Most of us were not born with musical tastes intact. Tastes develop over time as we learn and experience new music and other things. An open mind, an ear attuned to songs and sound, and a procession of mentors and musical guides make for a musical life that's rich and full. To my way of thinking, the best life has a soundtrack that's varied and constantly expanding.

Which is not to say there aren't transformative events. Prior to my lightning-strike moment—about which, more in a minute—the blues were all around me, as they always are around all of us. As a kid attuned to rock'n'roll, growing up in the suburbs with a full FM dial, I was exposed to blues-based music current and past, from Elvis on the oldies stations to Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

Music Matters, the mostly annual audio showcase from Definitive Audio in Seattle, made a welcome return March 8–9 after a two-year pandemic-imposed hiatus. Divided into two two-hour sessions, the 16th edition of the private, ultra-concentrated audio show in miniature saw invitees moving between 20-minute presentations in four rooms, with ample time left for visiting systems in two others and schmoozing with industry legends.

Between several national and regional product premieres, presenters at Music Matters 2023 emphasized the importance of Definitive Audio (with locations in Seattle and Bellevue) to their brands. As if to underscore the dealership's centrality, star presenters include David Steven, CEO of Cambridge, England–based dCS, audio legend Dan D'Agostino of Arizona-based Dan D'Agostino Master Systems, Mike Latvis (aka Mr. HRS) of Buffalo, New York's Harmonic Resolution Systems), and Garth Leerer of Musical Surroundings, which imports and distributes Clearaudio.

Turns out rock stars are human after all. Which means music fans should prepare themselves for the coming toll. The next few years are certain to be brutal: Bob Dylan, 81; Paul Simon, 81; George Clinton, 81; Brian Wilson, 80; Carole King, 80; Keith Richards, 79; Jimmy Page, 79; Sly Stone, 79; Rod Stewart, 78; Neil Young, 77; Pete Townsend, 77, and the inexorability rolls on. The news is even worse among the pre-rock era stars, where it's a matter of any day now: Tony Bennett, 96; Burt Bacharach, 94; Sonny Rollins, 93. Even the ageless one, Willie Nelson, is 86.

January 2023 was a particularly cruel harbinger of the reckoning to come as guitar legend Jeff Beck and folk rock icon David Crosby died within eight days of each other.

The ability to fine-tune a vinyl playback system is part of what makes it possible to combine an archaic technology with modern thinking and materials to create musical magic, and take listeners to new heights of ecstatic musical pleasure. It's why so many young people are tuning in to vinyl, and helps explain why just today, as I write this, it was announced in the UK that, for the first time, revenues from sales of vinyl exceeded those from downloads.

The Necks: Travel; Arild Andersen Group: Affirmation; Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights: Live at The Penthouse 1963–1964; Benjamin Lackner: Last Decade; Simona Premazzi: Wave in Gravity.

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Schubert: Piano Trios • Notturno • Rondo • Arpeggione Sonata; Elgar: Viola Concerto & Suite for Viola & Orchestra; Johann Sebastian Bach: The Well-Tempered Consort—III.

Margot Price: Strays, Loma Vista Records (16/44.1 WAV download; also available on CD, LP, cassette tape)