ATC speakers.
Frank Zappa: "200 Motels"
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Zappa Records/Universal Music Enterprises/MGM Records ZR3846-1B
Format: 2 LPs
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ****½
Frank Zappa’s 1971 film, 200 Motels, is a surreal, comic look at rock musicians and their lives on the road. Zappa cowrote and codirected the movie with Tony Palmer, whose long career in film and theater has included everything from rock-music documentaries to opera. The movie consists of a series of comic skits, interspersed with footage of Zappa appearing onstage with the Mothers of Invention and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Among the guest stars are Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, and Theodore Bikel.
- Denafrips Venus II Digital-to-Analog Converter
- Some of the Audiophile-Related Blessings I'm Thankful For
- Alta Audio Alec Loudspeakers
- Harkness: "The Occasion"
- Joey DeFrancesco: "More Music"
- Clarus Concerto Power Conditioner
- Stereophile and D'Agostino: Is It Really a Progression?
- Totem Acoustic Element Fire V2 Loudspeakers
- Duke Pearson: "Merry Ole Soul"
- Fyne Audio F700 Loudspeakers
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