Web-detoxing 2019

Here we go...

Woodstock Diaries - some random notes

During these days commemorating the 50th anniversary of the most famous music festival, ever, I enjoyed playing my 4-tracks Woodstock tape and the 5 classic discs: my most beloved tracks are CSN&Y, Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat, Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix... but... yesterday evening I watched at the TV the documentary "Woodstock Diaries"...

I loved the interviews with the organizers and, as a guitar player and a recordist, I noticed for the first time something really weird: the microphones used on stage during all the 3 days of love and music were the ubiquitous, cheap, then iconic Shure 565 and they were used for vocals, acoustic guitars, guitar amps reinforcement... everything was miked with these rugged mikes!

No Neumanns', AKGs, Telefunkens'... dynamic Shures', rugged and honestly sounding... able to flawlessly work in rain and high humidity conditions where many sought-after mikes would have succumbed.

Talking about guitars... Country Joe McDonald used in his "Gimme an F... gimme a U..." rag a Yamaha FG-150 acoustic... John Sebastian in his dyed trouser and t-shirt played an Harmony Sovereign H-1260, Tim Hardin also played the very same Sovereign's... nothing too expensive or esoteric, yet this pop choices didn't made the performances lesser.

Only Joan Baez used a majestic, pre-War Martin 0-45... something similarly esoteric was played by Steven Stills and Neil Young, with their vintage D-45s.

Richie Havens of "Freedom" fame played-to-the-bone a Guild D-40... if you're intrigued by the topic, have a look here for more guitar trivia.

Priceless.

Nonetheless, despite the cheapos or vintage instruments choices, everything was recorded with 565... same mike which used, among the many, Freddy Mercury... a microphone - whose suggested use is as a vocal-mike - recorded one of the most iconic events ever... the dad of Shure SM-58 with its 50Hz-15kHz limited bandwidth didn't, ahem, limited the enjoyment of people attending the concert or the zillions people listening to the discs.

This makes me think about audiophiles and their obsession for "uncolored sound" and "flat frequency response"...  an Harmony Sovereign is more colored than a Martin D-28, a Shure 565 Unisphere is rolled-off and colored compared to a  B&K/DPA 4001... so what?

Music wins over technology... creativity, communication, empathy of musicians is more important than onanistic technicist paraphernalia!

Amen.

... not just listen to... feel it!

... thanking Peter Sikking.

A definitive book about horns speakers out, soon

1070 pages... 14 years in the making... an awesome effort.

it's official: after 14 years of work, our book "High-Quality Horn Loudspeaker Systems" is finally going to print as of today. Bjørn Kolbrek and I (Thomas Dunker) are both a bit exhausted after the past months of getting all the final details overseen.

The final page count comes to 1070 pages. In keeping with the non-commercial profile of this group (ETF 2019), further info and details on the publishing, the schedule for making it available for sale etc. will be posted on a dedicated web page in the near future. 

Let's just say the book will be available before ETF19, when we will give a presentation of the project.

For now we just need a well deserved break for a little while. The authors would like to point out that this book project is in fact a huge DIY type project dedicated to the collection, organization and sharing of as much useful knowledge, insights, know-how, history and science on horn speaker systems as we have by now managed to pack into a book. Though not available for free, it is ALL about sharing information, ETF style, we feel. 

Stay tuned...

Louis Moholo's masterpiece reissued!

If you don't own this very disc in its classic Ogun pressing, now fetching quite high sums, here is your second chance, folks...

Otoroku is extremely proud to present the first vinyl reissue of one of the most legendary free jazz records ever produced. Originally released in 1978 on Ogun recordings, Louis Moholo Octet’s Spirits Rejoice! is a high achievement in the movement of the era as it soars beyond oppression with a raucous and spiritually uplifting surge of movement and melody 

Featuring Harry Miller, Johnny Dyani, Keith Tippett, Evan Parker, Nick Evans, Radu Malfatti and Kenny Wheeler, this is former Blue Note artist Louis Moholo’s first album under his own name and is a classic example of the cross-pollination between South African and British players. Mongezi Feza’s ‘You Ain’t Gonna Know Me ‘Cos You Think You Know Me’ alone is enough to make your life a better place.

