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On Saturday at noon, the John Atkinson trio (JA on bass, Bob Reina on piano, and Mark Flynn on drums) performed their own takes on some jazz standards, to the appreciation of a fairly substantial audience. (As usual, Saturday was the best attended day at FSI.) There were also two original items on their program: one of which was a tribute to Frank Sinatra, composed by Bob Reina. It's an interesting piece, with no actual quotes from any of the numbers that are associated with Sinatra, but somehow capturing the spirit of the songs in his repertoire. I think Ol' Blue-Eyes would have…
The Montreal Sheraton Centre is a nice hotel, with hotel rooms that are reasonably well-suited to audio demonstrations, plenty of larger suites in which to set up more ambitious systems, friendly and efficient staff, fast elevators, and a great bar. The hotel's weak spot is the provision of places to eat. You can eat at the bar, which is all right as such things go, but there is no restaurant serving dinner, and there's a café serving breakfast that seems overpriced, and, judging by the "Complet" breakfast that I had on the first day, mediocre at best.* Fortunately, the Sheraton is in…
John Atkinson opened Saturday afternoon's "Ask the Editors" session with a brief introduction in French—which got applause from the audience—but the rest of the session was conducted en anglais, and the quality of questions from the audience was easily up to best that I've experienced at such sessions at the Home Entertainment shows. The questions covered a wide range, dealing with topics such as the cost of producing LPs and SACDs, advances in loudspeaker technology, the sonic quality and pricing of cables, how to allocate resources in assembling a system, and discussion of what…
For me, the last day of a show like FSI is for checking up on rooms that I somehow missed (and that I heard people talking about), and re-visiting rooms that were particular favorites.
Rooms that I had missed, but was able to catch up on, included the Tenor Audio/Avalon/Audio Aero room, the Fidelity Audio/Nagra/Verity room (with Rene Laflamme playing the superb high-resolution version of his official FSI show recording), and the Ayre/Verity room: all offering great sound—and all in a price range that's expensive by almost any standard.
At a price substantially lower than…
It may seem odd to end Stereophile's coverage of the 2008 FSI with a report on the opening-day keynote speech. However, Noel Lee, founder and CEO of Monster Cable, had said much that I wanted to mull over. Noel may be a ruthless businessman, but he is one of the smartest, most insightful business people I have known—I first formally interviewed him 20 years ago for Stereophile, but I have known him almost since the beginning of Monster Cable—and FSI getting him to give the Show's keynote speech was a large feather in Show President Michel Plante's hat.
Both the subject of…
Speaking of vinyl, Sonic Youth has announced the vinyl-only release of SYR 7, the seventh installment of their self-released improvisations. These long pieces are often entirely instrumental, and they are lovely, moving, and beautifully-recorded. The hypnotic artwork is by artist and filmmaker, Chris Habib. In the past, the CD packaging for each release has mimicked a gatefold LP, with the CD simply sliding into an inner sleeve.
SYR 7 will be available on April 22. Add it to my list of 2008's Most Wanted Releases. I feel at once stoked and ripped-off. Why vinyl-only? Why…
About a month ago, I lamented that Sonny Rollins, the greatest living tenor saxophone player, had decided not to put out a CD of his Carnegie Hall concert of last year with Roy Haynes and Christian McBride. Rollins was dissatisfied with his playing and so he canceled his release-plans.
But now comes redeeming news. Two weeks ago, on March 26, the jazz critic Gary Giddins interviewed Rollins in a packed auditorium at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. In the course of the evening, Giddins revealed that Rollins has been listening to reels and reels of his concert tapes—…
Remember that forum thread I mentioned? It's still going on. It reminds me of one of the black and white films I watched in my avant-garde cinema class. Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean-Paul Sartre is staring into a mirror is staring into a mirror, with a with a with a knife in his hand knife in his hand, demanding demanding that the image that the image in the mirror mirror answer his questions his questions. He is outraged because the image in the mirror refuses to answer his questions. Answer his questions. Answer my questions! Demanding. Outrage!
I don't understand it. If…
Managing Editor, Elizabeth Donovan, and I have spent all day in a training session for Adobe InDesign. We are finally switching over from Quark. It's going to be great, I think, but right now isn't the best time to spend an entire day in a training session. Elizabeth is also trying to ship the June issue.
Besides, I have so much to tell you.
So much has suddenly changed. I will try to get to it all, but right now I will just tell you a little. I will tell you this: I cannot make any comments regarding differences in sound quality. It is too soon. Does one format…
A cat playing the Theremin? How on earth could I resist? And the reaction shot of his kitty friend at the end is priceless!