Recording of June 2015: Yesterday I Had the Blues

Recording of June 2015: Yesterday I Had the Blues

May 21, 2015 First Published:Jun 01, 2015
José James: Yesterday I Had the Blues, The Music of Billie Holiday
Blue Note B002283102 (CD). 2015. Yoshihisa Saito, exec. prod.; Don Was, prod.; Chris Allen, eng., mix. DDD? TT: 49:33
Performance ****
Sonics *****

Unlike the conundrum of today's country music, whose lyrics celebrate family and tradition even as the country-music community ignores and disrespects the giants of the music's past, jazz and rock have for the most part remembered and celebrated their musical pioneers and game changers, and the singular, monumental virtuosity of artists like Billie Holiday.

Dave Douglas: Sound Prints & High Risk

Dave Douglas: Sound Prints & High Risk

May 15, 2015
Trumpeter Dave Douglas has two very different new albums out: Sound Prints: Live at Monterey Jazz Festival (Blue Note), featuring a Wayne Shorter tribute-band co-led by tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano; and High Risk, a collaborative excursion into electronica.

Sound Prints is also the name of the tribute band (a riff on Shorter's classic Footprints album), and, judging from the two times I've seen them play at the Village Vanguard, they're among the most vibrant, dizzying jazz bands around...

Munich High End Beckons

Munich High End Beckons

May 15, 2015
As soon as one arrives in the Munich airport, days before the start of High End 2015, posters announcing the event are visible. This is no marginal show, with expectations of appealing only to a fringe group of dying, gray-haired audiophile fanatics. Rather, it is a major event, with an appeal that extends far beyond a set age group, as well as national and geographic boundaries. Extending for four days—the first day of the show, on Thursday, May 14, is open only to the trade, which means dealers and press from all seven continents of the world are here...

The Oppo PM-3 A Competent Comfortable Mobile Headphone

The Oppo PM-3 A Competent Comfortable Mobile Headphone

May 15, 2015
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Third in a series of planar magnetic headphone releases from Oppo Digital, and at $399 their lowest cost entrant to date, the PM-3 is intended as a planar magnetic headphone for portable use...and it delivers.

The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link

May 14, 2015 First Published:Sep 01, 1975
While we will not pretend for a moment that the millennium of high fidelity has arrived, we are finally having to face up to a fact that has been staring us in the face and nudging us in the ribs increasingly rudely of late: The state of the art of sound reproduction has gotten to be pretty damned sophisticated. Perfection is just as unattainable as it was almost 100 years ago when Thomas Edison was diddling with different diaphragm materials on his phonograph because some sounded better than others.
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