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I was a longtime subscriber to the now defunct Audio magazine; around the midpoint of 1981, while thumbing through the record review pages, I came across two albums that caught my eye. The first chronicled Glenn Gould's autumnal re-interpretation of The Goldberg Variations; the second documented the posthumous release of Bill Evans' You Must Believe... Read More »

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 211. Donald Byrd, At the Half Note Cafe (Volume 1). Blue Note – BLP 4060 (mono), BST 84060 (1961), Blue Note Tone Poet Series – B0033842-01 (2023), 33 1/3 rpm. Genre: jazz, hard bop, bebop. Will that be black or with milk and sugar? From the patron's... Read More »

Craft Recordings is beginning a new push with remasters and reissues of titles from the Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series from Concord Music's vast catalog of classic jazz from the Fifties, Sixties, and beyond. Many titles from the record labels that fall under the OJC umbrella rank among the finest ever recorded or released, and... Read More »

When you think of jazz pianists you probably don't think of Bobby Hamack (1922-1990). That's because his work was primarily behind-the-scenes studio work in radio and television. Hammack was the West Coast musical director of the ABC-TV and radio networks between 1958 and 1963, and he conducted his own orchestra and scored music for several... Read More »

There are some artists whose music I find so compelling they force me, compel me, to stop and listen and absorb. Such is the impact of Maya Fridman—cellist, composer, singer. Born in Russia, making her home in the Netherlands, fierce advocate of support for Ukraine in this current war of Russian aggression, Maya is a... Read More »

High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT) has released the great Erich Leinsdorf recording of Die Walküre—let there be celebrations in the streets! With the greatest cast ever assembled, and led by a great Wagner conductor, this recording should have been the start of a full Ring Cycle for RCA. Unfortunately, it was not. By the time... Read More »

This episode provides a potpourri of musical gems that I thought worth bringing to your attention. All are available from HDTT or NativeDSD or Octave Records in either DXD or DSD256. I apologize for the length of this article with well over 20 albums discussed, but publishing opportunities kept pushing this article further and further... Read More »

J.S. Bach, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, Petteri Iivonen Violin. Yarlung Records. 45 RPM LP. Executive Producer: Elliot Midwood Producer and Recording Engineer: Bob Attiyeh Mastering Engineers: Steve Hoffman, Arian Jansen & Bob Attiyeh Vinyl Mastering: Bernie Grundman Microphone Preamplification: Elliot Midwood AKG C24 microphone: Gearworks Pro Audio Graphic Layout: MikeDesign Violin: Ferdinandus Gagliano... Read More »

Music manuscript, Northern Italy, circa A.D. 1350. (Courtesy of John Marks) "Best" and "Worst" are often creatures of Pure Subjectivity—especially when it comes to literature, art, and music. Golf and baseball, in contrast, have objective metrics. I know that I have a list of  "The Songs I Love to Hate." After you read mine, please... Read More »

PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 25 ("Classical"). London Sympbhony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda. LSO Live LSO0363 (download only). TT: 14.01. Downloads: eclassical.com (FLAC 24-bit or 16-bit, mp3) lsolive.lso.co.uk (FLAC, mp3); prestomusic.com (mp3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC); qobuz.com (24-bit, 192.0 kHz) Prokofiev's first symphony is an affectionate homage to, or sendup of, the Classical style (whence the subtitle), and should... Read More »

Over the past 40 years, Jonathan Horwich has been making very high resolution reel-to-reel tape recordings of live jazz concerts. He works out of the Chicago area, but travels quite broadly to capture these performances.  Wherever he can get permission to set up his microphones and reel-to-reel tape deck (15 or 30ips, 2-track), he's likely... Read More »

If you know the name Lyle Ritz (1930 - 2017) at all, it's because you saw him credited as the bass player on a pop or rock album. Ritz was a prominent bass player in Los Angeles during the 60s, and he was part of the studio musicians collectively known as the Wrecking Crew. His... Read More »

Women and War and Peace. Yarlung Records; Katelyn Bouska, Piano; YAR54460: Gold Substrate CD pressed in Germany.  Executive Producers: Evan Flaschen and Patrick Trostle. Recording Engineers: Bob Attiyeh and Arian Jansen. Mastering Engineers: Steve Hoffman, Arian Jansen and Bob Attiyeh. Microphone Preamplification: Elliot Midwood. AKG C24 microphone: Ancona Audio. Steinway Technician: Kathy Smith Cooper Bates. Photography Graphic Layout: MikeDesign "Kate flew to Southern... Read More »

Over the course of my lifetime, I have grown to really love jazz. I distinctly remember the first time I heard a jazz trio playing at a party in my mid-twenties, and it affected me in a way no other exposure to music ever had. The delicately textured pluck or slap of the acoustic bass,... Read More »

Base2 Music, located in West Sussex, UK, is a fairly new label, founded in 2017 by owner, producer and recording engineer, Jake Purches. Jake captured my attention because he's been focusing on a love of mine: well recorded organ music on some of the great organs around the world with internationally respected musicians. A fellow... Read More »

Kirsten Edkins, Shapes & Sounds, Cohearent Records (33 RPM LP) There are many talented people involved with this project, but let's start with Kevin Gray. As many might know, Kevin is universally renowned and respected for his skills as a Mastering Engineer. This includes reissues and new releases on virtually every label and every analog... Read More »

This is a brilliant new release by pianist Katelyn Bouska, recorded and mastered in Pure DSD256 by Bob Attiyeh of Yarlung Records. But what makes this recording truly special are the musical works selected and the stories of the composers, all women who were at the cutting edge of the contemporary music scenes in their... Read More »

For years I've been told that it is not possible to mix in DSD—that this is one of the major limitations of recording in DSD. Well, I'm now learning from Tom Caulfield, mastering engineer for NativeDSD, and Gonzalo Noqué, owner and recording engineer at Eudora Records and Noqué Studio, that this is no longer true.... Read More »

When HDTT issues a Redux edition of an album I’ve liked, I always pay attention. I’ve yet to be disappointed with the improvements Bob Witrak has been able to wring from the source tapes. I thought this release was excellent before. In this updated version the sound quality clearly goes up a notch, if not... Read More »