JBL and L.G. Electronics Team Up
Last week, JBL">http://www.jbl.com/">JBL Consumer Products (a unit of the Harman">www.harman.com">Harman Consumer Systems Group) and Korea's L.G. Electronics (manufacturers of Gold Star and L.G. Electronics brand products) announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance to jointly develop and market a "broad range of new consumer electronics products." The companies say that the partnership "builds upon the respective strengths of both manufacturers" and will enable both companies to expand their offerings into areas outside their traditional product categories.
Jeff Rowland Group's Demise a Hoax
The Jeff">http://www.jeffrowland.com/">Jeff Rowland Design Group is alive and well and in no danger of going out of business. The company was the victim of hackers who recently broke into the company's website and posted a notice to the contrary.
Jerry Wexler Dead at 91
Let's do the It's a Wonderful Life exercise, shall we? Imagine what popular music would sound like today without Jerry Wexler. Aretha Franklin would have never returned to her gospel roots, Ray Charles would have continued imitating Charles Brown and Nat Cole, Stax would have been a tiny regional record label, and denatured white covers of R&B songs would dominate the charts. In fact, the music we know today as rhythm and blues would still be called "race music"—Wexler having coined R&B while working at Billboard in 1949.
Jim Morrison Breaks on Through to Toyland
It may be true that baby-boomers yearn to relive their childhoods, but how many aging wanted-to-be rock stars and music lovers still like to play with dolls? McFarlane">http://www.spawn.com">McFarlane Toys, which made its mark creating and marketing Spawn merchandise, is hoping quite a few.
Jim Shannon Joins Quartet Marketing
At CES2006, we were pleasantly surprised to encounter Jim Shannon in Quartet Marketing Group's exhibit room at the Alexis Villas. "What are you doing these days?" we asked. He gestured around the room. "I'm a partner in Quartet," he said. "I've been here since July."
Jim Thiel
We have just received the sad news that loudspeaker designer Jim Thiel has passed away. Following is the text of the official announcement:
Jimmy Martin, 1928-2005
Jimmy Martin, the self-styled "King of Bluegrass," died at a hospice near his home in Hermitage, TN on May 14. Martin had been diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2003, but the progress of the disease was slow, and the first of two hospice stays was cut short by an apparent recovery. Significantly, Martin never gave up his plans to perform at this year's Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, IN.
Jimmy Page Drops Some Clues About New HD Led Zeppelin Releases
Poor Jimmy Page. After listening to eight tracks from the newly remastered Led Zeppelin studio albums from Atlantic/Swan Song/Rhino, the first three of which, I, II, III, will be released on June 3, the guitar great graciously opened himself to questions. Were the alternate takes, that are the meat of the “companion audio” disc that accompanies each original album, pieced together from a number of alternate takes?
Jimmy Smith: 1928–2005
We were saddened to learn that the great jazz organist Jimmy Smith died in his sleep on February 8. He was 76.
Jitter in, jitter out...
For years, there has been concern in the high-end audio press about the effects of jitter on digital audio. Manufacturers spend countless design hours measuring jitter and trying to minimize its influence on the sound of their products.