On the face of it, the power amplifier has the simplest conceptual task of any audio component. Fed an audio signal at its input, all it has to do to satisfy the demands for current made by the loudspeaker is to modulate a high-voltage voltage supply with that signal. Yet power amplifiers vary enormously in their ability to perform that task without editorializing. As a result, when I find an amplifier that appears to step out of the way of the music in the manner I desire, I make the commitment, I buy it, and I stick with it.

Today is Ornette Coleman's 81st birthday, and we can celebrate with smiles, thanks, and The Shape of Jazz to Come.

Tune in to Columbia University's WKCR for a full day of Coleman's work as the station celebrates "innovation, relentless individualism, and commitment to artistic freedom." Right on. You might also enjoy Matthew Ditullo's excellent "This Shape of Jazz" blog, where Ditullo thinks about jazz, blues, and beer.

Erick Lichte knows what I like. He e-mailed me earlier today:

Check this out. This is what happens when you play ambient music over the LAPD scanner feed.

It is surprisingly beautiful. I would totally buy it on vinyl.

Thinksound believes in “clear sound with a clearer conscience.” To that extent, the company makes all of their products from wood and employs intelligent and responsible packaging design, utilizing recycled, bleach-free materials, with the now-familiar orange, green, and brown color scheme&#151if Whole Foods made headphones, they’d probably look like these.

For a field based on science, high-end audio has a relationship with its parent discipline that is regrettably complex. Even as they enjoy science's technological fruits, many audiophiles reject the very methods—scientific testing—that made possible audio in the home. That seems strange to me.

Wyatt/Atzmon/Stephen: For the Ghosts Within
Domino DNO271/WIGLP263 (CD/LP). 2010. Gilad Atzmon, prod.; Robert Wyatt, Jamie Johnson, Philip Bagenal, engs. ADD? TT: 56:13
Performance *****
Sonics ****

For the Ghosts Within marks my introduction to the wonderful world of Robert Wyatt. It happened in Denver, Colorado, at around 1am, several hours after the first full day of the 2010 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. I'd taken a break from posting blog entries to flip through the November 2010 issue of my other favorite magazine, The Wire. There, on p.11, I saw a neat, simple ad that offered little more than an album's intriguing cover art: stencil-like cutouts of three figures that seem meant to represent the album's three musicians, though these figures are almost entirely stripped of human form, reduced or distilled to their musical functions—as if the players are their instruments. Drawn by the rich colors and provocative imagery, I went straight to Domino Recording Co.'s website and listened to "Laura," track 1 of For the Ghosts Within. (Like so much of the album, "Laura" was completely new to me, but I have since learned that it is the title song from the 1944 film Laura, composed by David Raksin, and given fine treatments by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Julie London, among others.)