ReDiscoveries #2: Joe Henderson, Blue Note and Beyond
Feb 03, 2022
Called "the phantom" by fellow musicians and dubbed the "bearded, goateed astronaut of the tenor sax" by a close friend, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, the enigmatic Joe Henderson recorded five albums for the Blue Note label that are uniformly regarded as jazz classics. Mosaic Records has gathered those recordsPage One, Our Thing, In 'n Out, Inner Urge, Mode for Joeplus Henderson's sideman dates and alternate takes for Blue Note for a limited-edition, five-CD box set, The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions (Mosaic Records MD5-271).
In the annals of jazz, Charles Mingusbassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, unique, headstrong, and deeply influential in every categoryoccupies the transit point between Duke Ellington and the post-'60s avant-garde, a station he carved out deliberately.
In my April 2020 review of Fyne Audio's inexpensive F301 standmount loudspeakers, I wrote, "The Fyne F301s impressed with their exceptional rendering of soundstage width and depth, reasonably wide dynamic range, extended low end (for their size), and exuberant, I-can't-stop-spinning-records presentation. The Fynes presented a finely layered, spatially convincing soundstage with images that were solid, if small."
Gramophone Dreams #57: Ferrum OOR headphone amplifier and HYPSOS power supply
Feb 01, 2022
I'm deep into audio power amplifiers because they remind me of race car engines. Both power sources are wildly inefficient, converting only a small percentage of their stored energy into work while dissipating the rest as heat and vibration. Mainly though, I love how race car engines sound. How they shake the air. Just like amps and speakers.