Another female singer I like a lot is Nancy Wilson ... but again, like Carmen McCrea, only her early work.
On Patricia Barber (and other recording artists like her), my intent wasn't to insult anyone, especially anyone contributing to this thread.
I love natural recordings, especially those that are right from the master tapes. They are far closer to what was happening in the studio or on site. For those who have heard master tapes played back through their stereo system .... they know what I mean. There is a "you are there" presence not available on ordinary recordings.
So many times, the artificial reverb is added to cloak a faltering voice due to age or a lack of talent to begin with.
On Tony Bennett ... I hope he lives to 190. :-)
Frank
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This thread the past few days has been a genuine joy to read and participate in. This is the whole point of having an audio system, to listen to and connect with the music we are passionate about.
Bill,
Carmen was in prime form well into the mid 1970s. See if spotify has her "Great American Songbook " early 1970s live in a LA jazz club. I think you'll like it.
Charles |
Al: Thanks for your thoughts
Shadorne: i can't find where to check the electrin level on my amp. I'm kind of new at this. Maybe you can helpme locate it.
Geo: so how many hours would you recommend for 100%?
jettet: cant seem to locate the reverse swich on cdp. Maybe it doesnt have one, so i just inverted the polarity on the power cord by swithing the hot and neutral. This should make it play backwards, i think. Thanks for the suggestion! |
Droleg, by deduction I conclude that if you’re playing music though a wire or fuse you can never get to 100%. In fact as I understand the situation even cables that have been thoroughly broken in on the inestimable Cable Cooker the cables still befit from breaking them in on the Cable Cooker or whatever again a year later, ad infinitum. Besides I implore you, what audiophile worth his salt is going to sit there patiently - without making any change to his system - for 100 hours and be able to tell when the cable or fuse has finished breaking in? Give me a break, besides an audio system when it is well tuned doesn't even sound the same from day to day, night time to day time. Too many variables. |
Geo: Broken in or not , i'm just in it to enjoy the music. To each , his own. If someon thinks that doing this or buying that hightens their pleasure or enjoyment, i believe it does, to them. It's all in our perception and expectation. Much of this is phsychological, which , by no means , lessens the validity of what they percieve. If i buy or try a tweak, i usualy believe that there's a possibility it will help. What have you got to lose, within financial reason. Enjoy the music, all. |
droleg
Geo: Broken in or not , i'm just in it to enjoy the music. To each , his own. If someon thinks that doing this or buying that hightens their pleasure or enjoyment, i believe it does, to them. It's all in our perception and expectation. Much of this is phsychological, which , by no means , lessens the validity of what they percieve. If i buy or try a tweak, i usualy believe that there's a possibility it will help.
Gosh, thanks for your insight. I'm sure we all appreciate it.
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And we like what we like in music because in varying degrees it is what we are . The variance is in whether we like the way it makes us feel inside or whether it makes us want to reach out to others including God.
A map of our self .
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God made us all unique. I respond to God through lyrics and the emotion/passion of the vocalist. From this perspective I respond to God and others though an artist like Sara Groves (Christian artist) more than Bach. One artist is not better than the other and certainly not in God's economy. Just the wrong question and thought process. |
When God becomes the topic things can become very complex and philosophical. I feel that this is such a personal matter that it can be difficult to discuss as one’s beliefs, conviction and relationship with God vary all over a wide spectrum. This goes deeper than discussing politics.
I’m in no position to dictate what others want to post about but I will keep my participation simple and limit it to the topic of music which I find fun and gratifying.
Best Regards to all,
Charles |
I'm with Charles here faith and religion being very tricky subjects which can tend to divide us, music on the other hand has a tendency to bring us together. For whatever that is worth.
Sunday morning classical with Bach Trios by Yo Yo Ma, Chris Thile, and Edgar Meyer. Not much of a classical listener but I love it on weekend mornings for some reason.
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One artist is better than another and God knows it . God made us but not as puppets on a string, our choices form us in the end .
I would feel foolish if I was afraid to talk about the ultimate reality . |
Frank thanks for the rec and great title LOL!
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Speaking of puppets, how about The Meat Puppets? They aren't chopped liver. |
We've gotten rid of most gods (there used to be a lot of them hanging around), so it really is time to get rid of that last big one. I realize for some it's hard to keep their silly religious nonsense from permeating forums, but when it's as inane as the stuff being posted by Shubert it really points out the need to keep some things to yourself. |
Seems fuses,wire, and certainly politics divide more than religion 😊
Agreed this is no place to debate /discuss politics or God. Sorry I went there... |
There is no bad place to discuss God . |
Wolf and Schubert represent polar ends of a vast spectrum regarding religious though and it’s quite unlikely they’ll "ever" see eye to eye on this topic. Both of them posses excellent music taste and knowledge. Let’s find common ground there.
