I haven't written lately because my right hand has been in a cast from my fingertips to my elbow—rendering me, as a writer, essentially mute. Writing, thinking, and feeling are, for a writer, inextricably linked. How do I know what I think if I haven't written about it?

<I>Ben Webster and Associates</I> is one of the loveliest albums put out in the past couple years by Speakers Corner Records, the German-based audiophile reissue house. (Its LPs are distributed in the U.S. by Chad Kassem’s Acoustic Sounds.) Recorded in 1959 on the Verve label, it features Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Budd Johnson on tenor saxophones; Roy Eldridge, trumpet; Ray Brown, bass; Jimmy Jones, piano; Leslie Spann, guitar; Jo Jones, drums.

We all recognize that the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/374">Super Audio Compact Disc</A>, despite being an almost ideal format for high-resolution audio, has not replaced the "Red Book" CD. However, Sam Tellig's comments in the June and July issues of <I>Stereophile</I>, and Steve Guttenberg's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/whatever_happened_to_51-channel_mu… We See It</A>" in July, unleashed e-mails urging me to champion multichannel sound (don't I do this already?) and smite the unbelievers (not a chance).

We all recognize that the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/374">Super Audio Compact Disc</A>, despite being an almost ideal format for high-resolution audio, has not replaced the "Red Book" CD. However, Sam Tellig's comments in the June and July issues of <I>Stereophile</I>, and Steve Guttenberg's "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/whatever_happened_to_51-channel_mu… We See It</A>" in July, unleashed e-mails urging me to champion multichannel sound (don't I do this already?) and smite the unbelievers (not a chance).