This is Stefano Bertoncello's Blog (ステファノ・ベルトンチェッロ - トゥーグッドイアーズ − ブロガー、オーディオ＆ミュージック・コンサルタント) devoted to pacific topics like Music - live and reproduced - i.e. discs, audio, guitars and whatever musical: concerts, workshops, exhibitions, etc. Furthermore: travelling - as a mind-game and real globetrotting - and books, movies, photography... sharing all the above and everything which makes Life better and Earth a better place to stay, enjoying Life, in Peace. Proudly ads-free since 2007! Enjoy.💫
Will disappear for awhile… I deserve it!
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I’m listening to this humble masterpiece after some years and it sounded timeless.
The CD comes from a brief, blessed time when vinyl discs were nicely pressed (also if coming from digital recordings) and contained a complimentary disk, just in case, much appreciated.
I love this music: the recording happened at Shirley’s home, a lovely cottage in the countryside and birds singing in the garden are well present in the background.
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I recently made a fast run - it was a few months since last time - with a couple of my passive line-stages… I’m not surprised the old, trusty Luxman’s is the winner: its unsurpassed musicality and introspection is so pleasing to be addictive.
The Audio Consulting isn’t bad, of course… it’s a bit slow in comparison - i.e. not promptly changing at music genres changing, at dynamics requires and detailing.
The AT-3000 is… the ultimate 😉 in natural sound and flawless matching with my beloved workhorse, the Hiraga Class A 20W amp.
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From Stefano Amerio:
“…and with this two albums I’m over of 150 albums done for ECM.
A long way, at the console close to Manfred Eicher.
It is incredible journey in the world of the music and in the universe of this great producer.
Thank you, Manfred for your confidence!”
Congratulations and thanks, Manfred and Stefano 🙏
I swear: I wasn’t prepared to what I’m right now listening to!
I yesterday wrote I found some exotic, pristinely kept disks at local flea-market, BUT… these six CDs of improvised organ music, played by John Zorn are… nothing short than…
… I N S A N E!!!
I own some JZ’s records, saw him alive twice and chatted with him once… such a lovely dude!… but these disks are simply ultra-terrestrial, just unbelievably good.
Amazing music, even more amazing recordings, awesomeness in spades.
What a find! I’ll be putting on a shelf near beloved La Monte Young’s The Well-Tuned Piano… it’s this good!
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Nick Drake sat underneath the knickers, Danehurst, 112 Haverstock Hill, August 1970. Photo by Keith Morris. Guitar belonged to Brian Wells, clothing, unknown provenance.
Elegant, but maybe I’d avoid all those square surfaces, choosing more gently smooth, rounded parts, most of all in the area immediately adjacent to the metal grills.
Just my opinion, but kudos to the brave heart audiophile.
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Yesterday evening I had a much rewarding and pleasant listening session… I was alone but not lonely with Bert Jansch’s “Rosemary Lane” and “It don’t bother me” and Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon”.
It was sometime I didn’t listen to these marvelous discs; the last few weeks I listened to a lot of ECMs’ and other quite adventurous music so, a spontaneous thought crossed my mind: what makes Bert Jansch and Nick Drake immortal?
Why does this music never grow tiresome or boring, even after fifty years? I sincerely love ECM’s vision, most of ECM’s artists are absolute virtuosos of adamant technical skill! … but who’ll remember this highly polished music in the future?
What makes these guitar sounds—so “imperfect” (both Bert and Nick favored well-worn strings, with a tone almost muted and muffled by use and sweat-induced oxidation)—so unique and inimitable? Bert’s voice cracks in a deeply human way; he interprets the lyrics, truly living them and his vocal technique is at the antipodes of a conservatory-trained singer…
The same goes for Nick... but, BUT listening to this music, time ceases to flow conventionally, and one remains spellbound by such simplicity and beauty!
Art reaches senses and soul… you time-travel to youth and loves, not thinking to mikes and studio gimmicks.
After listening to those wonderful albums, I also changed the strings on my 2007 Martin OM-42, shifting from an ultra-precise—almost cold and sterile—sound made with hi-tech, hi-end phosphorus-bronze strings, to one that was human, fluid, and vibrant, like a voice... I simply installed some beloved, trusty LaBella 710M Silk & Steel .012–.056 strings, almost muddy sounding vs. the a.m. modern strings and the miracle was right there at my fingertips, with a piano-like sound, an expressive and rich tone at the service of my technique and execution.
It is my belief that music thrives on uniqueness, where the musician “must” find his own voice and eventual flaws are not flaws if his soul speak with a sincere, pure intention through music.
Music—composing and playing one’s own music, that is—requires freedom and a refusal to follow the herd; commercial radio has for years reflected this reality: everyone uses excessive and compulsive Auto-Tune and an embarrassing amount of overdubbing to mask an almost total lack of inspiration or any real “message.”
Food for thought, uh? Who says banal is over-simplifying?
At the end of above lucubrations and after struggling for the past few weeks for the uninvolving feeling while playing, my guitar became (or better: returned to be) a shiver-making, unique instrument instead of an aseptic hi-end acoustic guitar, similar to countless others.
… at flea-market.
Nicely preserved 100+ years old instrument!
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In a sea of cheap, battered, scratched, dusty CDs, sometimes a sunlight appears: esoteric (Current 93), exotic, sought-after disks in plastic sleeves, as I do… titles worth much more in terms of musical enjoyment than the asking prices.
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I am delighted to tell you about an unmissable publishing project. Niccolò de Mojana and Simone Romei have launched a crowdfunding campaign on the "Produzioni dal basso" platform to publish John Fahey’s autobiographical volume, *How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life*.
The translation is by Romei—known in the music world as Des Moines—while the introduction is by guitarist Gwenifer Raymond. John Fahey needs no introduction to those who follow this page: he is quite simply one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. *How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life*—aptly retitled in Italian as *La mia vita fatta a pezzi dalla musica*—is, however, little known. It is a labyrinthine, disorienting book that weaves together anecdotes and obsessions from within and beyond the American culture of the last century.
I wish the best of luck to the publishers.
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Recorded in 1970 on a ReVox G36 tube reel to reel at Bert’s Ticehurst House, in Sussex by Bill Leader on AGFA tape.
It’s just Bert’s voice and genius and his John Bailey acoustic guitar with well worn strings.
A masterpiece and a beloved fave, since I bought it in early ‘70s.
P.S. - I always find so awesome such a gem was stored and preserved for posterity on a fragile and humble Mylar ribbon!
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… not showing the vinyl-discs.
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Thanking David Karmeli for inspiring and teaching, also if at a distance…
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I play a JR tune almost every day and I’m so grateful to him.
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Prior to playing in King Crimson , Jamie Muir ( 1945 - 2025 ) played in the ECM Records signed British jazz group The Music Improvisation Company .
Derek Bailey - electric guitar
Evan Parker - soprano saxophone
Hugh Davies - live electronics
Jamie Muir - percussion
Manfred Eicher - producer
Definitely YES!
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Handling this awesome solo double-bass disc by Gary Peacock (issued in 1977) while listening to the gorgeous music IS sexy as it can be.
The leather-like embossed cover made of hi-quality carton is so unusual and uniquely useless to be poetic and Zen-like.
It’s something about care for the customer and listener.
I love it!
BTW: this record is a gem!
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Everything for music-sake…
It’s like oxygen to me… my nourishment and comfort.
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