Charles |
If God did not exist man would have to invent him. |
I have common ground with every human being on the planet .
I don’t push my points to win any arguments but because I love everybody including wolf-garcia whose posts don’t bother me personally whatsoever .
As Augustine said " Music is Gods greatest gift to mankind, save his son " . |
Oy…"there's a seeker born every minute"…Firesign Theater. |
I thank God for making me an atheist.
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As much as I would like to discuss "religion," and why "what is hidden from the most learned is revealed to mere children," I won't. Its not appropriate for this forum, nor for this thread. :-)
Boy, is my system sounding incredible these days. Truly a magic music machine.
Frank |
Agreed Frank and my system is sounding pretty dynamite these days also, I seem to be listening more than ever! Never a bad thing! :)
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@charles1dad Since you were so kind as to introduce me to Jay Hoggard, check out his release "Harlem Heiroglyphs" I found it on Tidal and it's excellent. Good upfront sound and some interesting original compositions with a few classics mixed in.
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Hi Jond,
I’ll certainly seek that recording out. Thanks for the recommendation as I really enjoy his playing. Jond one current vibraphonist I failed to mention is Jason Marsalis. He’s know primarily as a drummer (for good reason) but he’s also a very accomplished vibraphonist without question. I saw him live in Ann Arbor on vibes leading a quartet 2 years ago. Saw him last year as a drummer with pianist Marcus Roberts. He’s excellent with either instrument.
Charles
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Charles thanks for the rec checking out Jason Marsalis tonight!
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Robert and I use this CD which he introduced me to, for testing equipment and changes in our audio system. If it doesn't sound great, there is something wrong with the system. I found out that my mid range drivers on my Focus speakers were lacking in polyester batting due to the hard and blurry/blurry horns. Upon remedying the problem, horns sounded rich and smooth. These were not due to factory error but the guy who rewired my speakers prior to purchase didn't replace the batting which they needed plenty of. Great CD!
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^^^ Thanks, fleschler. I'll bet it sounds terrific on your system. I listened to it all the way through during last night's listening session. The band was in the room. How can you go wrong on this CD with this caliber of musicians ready to jump out at you? Here's another one that I dug out of the vault last night. If you have it, play cut #14 and crank up the volume. Its a good test of a system's dynamics and the ability to "hold together" while blowing the walls down ... not to mention that its great music a well. :-) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antal-Dor-ti-Stravinsky-The-Firebird-etc-Antal-Dorati-CD-5LVG-/302233218987?...Frank |
I understand the Mercury Living Presence CDs are out of absolute polarity. Can you do me a solid and reverse speaker connections on both speakers to see if one way sounds better than the other? when the CD is in correct polarity it should sound much more dynamic and coherent with huge soundstage. thanks in advance. |
^^^ geoffkait ...
I have a polarity switch on my pre-amp. I'll check it out and get back to you, although what this disc was doing last night was uncanny. Huge sound stage, instruments all separated and tonally correct. The brass was incredible and the kettle and bass drums were spectacular. And no matter how loud I played it, short of my neighbors running after me with torches, it all held together.
As a side note, two days before this listening session, I switched the amp (ARC REF-75se) from the 8 ohm taps to the 4 ohm taps. I'm getting a lot more slam and bass response now. Slightly better overall clarity too.
Frank |
Thanks, Frank! Of course something else in the system might be out of polarity, that's why I asked to see which way sounded best. Not to mention the Mercury CDs sound great even out of polarity. 😀
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I have a polarity switch on my pre-amp...
IMO, having a way to switch polarity on the fly is a must for a good system. I can readily hear the difference, and, more importantly, so can my wife 😉
The CDs in my collection are pretty evenly distributed as to which polarity sounds best, so switching speaker leads was not a viable option. My amp (Antique Sound Lab Tulip) came with a switch to invert the polarity in one channel for bridging purposes. I had a friend install a switch in the other channel, so I can easily invert both.
oregonpapa,
I also prefer the 4 ohm tap with my Audio Note AN-E speakers. It's definitely worth trying to see which sounds better with one's particular amp/speaker combo.
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Currently enjoying trumpeter Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder. Sounds great, especially with the "correct" polarity.
