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Monthly Archive: May 2005

Byther Smith – Addressing The Nation with the Blues

by | May 24, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Byther Smith – Addressing The Nation with the Blues – JSP Records JSP5106 Hybrid Multichannel SACD ***: Byther is a Mississippi native who lost both parents as a child, and began his adult life working a cattle ranch and boxing. His aunt forced him to quit fighting and he moved to Chicago where he pursued a musical career. He didn’t have much luck getting gigs other than on the gospel circuit, but in the early 60s this changed and he made a few recordings. By the 70s, he worked with Junior Wells, and in the early 80s he put out his first LP. It didn’t meet with much success, but a few years after followed another record where he finally got some recognition. This disc (from 1989) hits straight at the heart of the Chicago sound, while you can hear influences from people like Otis Rush, B. B. King, and Elmore James. Track two is a punchy, throbbing number that reminds me of some live, old John Mayall records. The music on this disc isn’t that old, but in style it definitely has an older blues feel—and that’s a good thing. Every track incorporates top-notch licks and mates well to […]

The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East

by | May 24, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East; Mercury Records B0000400-36 (2-discs) Hybrid Multichannel SACD, ****: Some bands are good studio bands and some bands only perform their best in front of a live audience. The Allman Brothers are equally comfortable in both settings, but on this disc they just light it up! Thankfully, the recording quality is very good, so it doesn’t get in the way of the enjoyment of the record. There are only a handful of country/blues rock bands that I really dig, and this band is at the top of the list. Eat A Peach is a fantastic record, but if you want to hear the band (live) really open it up and jam with songs up to and over 20 minutes in length then this record is worthy of your time. Most of the songs are from other blues artists, although the lengthiest song, “Whipping Post,” is an Allman original. On the first disc there is an inspired version of “Stormy Monday”—mellow and smooth with great percussion and guitar work. It is easy to get lost in the musical experience on tunes like “You Don’t Love Me,” but there are shorter tunes in between to […]

Shania Twain: UP! – Mercury B0000788-36

by | May 24, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Shania Twain: UP! – Mercury B0000788-36 – Multichannel Hybrid SACD, 74 min. *: In many respects, Shania Twain is to be commended – she writes her own songs, conquered Nashville and made it to the top – even if very little of what she does really resembles traditional country music. Unfortunately, with her latest release, UP!, what seems to be mostly up is the volume, and the heavy processing and over-production of all elements of the recorded sound. What’s definitely down are the really clever and snappy “woman-on-top of a man’s world” lyrics and posturing that in the recent past made her such a novel act with so much appeal to so many. Maybe the novelty has just worn off, but I found very little here that offered any appeal at all on any level, and if you’re looking for a veritable garden of audiophile delights, this isn’t it! Only for extremely die-hard fans.

Oscar Peterson, piano – Exclusively for my Friends, Volumes I, II & III – ****

by | May 24, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Vol. I – Action – MPS Stereo-only hybrid SACD B0002228-16: Vol. II – Girl Talk – MPS Stereo-only hybrid SACD B0002231-16: Vol. III – The Way I Really Play – MPS Stereo-only hybrid SACD B0002233-16: These are the SACD reissues of three of the six albums making up a very unusual addition to the large Oscar Peterson discography. The original tapes were discovered by someone who was evidently connected with the German MPS label. They were recorded by Peterson with whatever rhythm section he was traveling with at the time, in the private home of Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer in Germany. Brunner-Schwer was a skilled tape recordist and he obtained sonics nearly as good as Peterson’s commercial recordings. He used professional Ampex open reel decks. No wire-recorder-sourced reissues here as with Charlie Parker! Since they were good friends and the recordings were strictly for his and Peterson’s use and not for distribution, Peterson and his record label gave permission for the recordings. (That probably wouldn’t happen today!) Feeling that the tapes were often even more exciting than the commercial recordings, MPS worked out the legal details to release them. Now they feel they are good enough to reissue on these stereo […]

