LATEST ADDITIONS

Charlie Haden, the world’s most distinctive and enticing bass player, seems to have adopted a new tradition. It started as a special occasion, a dozen years ago, in celebration of his 60th birthday, when he played a week of duets at the Blue Note jazz club in New York, each night with a different pianist. He repeated the experiment on his 70th, and this week he’s doing it again, just short of his 72nd, not a round number, which leads me to suspect he’s doing it—and may do it again, semi-regularly—simply because it’s so thrilling, so fun.

I like to stop by <a href="http://theneedledrop.blogspot.com/">The Needle Drop</a>, where usual dude, Anthony Fantano, offers his interesting, thoughtful, and often very funny takes on new music and music technology. Check it out.

The August 2009 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. See that spiffy-looking integrated amplifier/USB DAC thingamajig on the cover? That's the Peachtree Nova. When I was at <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/david_solomon_and_the_peachtr… Exchange</a> a couple of months ago, Novas were just flying off the shelves. Old guys were digging them, young guys were digging them, and girls were digging them, too. Everyone wanted one. Can't blame 'em, really. The Nova offers a lot in a tidy, attractive package. Look at that styling, all retro-modern Eames with its high profile and its real-wood veneer wrapping round those perfect curves!

If you can find some of the oldest issues of Stereophile, you'll see that several of the covers hold a short, sweet, often humorous "AUDIO VERITY." These nuggets of hi-fi wisdom were written by Stereophile founder, J. Gordon Holt.

It is with immense sadness that I heard of Gordon's passing, in an announcement from his long-time friend, Bob O'Neill: "A few minutes after 12 noon mtn time, July 20, 2009, J. Gordon Holt passed away in his home in Boulder, Colorado. A memorial service will be held in a week or two. There will be, of course, martinis and the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams." According to his son Charles, Gordon had suffered a long fight with COPD/Emphysema and he died in his home with his family around him.

You know there are days and then there are DAYS. Yesterday I had one of the latter, but music in the end was what saved me.

<i>A happy family. The all-new PSB Image Series (from left to right): The B4, B5, and B6 monitors; the T6 and T5 towers; the C4 (top) and C5 center channels; the S5 surround.</i>