Geri Allen’s new album, <I>Flying Toward the Sound</I> (Motema Music), is a stunner. She calls it “a solo piano excursion inspired by Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock.” In jazz pianists’ lingo, this is like Babe Ruth pointing to a spot in right-center field. And she slugs the ball out of the park.
<i>Hey kid, you think that’s oil?<br>
Man, that ain’t oil, that’s blood.</i>
If you asked me to name a single specific high-end audio component that could make or break a system, I'd name the Linn LP12 turntable. Of all the thousands of hi-fi products I've heard over the years, not a one of 'em—not a speaker, amplifier, or digital processor—has been able to draw me into the music, no matter what the associated componentry, like the LP12. I've heard the most highly regarded speakers/amps/processors fall flat in certain situations due to a lack of synergy with their surrounding systems, but I've never heard an LP12-based system that didn't put a smile on my face and make me green with envy.
As fascinating as the design of high-end hardware can be, it goes without question that without musical software (or <I>firm</I>ware, as our more computer-minded readers would have it) of an appropriately high standard, the whole business would be pointless. <I>Stereophile</I>'s interviews have therefore often featured engineers and producers whose recorded work reveals sound quality to be a major concern. I interviewed Performance Recordings' James Boyk back in Vol.9 No.6; J. Gordon Holt spoke in Vol.10 No.3 with <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/1282awsi">Doug Sax</A> and Lincoln Mayorga, of Sheffield Lab, and with Keith Johnson of Reference Recordings, about their history-making Moscow sessions; JGH also discussed Brad Miller's and Lou Dorren's Colossus digital project in Vol.10 No.1 and <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/asweseeit/the_colossus_of_audio">Vol.11 No.4</A>; while last month Dick Olsher interviewed Peter McGrath, responsible for some superb-sounding recordings for Harmonia Mundi USA as well as for his own Audiofon label.
Let’s put the main point up front. The new duet album by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, <I>Jasmine</I> (on ECM), is a gorgeous piece of work: all standards, mainly ballads, nothing fancy (not overtly anyway), but such poignance and quiet passion; it’s a glimpse into the intimacy of the act of making art.
High-end audio is an international pursuit, with components and products sourced from all over the world. Setting aside the manufacturers' headquarters addresses, how many of the products in your system are actually manufactured outside of your home country?
<B><I>Sonic Booms</I></B><BR>
Steam Locomotives, Jet Fighter Aircraft, Military Exercise (with live ammunition), WWII Aircraft, Comic Relief I & II, West Mountain Inn, Diesel Train, Steam Train with Rain & Thunder<BR>
Bainbridge BCD6276 (CD only). Produced & mixed by Brad S. Miller. DDD. TT: 58:00
I’m late in coming to the drummer-composer John Hollenbeck. (These things happen: so many records, so little time…) It wasn’t until a few months ago that I stumbled upon <I>Eternal Interlude</I> (on the Sunnyside label), the latest CD by his 20-piece Large Ensemble, which, had I heard it earlier, would have made it on <A HREF= http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/best_jazz_of_the_year_and_the_de… >my 2009 Best 10 list</A>. (Ditto, just to set the record straight, for <A HREF= http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/darcy_james_argues_secret_societ… ><I>Infernal Machines</I></A> by Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, that other wondrous big band that escaped my attention.)
John Atkinson is psyched about the new iPad version of <i>Stereophile</i>. “I LOVE it!!!!!” he said, with five exclamation points.