All I really wanted was a little quiet so I could record an interview with tenor-sax great Joe Lovano, whose latest album, Bird Songs, was opening…
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Whistling ductwork, whirring fans, murmuring pipes—along with being jazz's most storied location, a living shrine to the memories of Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and so many others, Manhattan's Village Vanguard, on Seventh Avenue South, was, on this winter's night, the Das Boot of jazz. In every corner, every stairwell, every square foot of available backstage space, some kind of furnace machinery audibly ground, banged, and/or wheezed away.
Not surprisingly, the "Barbados" on Bird Songs again perfectly captures the loose, Latin-tinged vibe that makes it one of the most underrated gems in Parker's catalog of original tunes. Lovano and Us Five currently end their live sets with a joyous, energetic, pull-out-all-the-stops version of "Barbados" that gets Spalding bouncing and leaves Lovano breathless.
Rather than a straight tribute to Parker, Bird Songs (see sidebar for full review) is a variation on the old chestnut "What would Jimi Hendrix have become musically had he lived?" In this case the pondering focuses on Bird, who…
SIDEBAR: Bird Songs
Joe Lovano, tenor, mezzo-soprano, straight alto saxophones, Aulochrome; James Weidman, piano; Esperanza Spalding, bass; Otis Brown III, Francisco Mela, drums, percussion
Blue Note 05861 2 (CD). 2011. Joe Lovano, prod.; James Farber, eng. DAD. TT: 65:11
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
JOE LOVANO/US FIVE: Bird Songs
Joe Lovano, tenor, mezzo-soprano, straight alto saxophones, Aulochrome; James Weidman, piano; Esperanza Spalding, bass; Otis Brown III, Francisco Mela, drums, percussion
Blue Note 05861 2 (CD). 2011. Joe Lovano, prod.; James Farber, eng. DAD. TT: 65:11
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
At this late date, a set of Charlie Parker compositions is not an inherently thrilling album concept. But Joe Lovano is the most important tenor saxophone player of his generation. Bird Songs is the second recording by the band he…
The name Muse Electronics is probably unfamiliar to most audiophiles, requiring some background on the company. Muse is the hi-fi offshoot of a company called Sound Code Systems, a manufacturer of professional sound-reinforcement speaker cabinets and power amplifiers. Founded in 1980, SCS enjoyed some success with its line of MOSFET professional power amplifiers. In 1988, SCS's Michael Goddard and Kevin Halverson, both audiophiles and tube aficionados, redesigned their amplifier for the high-end hi-fi market.
The results are the Model One Hundred (a 100Wpc stereo power amplifier) and the…
Through the Muse monoblocks, bass reproduction was exceptionally tight and well-defined. This is perhaps the 150s' most salient characteristic. Mid- and upper-bass frequencies approached the liquidity of tubes, while the extreme bottom was tight and punchy, a characteristic more commonly associated with solid-state electronics. Pitch was clearly defined, with each note distinct from others. Midbass had a warm, round fullness that was particularly pleasing. This was especially evident on John Pattituchi's acoustic bass on "So In Love" from the Chick Corea Akoustic Band CD (GRP GRD-9582). In…
Sidebar 1: RH's 1990 System
The playback system included a VPI HW-19 Jr. turntable with an AudioQuest PT-5 tonearm and Sumiko Boron vdH cartridge, Marantz CD-94 CD player, and an Audio Research SP14 preamplifier. Interconnects were Magnan and Expressive Technologies, both of which made obvious audible improvements in the system. The amplifiers drove MartinLogan Sequel IIs and my trusty Vortex Screens through AudioQuest HyperLitz Clear speaker cable. The MartinLogans were bi-wired, with the woofer polarity reversed to reduce the midbass suckout (see Dick Olsher's "Followup" review in Vol.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
On the bench, the Muse monoblock clipped at 153.1W (21.84dBW) into 8 ohms, and 256.5W into 4 ohms (21dBW)—excellent voltage-source behavior. Full power output into 2 ohms blew the 5 amp line fuse, but when the input signal was switched on briefly, the Muse put out 389W (19.9dBW) into 2 ohms at clipping. This performance is quite impressive. In addition, the Muse monoblock was extremely cool-running, both during music reproduction and at full power output on the bench.
The frequency-response graph showed a ruler-flat high end, but with an LF rolloff below…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Monoblock power amplifier. Maximum output power: 125W into 8 ohms (21dBW), 250W into 4 ohms (21dBW), 400W into 2 ohms (20dBW). Frequency response: 13Hz–160kHz –3dB. Sensitivity: 1V in for full output. Input impedance: 51k ohms. Absolute polarity: Non-inverting. DC offset: ±100mV. Distortion: ±0.5% THD. Output Impedance: 0.06 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz (see text). Rise time: 1 microsecond (10%–90% transition). Output current capability: 71.4A maximum, measured peak-peak into a 0.1 ohm load with a 1kHz input signal gated on for 20ms of each 500ms. Power…
Sunday, May 1, marked John Atkinson’s 25th anniversary as editor of Stereophile—an outstanding and admirable accomplishment, and one increasingly rare in this fast-paced, ever-changing modern world.
John celebrated in typical fashion: He didn’t mention the achievement to anyone, but kept his head down, eyes buried in a great pile of ink-stained proofs, as we raced to ship our July 2011 issue to pre-press. Such effort and diligence should come as no surprise: It was John who transformed Stereophile, once a rough and rogue ’zine abiding by no particular publishing schedule, into…
Photo by Zoran Orlic
The Kronos Quartet has won this year's Avery Fisher Prize for chamber music, and the significance is stunning. With one fell (though belated) swoop, the boundaries of the conventional canon are broadened, if not obliterated.
A little background: The Fisher Prize, set up in 1975 and awarded every three years since, is a conservative enterprise. Somewhat like the American Academy in the field of literature, it was designed to enshrine those who have ascended to the peaks through the established, long-trod paths. Past winners have included Lynn Harrell, Murray…