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Regarding polarity switches, a point to keep in mind is that when the position of the switch is changed not only is polarity being changed, but the circuit configuration of the component which provides the switch is also being changed. That in itself could conceivably have audible consequences, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the specific design. I would expect that to be unlikely to be an issue in the case of a fully balanced design such as Frank’s ARC line stage, since in a fully balanced design a polarity reversal can be accomplished by simply interchanging two internal connections. However in a design having a single-ended internal signal path changes involving the configuration of active circuitry would probably be necessary. Oregonpapa 4-13-2017
Here’s another one that I dug out of the vault last night. If you have it, play cut #14 and crank up the volume. Its a good test of a system’s dynamics and the ability to "hold together" while blowing the walls down ... not to mention that its great music a well. :-)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antal-Dor-ti-Stravinsky-The-Firebird-etc-Antal-Dorati-CD-5LVG-/302233218987?... Thanks, Frank. I have that recording, on a CD having a release date of 1991, rather than on the 2004 SACD shown at the link you provided. Very impressive, as I recall, although somehow I haven’t listened to it in quite a few years.
One of my all-time favorite recordings of any work is the LP I have of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (as opposed to the complete ballet that is on the recording you referred to), Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, on Telarc. A digitized version of the LP can be found here: https://archive.org/details/StravinskyTheFirebirdborodinPrinceIgor-Telarc-Vinyl24-bit And it can be found in CD form at the following link. I see from the review comments, btw, that I’m not alone in liking it. It’s great music, as you indicated about the complete ballet, and the performance by Shaw and the orchestra is excellent as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-Firebird-Borodin-Music-Prince/dp/B000003CSF And speaking of dynamics, it is absolutely stupendous in that regard, even relative to the exceptional dynamic range that is found on many other early Telarc releases. It so happens that I have on my computer the same Sound Forge audio editing program that is indicated at the archive.org link (above) as having been used to create the digital files that are provided there. Using that program to examine the waveforms in those files I have found that the difference in volume between the notes at the end of the “Berceuse,” at around 17:20, and the concluding note at the end of the work, is around 60 dB! Meaning that the amplifier has to put out around 1,000,000 times as much power to reproduce the concluding note as to reproduce the softest notes. That is consistent, btw, with SPL measurements I have made at my listening position, those being about 105 dB on the concluding note, and less than 50 dB on the softest notes. (My meter can’t measure below 50 dB). Best regards,
-- Al
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Telarc. That's another label on the out of polarity list. Along with RCA Living Stereo and Deutsches Gramaphon. Thanks for mentioning it. |
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Frank thanks for the Conte Candoli rec never heard of it before, it's queued up next!
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I was just thinking ... we as music lovers seem to collect quite a few different renditions of the same music. As an example, the topic of "what's your favorite Scheherazade" came up the other day here on A'gon. We actually had a Scheherazade shoot out at my house a few years ago where everyone brought a couple of their favorites. We all agreed by the end of the evening that the one that was recorded on Vanguard was the over all best performance, even beating out the highly acclaimed "Shaded Dog" RCA with
Fritz Reiner conducting the CSO. I forget the exact release but here's the LP's: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=S...I'm afraid to count how many recordings I have of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.
I must have at least 20 different renditions of this music.
Everything from Miles Davis, to John Wililams (the guitarist) to the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Kind of like chocolate ice cream. Is there ever really enough? :-) Frank |
jond ... Let me know what you think. Conti Condoli, the trumpet player, and Stan Levy, the drummer, used to play with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse Allstars in at the jazz club known as "The Lighthouse" in Hermosa Beach, CA. My high school buddy and I used to go hear them a couple of nights a week ... and then try to stay awake in class the next day. I was so taken by Stan Levy's drumming that we would sit right next to him looking up at his foot working all of the pedals. Levy is one of the few drummers that actually plays music on the drums. Shelly Manne is another that comes to mind. As you listen to Little Band Big Jazz, listen to how Stan Levy drives the band and keeps his ego out of the way as he does it. The sax player, Buddy Collette, also did some really great work with the Chico Hamilton quintet too. Now THAT is some great work. Check this out. Its a must have: http://www.ebay.com/itm/PACIFIC-JAZZ-1225-CHICO-HAMILTON-QUINTET-Mono-LP-DG-/122423073830?hash=item1...Look for the stereo version ... and not the mono. Fabulous recording and some really cutting edge jazz (for the 1950's). It was considered to be really "far out" back in the day. Collette plays soprano sax on this album like there's no tomorrow. One of my favs ... and everyone I play it for loves it too. Frank |
Frank,
Buddy Collett, yep he's a wonderful musician who seemingly mastered many of the reed/woodwind instruments. He and Herbie Mann collaborated on "Flute Fraternity " in the late 1950s. Buddy plays clarinet, flute, alto and tenor saxophones. These two were a very good pairing.