Yellowjackets – Altered State – Heads Up

by | May 24, 2005 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Yellowjackets – Altered State – Heads Up multichannel SACD HUSA 9097 ****: An original cover by artist Peter Max adorns the latest in a long series of albums from this creative quartet.They began life as the session band for guitarist Robben Ford in the late ‘70s. Over the years they have changed and developed thru many variations upon a basic jazz fusion style – blues, R&B, world music, Afro-Cuban, acoustic. Experimenting with tradition has been Yellowjackets’ thing all along. Now made up of leading reedman and big band leader Bob Mintzer, keyboardist Russell Ferrante, electric bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Marcus Baylor, Yellowjackets are playing with offbeat meters and rhythms plus unusual melodies in this album. The first track is 15 beats to the bar, for example. There are vocals this time, one from Jean Baylor, even with backup singers. All 11 tracks are original tunes by members of the band, with one involved three of them together. The dynamic groove of this band has always been a kick, and with the terrific surround playback it’s a kick and a half! Tracks: Suite 15, March Majestic, The Hope, Hunter’s Point, Mother Earth, Youth Eternal, Free Day, Cross Current, Aha, 57 […]

Epson PowerLite™ Cinema 500 Hi-Def LCD Projector — MSRP: $4,999

by | May 24, 2005 | Component Reviews

Epson America, Inc. 3840 Kilroy Airport Way Long Beach, CA 90806 Phone: 562-981-3840 Support: 800-922-8911 Model Number: EMP-TW500 https://www.epson.com Intro The playing field is getting crowded with high quality display technologies in the high definition projector market. DLP, LCD, D-ILA and S-XRD all have high performance models available, yet the cost and performance variables make no single technology completely dominant. Epson’s new PowerLite™ Cinema 500 High Definition LCD projector is the best of three new projectors being offered by the company, each specifically designed for home theater applications. The Cinema 500 offers a true high definition image with its 720p (1280 x 720) native resolution using a trio of 0.7″ Poly-silicon TFT Active Matrix panels. The 200W UHE (Ultra High Efficiency) lamp is designed to last up to 3000 hours in the low power modes and up to 1700 hours in the high power modes. Cool air is drawn from the bottom of the unit through the user replaceable filter and exits through the front side of the projector. The contrast ratio is said to be as high as 1200:1 with a light output of 1000 lumens. The powered zoom (1.5x) and powered focus sets this projector apart from its […]

Willem Breuker – original music for the theater pieces by Bert Brecht: Drums In the Night; The Rise of Arturo Ui – The Wm. Breuker Kollektief – Bvhaast 0604

by | May 24, 2005 | Jazz CD Reviews

Willem Breuker – original music for the theater pieces by Bert Brecht: Drums In the Night; The Rise of Arturo Ui – The Wm. Breuker Kollektief – Bvhaast 0604 [www.bvhaast.nl] , 76:28 ****: This reissue from the extensive LP discography of the long-running Kollektief in Amsterdam brings to CD form two sets of short instrumental suites created originally for two different theater presentations in l975. The style is a sort of Kurt Weill brought up to date with free jazz and an ascerbic sense of humor the Brueker Kollektief is known for. There are 15 or more cues for each of the two theater pieces, with the sounds and moods dizzying in their kaleidoscopic variety. The accessible experimentality of most of the Kollektief’s work is representative of much of the creative music now coming out of Amsterdam – and in the case of Wm. Breuker, for over a quarter century now.

One More – Music of Thad Jones (Nonet with Bob Brookmeyer, Jimmy Owens, Mickey Roker, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Richard Davis, Michael Patterson, Benny Golson, James Moody)

by | May 24, 2005 | Jazz CD Reviews

One More – Music of Thad Jones (Nonet with Bob Brookmeyer, Jimmy Owens, Mickey Roker, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Richard Davis, Michael Patterson, Benny Golson, James Moody) – IPO ****: Well, this is brave – no record number at all – just the title. This is only a nonet so does’t quite qualify for big band but it certainly has a big sound for nine players. And what a lineup of sidemen! Thad jones made a huge splash in big band jazz when he join up with Mel Lewis for one of the most exciting series of big band arrangements ever. Mingus, who was not big on complenting others, wrote to Metronome magaizne raving for Thad as “Bartok with values for a pencil guided by God.” Every one of the dozen tracks is a Thad Jones original; gthe arrangements are by Michael Petterson. IPO has very high audiophile sonic standards and this release continues them. Tracks: Subtle Rebuttal, Thad’s Pad, Kids are Pretty People, One More, Mean What You Say, A Child Is Born, Bossa Nova Ova, The Waltz You Swang for Me, H&T Blues, Consummation, The Farewell, Monk’s Mood.