From Matthew Wright’s new liner notes: 

The South African melodies, now so familiar, were wholeheartedly taken on board by the individual musicians, their unity of purpose mirroring the belief in the strength of the collective. Stunning solos, often close to the edge, feature throughout –  Evan Parker and Keith Tippett on “Shine Wherever You Are”; the contrasting trombone styles of Nick Evans and Radu Malfatti on “You Ain’t Gonna Know Me...”; the octet sounding like a full big band; and behind them, the relentlessly rhythmic urgency of the piano, bass and drums. Add to this Kenny Wheeler’s moving and all-encompassing trumpet on the elegiac “Amaxesha Osizi” and the joyous flamboyancy of “Wedding Hymn” with Parker’s relatively straight-ahead tenor and Tippett’s dextrous piano solo over a bed of riffing horns, (fast) walking bass lines and a supreme sense of swing. Louis’ early hero, Big Sid Catlett, would have loved it!

This 2019 re-issue has been made with permission and in association with Ogun records. Features an exact reproduction of the original artwork and liner notes along with new liner notes from Matthew Wright. Remastered by Giuseppe IIelasi and packaged in a high gloss sleeve this is the definitive release of one of the absolute free jazz classics of the 20th Century.

Edition of 1000 copies.

Grab it, you won't regret and will thank me.

An evening with John Renbourn and Jacqui McShee

Loved and still love John and everything Pentangle... BUT,  I truly seldom saw such an ugly picture on a disk cover...

... why not choosing a better one?

Nonetheless, I will buy it, of course... out on next September.

Bill Frisell goes Blue Note!

Beloved, esteemed musicians's musician re-joined the iconic label...

Acclaimed guitarist Bill Frisell has signed with Blue Note Records and will release the first album under his own name for the legendary label with the arrival of his newest project, Harmony, this coming fall.

Though his association with Blue Note stretches back nearly 3 decades to his appearance on John Scofield’s 1992 album Grace Under Pressure — and has included invaluable contributions to Blue Note albums by Don Byron (Romance With The Unseen), Ron Carter (Orfeu), Norah Jones (‘The Long Day Is Over’ from Come Away With Me), the collective project Floratone, and Charles Lloyd & The Marvels (I Long To See You & Vanished Gardens featuring Lucinda Williams) — Harmony is Frisell’s bona fide Blue Note debut: an opportunity for jazz’s most storied label to document the work of “the most significant and widely imitated guitarist to emerge in jazz since the beginning of the 1980s,” according to The New York Times.

Slaps Orchestra - Opera Omnia 2010-2016

Intriguing music... contemporary, classical, electronic, concrete, weird noise... dunno... I find it extremely suggestive, both easy to the ears and complex, music for mind and body.

Enjoy... explore these soundscapes, dig it.

Thanking Michelangelo Bava.

Emily Young (sculptress)

I loved a BBC documentary about Emily working at his monastery/home/workshop in Tuscany...

Lovely, empathic artist, using stones and rocks and hating the soooo boring marble...

I'm with her.

The Peak goes fancy

The Peak will be going to be brewed in fancy, summer-hinting colors, folks... it's only anodization, but I love the effect.

There are only three still available, in all shown colors choices: red, orange and gold.

Proud... also if my wife asked if they're flutes...



Panzerholz/bronze rear-weight, at right the finished one.


BTW: nothing new under the sun, yet... some eons ago "someone" - i.e. Thorens - did it...



Apparently the orange color is unseen, 'til now;-)

Fado in Coimbra, Portugal

During my recent journey in Portugal, I had several very nice musical moments... but nothing compared to my Fado ao Centro in Coimbra evening... 

Coimbra's Fado is very different from its Lisbon's version... only former and ex-Coimbra University students, all males, wearing their traditional black capes, singing and playing classical guitar and guitarra Portuguesa.

The place is very comfortable and classy - sort of out of time - and music flows as timeless as it can be.

The musicians are truly gifted and - be sure - it's not a sort-of tourist-only affaire: historic hints are given by Ms. Germana, an extremely kind and well-informed lady whose live commenting, supported by short movies on the screen behind musicians, was a plus to the evening.

I was in tears when, at the end of one-hour long gig, had the privilege to chat with musicians and to handle and strum a premium luthier crafted guitarra Portuguesa.

An epiphany!

I strongly suggest and invite everyone traveling in the area to stop-by enjoy this great music, hinting both saudade for leaving Portugal, for serenades during the mild nights in Coimbra or cheering at the end of a studying year at the nearby University, one of most ancient in the world.

Thanks, folks... obrigado, Doigo... obrigado, Germana... also now I'm back home, I'm enjoying Coimbra's fado from the disks I bought after the concert.

Cheers.

Jazz Images by Francis Wolff

This very (limited edition) book was the unexpected and gladly received gift from a friend... as he told me, he bought two at Mosaic in CT, USA: one for himself and another for someone able to appreciate it... and. YES! Leif: I DO appreciate it!

