LATEST ADDITIONS

The “Monk at Town Hall” tribute-concerts on Thursday and Friday night (which I previewed in my last blog) were as riveting as I’d expected—in the case of Charles Tolliver’s re-creation of Monk’s 1959 concert, much more so. Tolliver transcribed the original concert off the Monk LP, assembled a top-notch 10-piece band to play the parts, and conducted the score with precision except to let the hornmen improvise their solos. It’s a risky enterprise to invite comparison to a classic (cf. Gus Van Sant’s shot-by-shot remake of <I>Psycho</I>), but Tolliver roared into the ring and more than held his own. It wasn’t quite the marvel of the original—nobody can do all the things Monk did on the piano, and Tolliver’s drummer held back too much (Monk’s drummer, Art Taylor, splashed around the trap set, heightening the tension and release)—but it came very close. Stanley Cowell shadowed Monk’s piano runs with startling fidelity. Rufus Reid plucked the bassline with authority and soul. Several of the soloists rocked the full house—especially Howard Johnson on bari sax, Aaron Johnson on tuba, and the young Marcus Strickland on tenor sax, who outdid Charlie Rouse for sheer verve. The whole band plowed through these absurdly difficult tunes with crackling aplomb, swinging like crazy, as Monk might have said.

The quiet evenings leading up to a DeVore Fidelity <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/an_investment_in_soul/">Monke…; event are passed by searching through your record collection for the perfect LPs. Every attendee will offer their own ideas of interesting and exciting music, and you will not be outdone by some other audiophile. You decide to bring one of your 2009 <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/records2die4/">R2D4 selections</a>, <i>Lo Dice Todo</i> by Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino; Richard Hayman's <i><a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/genuine_electric_latin_love_m… Electric Latin Love Machine</a></i>, not only for the persuasive content but also for the outstanding album art; and El Guincho's <i>Alagranza!</i> because you're pretty certain it'll shock and impress the crowd.

If you visit our <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/">News Desk</a>, you'll find my announcement of Michael Fremer's latest DVD, <i><a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/itsa_vinyl_world_after_alli/">It's A Vinyl World, After All</a></i>. While Michael offers an entertaining look into the world of vinyl manufacturing and provides tons of valuable information on record collecting, handling, cleaning, and storage, I did have one minor criticism:

"It's time to turn down the lights: NHT is going quiet."

I've been chipping away for some time at the task of trying to put together a music lover's stereo system for about half the money of my last such effort: $2500 to $3750 now, <I>vs</I> around $7500 back in 2005. My timing was good: CD and DVD receivers are a hot product category, with several attractive new entries at various prices.

<I>A hot topic for discussion in recent issues of </I>Stereophile<I> has been the impact Home Theater has had on the High End. Some of the magazine's contributors&#151;<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/693awsi">J. Gordon Holt</A> and Corey Greenberg, for example&#151;have written that the advent of Home Theater means that we should expand the audio context of the magazine to include reviews of video components (footnote 1). Others, including Bob Harley, Tom Norton, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/393awsi">myself</A&gt;, feel that we should <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/68">stick to what we know</A> and love&#151;audio&#151;and enter the new field only to advise </I>Stereophile<I>'s readers on how to achieve the best sound from a Home Theater system. However, missing from the debate in our pages so far have been any comments from those in the business of selling and demonstrating high-end products and, increasingly, Home Theater systems. Accordingly, this month I am running a guest editorial from a man who perhaps typifies the high-end, specialist retailer: Ken Gould of Audio Nexus (footnote 2). Please note that Mr. Gould's opinions are his own and do not represent those of the magazine.</I>&#151;<B>John Atkinson</B>

I have a little space heater that I keep in my kitchen because the kitchen is where it's coldest. The wind whips against our old apartment building and rattles the old windows and sets the sparrows and the starlings fluttering into my thin walls where they've made their nests. If there was ever any insulation in those thin walls, it must be long gone.