Symphonic Jobim – Live Concert recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil Dec. 2002 with members of Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo

by | May 24, 2005 | Jazz CD Reviews

Symphonic Jobim – Live Concert recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil Dec. 2002 with members of Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo cond. by Roberto Minczuk. Arrangements by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Claus Ogerman, Nelson riddle, Eumir Deodato, Dori Caymmi, Paulo Jobim and Mario Adnet. Special guest: Milton Nascimento – Adventure Music AM1016 2 (2 discs) *****: An unexpected and thoroughly captivating live concert from a record label new to me but now on my list to explore more fully – Adventure Music specializes in music from Brazil, including many melding Brazilian and American performers in some very exciting music-making. Songwriter Jobim studied piano, theory and composition seriously from age 14 onwards, much as had Astor Piazzolla. His hands were too small for a career of concert pianist but he discovered his vocation as a composer and created as his first composition a classical waltz that years later sprouted Chico Baurque lyrics and the title Imagina (it closes the first side of these two discs). The Symphonic Jobim project grew out of a study carried out by the Instituto Antonio Carlos Jobim, which possesses the original manuscripts of the musical scores and arrangements by Jobim and others. These are brand new […]

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Etudes symphonique; Fantasy in C; Faschingsschwank aus Wien; Kinderszenen – John Lill, p. – Greenpro {Vinyl Review}

by | May 23, 2005 | Special Features

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Etudes symphonique; Fantasy in C Op. 17; Faschingsschwank aus Wien Op. 26; Kinderszenen Op. 15 – John Lill, piano – Greenpro 4001 & 2 (2 discs), 75:50 ****: This is our only classical vinyl this time, but it is a very special effort from leading recording engineer Tony Faulkner. He has been interviewed in Hi-Fi News and elsewhere on his reservations about digital recording and how he obtained a couple of used Studer A80 master open reel tape recorders, had them tweaked by Tim de Paravicini, and is using them to record material such as this album in both analog and digital formats. The digital master was used to produce a CD for Music for Pleasure, while the analog tapes are the sources of this double-LP on Tony’s own label – Green Room Productions. I didn’t have the CD for comparison, but Hi-Fi News found that the piano had greater sustain and carrying power on the analog recording – the digital in comparison sounding leaden and lacking brilliance and sparkle. There was more of a 3D realism with the analog. I remember a listening session at an audiophile society shortly after the compact disc came out. Many of […]

Karrin Allyson – In Blue – Pure Audiophile vinyl

by | May 22, 2005 | Special Features

Karrin Allyson – In Blue (with Danny Embrey, guitar; Mulgrew Miller, piano & Fender Rhodes; Peter Washington, bass; Lewis Nash, drums, Steve Wilson, alto & soprano sax) – Concord Records/ Pure Audiophile Records PA-007 (2) ****: I got acquainted with Karrin Allyson’s special song stylings on the Concord Jazz Voices DVD we received recently (before I sent it off to a reviewer). I missed the original Concord CD of this album but after auditioning this double-LP set I can call myself a fan and forget about Diana Krall. Her voice is not large but it’s versatile, swinging and sexy, and I love her selection of tunes. They run from jazz standards to soul jazz, ballads, pop, and blues. The theme of blues is emphatically brought out by these two pressings being on bright blue vinyl! In the past I had thought that colored vinyl was noisier than the black, but the surfaces on these 180-gram discs are silent. Looks great spinning on your turntable. Allyson’s band deserves no little credit for making this album a great one. Miller is one of the best pianists around, and Steve Wilson’s tasteful sax solos come in at just the right time and don’t […]