What’s the point of having a blog if I can’t occasionally indulge in self-promotion? So if you’ll forgive my blatancy for a moment, today marks the official pub date of my new book, <I>1959: The Year Everything Changed</I>. Unlike my last book, which was entirely about foreign policy, this one actually might be of some interest to the readers of this space, because it covers not just politics but also culture, society, science, sex—as the title suggests, <I>everything</I>. More to the point, there are three chapters (out of 25) that deal explicitly with jazz. (Key jazz albums of 1959 included Miles Davis’ <I>Kind of Blue</I>, Ornette Coleman’s <I>The Shape of Jazz to Come</I>, and Dave Brubeck’s <I>Time Out</I>.) There’s also a chapter about the creation of Motown (another 1959 phenomenon), and a jazz-blues vibe infuses the whole book.

Released in July, <I>Live at Otto's Shrunken Head</I> (STPH020-2) is the latest Stereophile CD from reviewer Bob Reina's jazz quartet, Attention Screen. Unlike the group's first CD, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/907att"><I>Live at Merkin Hall</I></A> (STPH018-2, released in 2007), which was recorded with multiple microphones, I captured the eight improvisations on <I>Live at Otto's</I> using a single pair of mikes.

On June 2, <I>Stereophile</I> reported that HDGiants.com, formerly known as MusicGiants.com, had <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/bust_and_booms_on_the_download_front/">… for Chapter 11 bankruptcy</A>. The future of the high-quality music and video download site that had most recently begun offering "Super HD" 24-bit surround-sound downloads was unclear.