The Ashley Khan's foreword is wort the book... his insight about the days these wonderful pixies were shot, the coming from Nazi Germany to USA, the use of Rolleiflex camera and the cool eye inside RudyVan Gelder's studio... priceless.

... but what more amazes me are the finest, humblest details: John Coltrane's elastic twisted belt, the shiny, brand new Neumanns and Telefunkens' microphones and Selmers' saxes, the natural elegance of these stellar musicians and I'm not only talking about Miles'

A true visual goldmine of a life-long commitment to jazz and to - more specifically - seminal, trend-setting Blue Note record label.

Thanks, pal.  

Darius Valiunas - cartridges builder and a new doctor for our beloved Neumann DST's cartridge maintenance

Darius Valiunas, a gentleman from Lithuania, owns the seldom found skill to properly maintain and service the idiosyncratic DST's design cartridges... and to build his very own interpretation, field-coil or not.

He built a Neumann DST replica and a field-coil version of DST design, as well... as Darius says: Air core Direct couple field coil mc cartridge sound is nearest to master tape.Exactly my VERY feeling since I discovered Lumiere DST and Neumann DST!

Again from Darius: Cactus spine with bonded aluminum tube with nude elliptical diamond.
We have tested both for sound/output and they are very similar. 

Cactus spine is much more rugged from mechanical point of view (I mean it's more accident proof, it don't break easy).

... and again:


Standart mc cartridges are wired on iron carcase,but that iron influences Eddy Current.That stops coil movement on big amplitudes,so we hear compressed sound.There is another type of  cartridges[air core ones]that have no problem with Eddy Current,but they have poor bass respond.Therefore the front coils make big movement amplitude,bass from these air core cartridges is good.Magnetic field from elecromagnet is very stable and it  creates good dynamics on bass respond.When you are listening to field coil cartridge,you never get tired of its sound.Music intonations are undistorted,and they are like from master tape.The shape of the coils and field are constructed in the way to keep linearity on worped,uncentered vynil.These cartridges will never be mass production,but it is always possible to make an order individualy.-- 

Very, very interesting... not direct feedback, BUT... as experience and instinct is something many among us have, just looking at the quality of workmanship is enough for yours truly.

Miles' Rubberband posthumous disc out on next Sept. 2019

A lost Miles Davis album named Rubberband is set to be released in September. The LP was recorded in 1985 in Los Angeles’ Ameraycan Studios and produced by Randy Hall and Zane Giles.

After 30 years, Rhino Records will be releasing the lost album Miles Davis album Rubberband to the public.

The album was put on hold when Davis went on to record Tutu. However, after 30 years Rhino Records will be releasing the lost album to the public for the very first time.

The LP has been completed by the original producers Hall and Giles along with Davis’ nephew, who played drums on the original recording sessions for the album. The work is set to be released September 6th – mark it in the calendars and check out the tracklist below.

It will be a 2-discs set.

The fire of 2008 - a disaster for music and movie industries!

It happened in 2008... a disaster for music and movie industries...

The archive in Building 6197 was UMG’s main West Coast storehouse of masters, the original recordings from which all subsequent copies are derived. A master is a one-of-a-kind artifact, the irreplaceable primary source of a piece of recorded music. According to UMG documents, the vault held analog tape masters dating back as far as the late 1940s, as well as digital masters of more recent vintage. It held multitrack recordings, the raw recorded materials — each part still isolated, the drums and keyboards and strings on separate but adjacent areas of tape — from which mixed or “flat” analog masters are usually assembled. And it held session masters, recordings that were never commercially released.

The full article by The New York times is

here

...

Western Electric 2A turntable

A marvelous vintage turntable built decades ago in the USA... brought to its shiny beauty with passion and untiring care and attention to details...

Love the console...

What an inspiration for a new turntable...

Superb!

Beloved Leon Redbone passed away today!

I'm really, really sad... 

Mr. Leon Redbone, after health issues and retiring in 2015 from active music scene, passed away a few hours ago...

 

I'm sincerely condolencing to his family and friends... he gave to me - and many worldwide - pure joy... 

His class, panama hat and music were - ARE - absolutely timeless and never will be forgotten by yours truly.

R.I.P. dear Champagne Charlie... R.I.P. Leon Redbone... thanks, Mr. Dickran Gobalian.

Some 50 cents vinyl nuggets

Lovely vintage covers... and gorgeous sound from these flea-market finds.

Disc of the Month - Sounds Harpy - featuring the David Snell Quintet

Disc of the Month!

On DECCA, recorded in England in 1966...

Superb recording of great music... cool, seldom heard arrangements and musical blend.

Master quality!

BTW: better Harpy than... Horny;-)

Furry cello mute