Regarding Conte Candoli, he is a fine trumpeter and thanks for the recording recommendation . Jond let me know what you think of this recording.
Charles |
I just ordered the Candoli "Little Band Big Jazz " pianist Vince Guaraldi,
Collett on tenor, Leroy Vinegar on bass? This has to be terrific by default.
Charles |
It was very enjoyable Frank some fine playing all around! Also liked Toots Sweet by Conte Candiolo and not listening to Manhattan by Alan Barnes with the David Newman Trio and special guest Conte. Great stuff thanks!
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Glad you enjoyed it, jond. After the Lighthouse gig, Conte Candoli became a very busy studio musician. He ended his career as a permanent resident on the Johnny Carson Show band. Here's a good clip of Conte playing with his brother Pete. Conte is the one in the middle with the fuller head of hair. Pete would sit in at the Lighthouse from time to time as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUbkM7lZaxMOne summer day, Conte played with a band that our our city hired to play in one of our outdoor summer music festivals around 25 years ago. I walked up to the trailer and introduced myself to him. I told Conte that I was a fan from the Lighthouse days back in the 50's. We shook hands and he told me the Lighthouse gig was the best gig he ever had. He signed an LP for me that I took to the festival for that purpose. Great times guys ... L.A. had tons of super fine jazz clubs back in the day. As jazz became less popular ( Elvis and those damned Beatles!) :-) it became unprofitable and fell out of favor. Too bad as it was truly wonderful. Here's a pics of the LIghthouse as it was back in the day ... 1 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach, California: https://search.aol.com/aol/image?q=picture+lighthouse+jazz+club+hermosa+beach&v_t=webmail-search...Frank |
Frank,
Love those pictures which document a very special period in the evolution of jazz. The West Coast jazz s scene was very vibrant and is strongly linked with the "Cool Jazz " movement of the early1950s thru the early 1960s.
There are many debates concerning west vs east coast sound and some consider the west coast musicians a step below their eastern contemporaries, I don’t agree with that. Without question the east coast (predominately NYC) produced iconic jazz figures with the modern (Bebop) style in the 1940s. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powel, Dexter Gordon , Miles Davis, Fats Navarro etc. I simply cannot dispute that fact.
I will say however that the west coast spawned many excellent jazz musicians who played a style of jazz that I find beautiful and has withstood the test of time. IMO both coast genres have contributed heavily to the jazz idiom. I love both.
Charles |
Awesome stuff guys and I've always loved Art Pepper in terms of that West Coast jazz stye. Any other cool mellow west coast stuff you all can hip me to? Cheers and happy Friday all!
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^^^ Thanks, Charles. I was taken up in the debate betweem West Coast vs East Coast jazz. I heard the difference as being "West Coast, melodic --- East Coast, discordant." But what did I know ... I was only 16-18 years old during those days and in love with Rhythm and Blues and Doo-Wop. Earl Bostic was The Man! I was in the Louis Armstrong camp on the issue. He said it best when he first heard Parker and Miles playing bebop together ... he said: "It sounds like Chinese music!" ... and he walked out. Nothing against Chinese music of course, but it can get really "out there." The good stuff sounds like pots and pans clanging together along with a very badly out of tune weird trumpet. *lol* I couldn't stand Monk's music for sure. Couldn't stand listening to the stuff. Nope, at the time, just give me Bruebeck & Desmond or Getz & Cal Tjader. Then, my cousin, who was into all kinds of jazz told me to just keep listening to bebop and the genius would be revealed to me. Well, I did ... and it did ... and there's been no looking back. On the Lighthouse Allstars ... Lucky for us that they did a lot of recordings, and on the Contemporary label no less. I have most of what they recorded in the LP collection. Really good stuff. Here's some of my favs: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Howard-Rumseys-Lighthouse-All-Stars-Vol-3-New-CD-/291496880862?hash=item43de...http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOWARD-RUMSEY-ALL-STARS-Lighthouse-At-Laguna-CD-Barney-Kessel-etc-1955-No-IF...http://www.ebay.com/itm/Howard-Rumseys-Lighthouse-All-Stars-In-the-Solo-Spotlight-CD-1990-/142328123...http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOWARD-RUMSEYS-LIGHTHOUSE-ALL-STARS-Double-Or-Nothin-JAPAN-CD-Charlie-Persip...This next one is one of their few albums in stereo ... and its really good: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Howard-Rumsey-All-Stars-Music-For-Lighthousekeeping-CD-Bob-Cooper-1956-Cando...All of the above are total winners. Excellent sound and excellent performances. Frank |
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