Our December 2007 issue includes our annual "Products of the Year" feature. Each of Stereophile's hardware reviewers voted on their favorite pieces of gear, John Atkinson and I compiled the article. You can now read it here, too.
I sat down to write the intro on the Monday morning following the Mets' final game of the season. Like a person with the flu, I shouldn't have even been in the office.
Next time some dude comes around talking about how all hi-fi components sound the same, that audiophiles are out of their minds because their beliefs and interests make no scientific sense, politely ask him to read this.
I’m making my way, too slowly, through the latest set of Naxos’ “Jazz Icons” DVDs, taken from TV broadcasts of great American jazz musicians on European tours in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Some time ago, I wrote about Charles Mingus: Live in ’64 (a terrific companion piece to his CD, Cornell 1964, recorded just before and released just last year). Tonight I watched Dexter Gordon: Live in ’63 & ’64, and recommend it highly, too.
Gordon was a pivotal tenor saxophone player who combined the lithe phrasing of Lester Young with the husky tone of Coleman Hawkins and thus laid the foundation for the…
Actually, he has been guest blogging over at Powell's website, drumming up publicity for The Stupidest Angel.
In Hucklebery's case, it's deceptive. He's not really a thinker, that cat. Bagheera doesn't think either. She plots. As further evidence that the American empire is on the decline, I submit the 8:00 set Friday night at the Blue Note on West 3rd Street in New York City, where three front-and-center tables of Europeans—twenty young to middle-aged, professional-looking men and women, who all seemed to be part of the same tour group—made more noise at a jazz club than I think I’ve ever witnessed. Shushing and shaming, from me and others in the audience, had but short-term impact; they’d quiet down for a few minutes and listen to the trio on the bandstand (more about them, in a moment), but then got back to the…
New research seems to reveal that the loss of "white matter" because of aging is what causes us oldies to get all addle-pated. I'm not sure I buy the premise that young brains are automatically more "in sync."
I still say age and guile trump youth and innocence (and a bad haircut).
Aperion Audio is teaming up with Outlaw Audio to offer a holiday savings deal. Here's how it works: Purchase any Aperion speaker system costing more than $998 between now and December 31, 2007 and Aperion will email you a promo code worth 5% off any Outlaw electronic component. Go to Outlaw's site, choose your gear, and apply the promo code for your discount.
Go here for the fine print and the details.
Needless to say, I'm not in London waiting in line at O2 arena but that doesn't mean my thoughts, like those of about every other music fan on the planet, aren't turned to what's going to happen this evening when Led Zeppelin ends two decades of silence and lets it rip in what's being billed as a one-off show for charity.
Is this a test to see if Jason Bonham can cut it behind the kit where his monumentally talented father once sat? Hell yes. And if all goes well, will there be a triumphant tour? Well, that's the question that has everyone holding their breath isn't it? The absolutely…
